While other companies scrambled to get services back online, Chattanooga’s electric utility said it was unaffected by last week’s global technology outage, which grounded flights across the country and forced hospitals to cancel elective surgeries.
“We dodged the bullet, basically,” EPB Director of Information Security Steve Morrison told members of the company’s board Friday.
About 8.5 million computers crashed last week after the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike sent out a faulty update to customers, according to The Associated Press.
(READ MORE: Hamilton County affected by global technology outage)
EPB doesn’t use the company’s product and felt zero impact, Morrison said. Other utilities worked all weekend to restore thousands of computers to their normal state, he said. EPB serves about 180,000 homes and businesses across a 600-square-mile area.
One in 4 Fortune 500 companies experienced disruptions because of the event, resulting in an estimated loss of $5.4 billion, according to a report from insurance firm Parametrix. The health care, banking and airline industries faced the steepest financial losses, the analysis said.
“The event highlights the critical dependency of major corporations on cloud services and the system risks posed by such disruptions,” the report said.
Although businesses and government agencies in Hamilton County did feel the effects of the outage last week, many operations continued as normal.
With early voting underway, computers at the Hamilton County Election Commission were affected by the outage, but the organization was able to rely on a locally stored voter database, which updates at the end of each day. The process was a little slower July 19, Administrator Scott Allen said last week, adding voters were still in and out fairly quickly.
(READ MORE: Small businesses grapple with global tech outages created by CrowdStrike)
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Valley Authority, which supplies power to EPB, said July 19 the outage did not disrupt the grid or any of the agency’s critical infrastructure. Erlanger Health, meanwhile, canceled elective surgeries that day at some of its hospitals.
Contact David Floyd at dfloyd@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6249.