A faulty software update from US0based cybersecurity company CrowdStrike sent shockwaves through the global IT infrastructure, crippling systems reliant on Microsoft Windows. The outage, affecting 8.5 million devices worldwide, though less than 1% of the total Windows user base, had far-reaching consequences for businesses, governments, and individuals alike.
Flights were grounded, hospitals delayed critical procedures, and financial markets experienced unprecedented slowdowns as the world grappled with the fallout.The incident is being labeled as one of the most severe IT failures in history.
It’s ‘fuel problem’
To illustrate how a third-party software update could cause such widespread disruption, Ann Johnson, a deputy chief information security officer at Microsoft, drew a comparison to a car’s engine. “If you have an automobile, and you take that automobile to the fuel station and you get fuel that is not quality fuel or corrupted fuel, your automobile is not going to work properly,” Johnson said in an interview to Bloomberg. “The fuel is traversing throughout the entire system of your engine, and it will impact performance. It may impact the vehicle on a whole,” she added.
In a similar way, Johnson said, “CrowdStrike operates at a deep level within Windows, akin to the fuel system in a car,” she explained. “A problem with their software can have a cascading impact, just like bad fuel can ruin an engine.”
Flights were grounded, hospitals delayed critical procedures, and financial markets experienced unprecedented slowdowns as the world grappled with the fallout.The incident is being labeled as one of the most severe IT failures in history.
It’s ‘fuel problem’
To illustrate how a third-party software update could cause such widespread disruption, Ann Johnson, a deputy chief information security officer at Microsoft, drew a comparison to a car’s engine. “If you have an automobile, and you take that automobile to the fuel station and you get fuel that is not quality fuel or corrupted fuel, your automobile is not going to work properly,” Johnson said in an interview to Bloomberg. “The fuel is traversing throughout the entire system of your engine, and it will impact performance. It may impact the vehicle on a whole,” she added.
In a similar way, Johnson said, “CrowdStrike operates at a deep level within Windows, akin to the fuel system in a car,” she explained. “A problem with their software can have a cascading impact, just like bad fuel can ruin an engine.”