Polaris Technology

Statement on Global IT Incident - July 19, 2024.

Let’s start by discussing what this is not. This was not the result of a cyberattack or criminals.

What happened today that affected a countless number of endpoints across the world and halted multiple businesses including airline travel, news outlets, healthcare, and countless other businesses across the world was the result of quite simply a bad update pushed through global cybersecurity vendor CrowdStrike.

Somewhere around approximately 1:00 AM EST an update was pushed to endpoints utilizing the CrowdStrike Falcon platform which caused Windows devices to crash and resulted in boot failures in these devices. While the CrowdStrike team quickly responded to remove the update causing the issue, unfortunately devices in this state already required additional work to recover and return to a functional state and required manual intervention of removing the offending driver from the system.

It is important to understand that while this was an entirely unfortunate situation the time frame to address diagnose and recover was handled well by the CrowdStrike team. In addition, their communication and commitment to addressing the issues has been phenomenal as the MSP and IT community work through this. This will be a learning experience for CrowdStrike, which I imagine will result in process changes. However, it is important to point out that there are no vendors who are entirely immune from such a problem happening.

As a business it is important to take this opportunity to review your business continuity and disaster recovery plans, ensure they are up to date, and incorporate such events into your tabletop exercises.

Finally, the approach of the MSP and IT community members that were not affected by this to bond together to offer help to those in need was a point of personal pride as I saw partners and people across the globe extending a hand to assist. Community members came together to help any way they can from the offer of boots on the ground or ensuring something as simple of ordering food for the teams of affected companies.

I speak for our entire industry when I thank everyone for their patience and understanding as we work through getting this resolved.

-Drew Hackworth

President, Polaris Technology

Statement from CrowdStrike: https://www.crowdstrike.com/blog/our-statement-on-todays-outage/

Video from Tom Lawrence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-TlDYyvu3Yi

Happy America! We hope everyone has a safe and fun celebrating with family and enjoying !

Happy . .

"This place moves me like very, very few other places. And I been everywhere. " - Anthony Bourdain.

Today we remember and honor the 49 lives tragically lost in the shooting 8 years ago.

This Memorial Day we take time to remember those who laid down their lives in service for their country.
“Here men endured that a nation might live.” —Herbert Hoover

Happy and . This is our friendly, yearly reminder that the was brought down by a and . If it can happen to the , it can happen to your . http://itpolaris.com

Have you or your business been affected by the Hernando County Government Cybersecurity incident? I'd love to hear some first hand experiences how it may have affected your ability to do business or your cash flow.

Drop me a message on here or an email [email protected], I'd love to have a chat with you!

We wish you and your loved ones a very blessed and egg-citing Easter!

Polaris Technology has been nominated for Hernando Sun's Reader's Choice 2024!
We need your VOTE to help us win!
Vote Polaris Technology under Information Technology (Business) and you can vote once per day!

https://www.hernandosun.com/rc2024/ #/gallery?group=476073

On Monday I had the opportunity to attend a benefit for Responders First at Marker 48 Brewing along side their Brew Good, Do Good 501c3 Non-Profit foundation. This is an incredible local organization that supports our First Responders and Former First Responders with their health and wellbeing. It was an honor to be part of their ribbon cutting with the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce and a huge thank you to all the sponsors of which there are too many to name!

Wishing everyone a very Happy Presidents Day!

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, lend me your ears!! Hear Ye Hear Ye and such! Nominations have started for Hernando Sun's Reader's Choice 2024 and we want your nomination!
Vote: Polaris Technology for Information Technology (Business)
https://loom.ly/PFgYOmw

We wish you and the special ones in your life a Happy Valentine's Day! Did you know Saint Valentine was a real person? Read more about him here! https://www.history.com/news/real-st-valentine-medieval

Happy Mardi Gras everyone! May your day be filled with beads, beads, and more beads!

Congratulations to Comfort Control Specialists, Inc. on your Ribbon Cutting with Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce!

As always, every Tuesday is for B2B networking with the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce. This month we’re at Chicken Salad Chickwho celebrated their 1 year chamber anniversary and we got to hear from Dane Jenkins, CEO of Comfort Control Specialists, Inc. about his business and how he got started!

Happy ! Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow, so it sounds like Spring is on its way! Here's to warmer weather!

It's our .

What does your email address say about you?

Did you know you should not be using consumer email accounts for doing business?

Want to know more about this and how we can help? Just click here! https://loom.ly/iSU5M9Y

What a great day of networking at our weekly B2B Lunch for the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce! Always great hearing Charlotte Edwards giving some expert advice and knowledge to our group as well! A huge thanks to Gator's Dockside Spring Hill for hosting us this month, and we’ll see you all next Month at Chicken Salad Chick!

Over the past several weeks we've had the great opportunity to attend some ribbons cuttings and welcome a few new businesses to the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce.

Two weeks ago, we welcomed The Contractor and the new location of Holmes Drafting Services to Downtown Brooksville who specializes in Barndominiums but can help with builds of all types.

Last week was an amazing local nonprofit Veterans' HEAT Factory who helps and empowers Veterans & First Responders with PTSD and helps them re-enter civilian life. This organzation happened as well to be the Chamber's Non-Profit of the year last year and We're extremely proud to have them as part of our community.

Finally yesterday we welcomed Spartronics to the chamber. Spartronics has been a member of the Hernando County community for over 40 years and employees over a hundred skilled people from our local community.

It's always such an honor to meet such great businesses and organizaitons in our area and with them huge success!

Had a great B2B lunch with the Greater Hernando County Chamber of Commerce! Got the opportunity to hear about United Way of Hernando County and the services they offer the people of Hernando County!

! Here's to the weekend, we wish you all a Happy Friday and hope you have time to wind down and relax this weekend.

Today we celebrate the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in his fight for equality.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

Happy New Year 2024! Wishing you and your loved ones a very safe and happy New Year's Day. May everyone find success and happiness in 2024. #2024

Today we are thankful for each and every one of you! We wish you and your loved ones a very safe and happy !

Dracula isn’t the only one in search of blood at Stage West this weekend! On Sunday, we are partnering with LifeSouth Community Blood Centers and hosting a ! Donors will receive a Lifesouth T-Shirt, a $20 e-gift card, and a gift certificate for two tickets to a Stage West performance!

As a tribute to all the hard workers in every field, we wish everyone a very safe and happy Labor Day!

In response to Hurricane Idalia, Polaris Technology offices will be CLOSED Aug 30, 2023 - Sep 1, 2023
Though response times may be delayed, Emergency Technical Response for clients and non-clients will be available by emailing:

[email protected]

or by calling:

727-219-1011, option 2, and leaving a message

Please stay safe as we navigate this together.