CrowdStrike outage: Where do we go from here?
On July 19, 2024, the world witnessed an unexpected and widespread technological disruption. A routine software update from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike triggered a significant global IT outage, affecting approximately 8.5 million Windows devices. Tech giant Microsoft, which provided these figures, highlighted the event as a stark reminder of the interconnectedness and fragility of our modern technology infrastructure. This incident not only disrupted daily operations for millions but also underscored the delicate balance that keeps our digital world running smoothly.
The update, intended to enhance security, instead triggered a “blue screen of death” (BSOD) across various industries. Airlines grounded flights, passengers at Indian airports received handwritten boarding passes, and hospitals and businesses faced significant disruptions.
The economic impact, though not yet fully quantified, is substantial. A report by Cloud Zero, a cloud cost intelligence platform, suggests that on an average, an hour of internet outage is likely to cost countries across the globe over $106,399,033. “Just one minute of the internet being down is likely to cost Amazon $1.1 million, rocketing to $1.6 billion across 24 hours,” the report notes. For India, the cost is likely to be a whopping $59,626,768.
Steve Grobman, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of security software company McAfee, has noted that opportunistic scammers began exploiting the global IT outage, adding another layer of complexity to the situation. Consumers faced difficulties accessing services
Like banking, airlines, and healthcare, and had to be vigilant against scams exploiting the resulting confusion.
Jake Moore, Global Security Advisor at cybersecurity firm ESET, has pointed out that the frequency of such outages will rise due to
The rising number of online users and traffic. In fact, the BSOD incident led many to suspect a cyberattack, highlighting the importance of these services and their widespread impact.
Crucially, the incident raises concerns about single points of failure within critical technology ecosystems. A big question everyone is asking is that after this mega outage, where lies the solution? Reliance on a single vendor, such as CrowdStrike, can expose organisations to unforeseen disruptions. Instead, experts are now advocating that there’s a need for diversification and redundancy in cybersecurity strategies.
Manu Dwivedi, Partner and Leader of Cybersecurity at PwC India, says that the importance of adopting a multi-vendor approach, rigorous testing of updates, and enhancing system resilience through robust backup and recovery solutions, could be the way out.
“We know that while some level of risk is inevitable in a growing digital world, improving collaboration and communication between software vendors and businesses can also help identify potential issues early and address them proactively,” he adds.
To resolve the issue, some users had to restart their systems, while others required IT support. During the aftermath of the mega outage, CrowdStrike began to face significant backlash, with notable figures such as Elon Musk publicly criticising the company. Musk even announced on X: “We just deleted CrowdStrike from all our systems.”
Cybersecurity expert Jiten Jain tells Business Today that businesses need to rethink their approach when it comes to recovery plans. Currently, companies focus on geographically dispersed backups, cloud storage, and offline data
Copies. “A comprehensive disaster recovery plan should now encompass the possibility of a total ecosystem failure. This requires a focus on offline capabilities, leveraging human resources and manual processes to maintain critical business functions, even at reduced capacity,” he explains.
There are other experts who believe that employees need to be educated about proper procedures during outages. Some have called for a standard operating procedure to be developed so that the adverse effects arising out of such outages can be somewhat mitigated, at least initially. Experts also argue that to mitigate such outages in the near future, a robust IT infrastructure, such as load balancing and failover systems, is crucial. And keeping systems and software up to date remains a best practice still, despite the CrowdStrike situation.
According to Jain, the government’s role in regulating the IT industry is also important, because it prevents monopolies from being
Created. He suggests that India should invest in developing its own mobile and computer operating systems to reduce dependence on foreign technology.
But such solutions, at least at this stage, are still works in progress and this incident would only propel experts to swiftly come up with a set of solutions. Nevertheless, the CrowdStrike incident serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities present in our digital infrastructure. It shows us that as businesses become more dependent upon technology, outages will become common. Thus arises the urgent need for evolving comprehensive strategies to mitigate such risks and ensure resilience.
@Priyasingh18_11
