The effects of a global cyber outage are being felt in British Columbia.
Global disruptions have been felt across the aviation, banking and healthcare industries after cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike released a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.
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CrowdStrike outage impacts hospitals and healthcare systems across Canada
In British Columbia, health authorities say they are working to minimize the impact.
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British Columbia Premier David Eby said the province’s health care system has been affected, but the impact on patients has been minimal.
He said service providers switched to paper-based work and work was carried out as required.
Health authorities across the province have confirmed that the province’s health care system is experiencing network and computer issues.
Authorities say they have implemented contingency plans to ensure services remain operational and patient care is not disrupted.
People are advised to contact their healthcare provider directly if they have any questions about Friday appointments, but are urged not to call the hospital central office.
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The Ministry of Children and Family Development also experienced minor problems at a call center and there will be a slight delay in the distribution of child care benefits in British Columbia, Eby added.
The CrowdStrike issue also impacted US-bound flights departing from Vancouver International Airport (YVR).
The outage has caused more than 670 flights to be canceled in the US, affecting flight schedules and causing delays.
The airport said in a statement that it was aware of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s global issues with its technology systems.
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YVR added that US officials are working on a resolution and that travelers with flights to the United States are encouraged to check the status of their flight with their airline before coming to the airport.
Passengers on YVR told Global News they had to wait an extremely long time to get through US customs, while others said they spent the night at the airport.
Other large systems in British Columbia appear to have been unaffected by the CrowdStrike incident.
BC’s health care system has been impacted, but with little impact on patients. This has included a shift to paper-based operations and surgeries have been performed as needed. An MCFD call center has experienced delays and there will be a slight delay in the distribution of child care benefits in BC. #bcpoli
— Richard Zussman (@richardzussman) July 19, 2024
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Eby said the power outage did not impact emergency response efforts in British Columbia
The emergency call centre was hit but remained operational, he said. E-Comm, which handles 911 calls, the RCMP and the Vancouver police were not affected, he said.
BC Ferries told Global News its systems were not immediately affected and services were operating normally.
TransLink also said its systems were not directly affected and that Metro Vancouver public transit was operating normally.
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