Global technology outage impacts Bernalillo County assessor, Sunport

A global technology outage caused by faulty software blocked public access to Bernalillo County’s online property tax records on Friday and delayed flights at the Albuquerque airport.

At the Albuquerque International Sunport, most airlines were back up and running by the afternoon, according to Sunport spokeswoman Diana Lopez, but the airport did expect delays throughout the day as a ripple effect. Passengers were asked to contact their airline to confirm flight schedules.

Two to three flights were canceled, while approximately 10 flights had delays ranging between 15 minutes and two hours, Lopez said.

The public was not able to access or perform online property tax searches with Bernalillo County’s public access portal, but service was restored around 11 a.m. on Friday, according to a news release.

The global technology outage was caused by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, according to reporting from The Associated Press. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told the “Today Show” that the issue was caused when an update was sent and affected some Microsoft Windows systems.

The outage also disrupted hospitals and media outlets around the world.

The city of Albuquerque was not affected by the issue, an official said. "Third-party vendors may have been affected, though it did not have an impact on any city services,” said city Director of Technology and Innovation Mark Leech.