Residents across Texas found themselves unable to access driver's license services on Friday morning, as the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) was forced to shutter offices statewide due to a pervasive "technical issue." The disruption left many without a clear timetable for when services would resume, DPS urged customers to stay updated via their website and social media accounts, according to KVUE.
⛔CLOSURE NOTICE: ⛔DPS Driver License Offices (DLOs) across the state are currently closed due to a technical issue. Customers with appointments should have been notified. Our IT teams are working diligently on a fix, however there is no current estimate on when DLOs will… pic.twitter.com/tiQuWE7SUy
— Texas DPS (@TxDPS) July 19, 2024
While specific details surrounding the nature of Texas DPS's technical woes were scant, the glitch appeared amid a larger tapestry of technological turmoil – a global outage that also ensnared airlines, financial institutions, and public transportation systems, this event disrupted services for travelers at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and caused noticeable delays for Austin's CapMetro users, as reported by KVUE.
The blackout's breadth was notable, with even global corporations and hospitals reporting operational hiccups; however, CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity firm implicated in the international outage, has made assurances that the episode was not indicative of any cyberattack. "This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed," said CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz, as detailed by KVUE.
Acknowledging the scope of the stricken systems, Microsoft 365 announced efforts to mitigate the fallout caused by a faulty software update, stating they were, "working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact," and that the firm has been "observing a positive trend in service availability." As businesses and individuals alike ride out the digital storm, the advice remains to monitor official channels for updates, a strategy recommended by both the affected Texas DPS and globally-focused CrowdStrike, as reported by FOX 7 Austin.
