Federal Government Information Technology

A Customs Computer Outage Strands Thousands in Airports, Again

Nextgov: Thousands of international travelers spent New Year’s Day stranded in airports after a system outage shut down Customs and Border Protection stations across the country for two hours.

The outage, which lasted from roughly 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. EST, mirrored a disruption that took place almost exactly a year earlier when a wave of holiday travelers overwhelmed the agency’s passenger screening system.

A CBP spokesperson said the agency took immediate action to address the issue and continued to screen passengers against relevant national security databases during the outage. All airports are currently back online and “there is no indication the service disruption was malicious in nature,” they said in a statement.

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