- Experts warn that without contingency plans and redundancies, global IT outages like Friday’s will continue.
- A conflict between CrowdStrike’s update and Microsoft’s Windows OS caused widespread disruptions.
- The incident raises concerns about market concentration in the cybersecurity industry.
New Delhi | July 21, 2024 08:53 IST
A recent global IT outage, which disrupted services from airlines to healthcare, underscores the critical need for robust contingency plans and network redundancies. The outage, caused by a software conflict between an update from U.S. cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike and Microsoft’s Windows operating system, rendered devices worldwide inoperable.
Friday’s incident, which grounded planes and affected services across various sectors, has highlighted the vulnerabilities in current IT systems. CrowdStrike, holding a significant share in the cybersecurity market, has sparked debates about the risks associated with market concentration in operationally critical software.
Experts are concerned that many organizations are not adequately prepared to handle such failures. “It’s easy to suggest a more diverse market, and ideally, that’s what we’d have,” said Ciaran Martin, former head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). “We manage safety well in tech for cars, trains, and planes but struggle with service continuity.”
The recent ransomware attack on Britain’s National Health Service (NHS), which led to canceled operations, exemplifies the physical dangers of digital vulnerabilities. Martin emphasized the need for failsafes and redundancies to maintain operations during outages.
The perfect storm on Friday, with both Microsoft and CrowdStrike dominating their markets, has caught the attention of global regulators. Nigel Phair, a cybersecurity professor at Monash University, noted the limited competition in both operating systems and large-scale cybersecurity products.
Airlines were hit particularly hard by the outage, with digital ticketing systems failing and staff resorting to hand-written boarding passes. “Organizations of all sizes need to adopt an all-hazards approach to risk management,” Phair advised.
Looking ahead, the world faces the “2038 Problem” or “Epochalypse,” a time-based computer issue akin to the Millennium Bug. Many systems count time from January 1, 1970, and will reach their maximum value in 2038, potentially causing widespread disruptions.
“We currently have a situation where there’s huge global disruption because we cannot cope administratively,” Martin warned. As reliance on IT systems grows, the need for comprehensive contingency planning becomes increasingly critical to prevent future outages and ensure operational resilience.
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