August 03, 2023
KATE FRESE/for PhillyVoice
Some government operations were affected Thursday by an unexpected network problem during a scheduled security update, officials said. The issue led to internet outages and lingering disruptions to some services.
A technical issue that arose with the city's internet network Thursday morning has resulted in some lingering disruptions to city services, including possible delays when residents call Philly 311 to resolve non-emergency requests.
The problem occurred during a scheduled upgrade to the city's security system, which periodically needs to be brought up to the latest standards to protect private information. The Office of Innovation and Technology became aware of an issue with the city's firewall around 8 a.m. It resulted in internet outages for some public-facing government systems used by businesses and residents.
The city confirmed the problem was not related to a cyberattack.
The problem was resolved by OIT and its vendors, but some city services were still affected Thursday afternoon. The affected services are being tracked on a page that will be updated as the issues are resolved.
911 call centers, trash and recycling collection, and systems used by the airport, the Department of Prisons and the Philadelphia court system are not facing any disruptions.
Philly 311, the contact center for non-emergency service requests, is having trouble with some of its systems used to resolve issues. The contact center is still receiving calls for residents to make reports, but there could be delays.
The Department of Licenses & Inspections also is unable to use its online appointment scheduling system for in-person and virtual meetings, as well its chat support feature.
The city's Health Centers briefly lost the ability to book new appointments and had been calling patients with Thursday appointments to ask them to reschedule. The Health Centers remained open for walk-ins and accepted patients who were not able to change their appointments Thursday.
"Service is completely restored at this point and we are taking new appointments and are no longer rescheduling appointments," a health department spokesperson said Thursday afternoon.
The health department's Office of Food Protection, which handles inspections, currently is unable to accept payments using its ePay service.
"Our public safety offices and departments continued to operate and respond as needed," Mayor Jim Kenney said. "We apologize for any inconveniences this may have caused and appreciate everyone's patience."
