The global outage on July 10 should prompt businesses to reevaluate their cybersecurity strategies, according to a leading expert.
“As services begin to stabilise and resume, this outage should serve as a wake-up call for IT professionals, business leaders, and policymakers alike,” said Feng Li, Chair of Information Management and Associate Dean for Research & Innovation at Bayes Business School, City, University of London, in an article for The Conversation.
Li emphasised the urgent need to reassess and potentially overhaul existing cybersecurity strategies and IT management practices. He stated, “We must prioritize improving system resilience to withstand large-scale disruptions.” Li stressed that the outage underscores the need for global cybersecurity collaboration and policy changes to enhance digital resilience.
Global IT Outage Involving CrowdStrike
Around 8.5 million Windows devices faced a severe outage Friday. CrowdStrike blamed a defect in a Falcon update for Windows.
Improving system resilience to withstand large-scale disruptions must be a priority
“Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This was not a cyberattack,” CrowdStrike Founder and CEO George Kurtz clarified in a statement. Over the weekend, the company reported that a significant number of affected Windows devices are now “back online and operational.”
“We tested a new technique with customers to accelerate system remediation and are in the process of operationalizing an opt-in to this technique,” CrowdStrike stated in a LinkedIn post. Kurtz apologised for the impact of the outage and assured that CrowdStrike is working closely with affected customers to restore all systems.
Highlighting the ‘Interconnected Nature’ of Technology
David Weston, Vice President of Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft, revealed that the company deployed hundreds of engineers and experts to assist affected customers. “This incident demonstrates the interconnected nature of our broad ecosystem — global cloud providers, software platforms, security vendors, and customers. It’s a reminder of the importance of prioritizing safe deployment and disaster recovery,” Weston said.
He emphasized that collaboration is crucial for recovery, stating, “We learn and move forward most effectively by working together.” We appreciate the cooperation of our entire sector and will continue to update with learnings and next steps.”
