US Customs computers outage causes delay

An outage affecting the computer systems of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) left international travelers waiting in long lines at airports throughout the country.

The outage on Monday night affected airports including New York's JFK, San Francisco and Denver, as international travellers arrived from holiday travels on New Year's Day, reports CNN.

CBP said "there is no indication the service disruption was malicious in nature".

It said that all airports were back online after the outage lasted from 7.30 p.m. to about 9.30 p.m.

Passengers who landed during those hours stood in long queues at the international arrivals area, trying to get through passport control.

CBP said it "took immediate action to address the technology disruption", CNN reported.

"CBP officers continued to process international travellers using alternative procedures at affected airports. Travellers at some ports of entry experienced longer than usual wait times as CBP officers processed travellers as quickly as possible while maintaining the highest levels of security," it said in a statement.

The agency said it had access to the national security-related databases during the outage.

--IANS

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