Episode 6: Defeating the Blue Screen of Death; The Global IT Outage, One Year Later

On July 19, 2024, a faulty software update by cybersecurity company Crowdstrike took down millions of Microsoft Windows operating systems all over the world. 

It caused computers to crash and lock, displaying the so-called “blue screen of death.” 

The outage led to widespread disruption across multiple sectors of the global economy, including airlines, banks, hospitals, businesses and even governments like ours in New York State.

Dubbed the “largest IT outage in history,” it caused more than $10 Billion in financial losses, impacting some businesses for weeks or even months.

By contrast, ITS worked round the clock to bring critical New York State systems back online within 24 hours. The State’s IT provider swiftly remediated tens of thousands of blue screens – by hand and at hundreds of different locations across the State – so agency employees could get back to work and New Yorkers could continue to access the services they needed. 

This is the story of how a large government agency worked as a team to mitigate the impact of this worldwide outage. 

It’s a story of neighbor helping neighbor, of employees from every department, even the non-technical ones, being deputized as technicians to lend a hand, resulting in a highly coordinated and massive response effort the likes of which we have never seen. 

This is the story of skill, leadership and determination, of going the extra mile to get the job done. 

This is OUR story of New York’s response to the Global IT outage: one year later. 

Thank you for listening to the IT’S a Tech Podcast. For more information about ITS, visit our website at its.ny.gov. Follow us on X, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.