Priya Patel
TLDR:
- An enormous IT outage caused global chaos on Friday, revealing the fragility of our digital infrastructure.
- The outage was caused by an accidental error in a software update from a cybersecurity company that affected Microsoft-powered systems.
As the global chaos subsides and systems continue to return online, the enormous IT outage which caused havoc around the world on Friday reveals a few uncomfortable truths about the foundations of our digital lives – and how fragile they might be. The outage showed that even the platform of an enormous firm like Microsoft, with its deep pockets and huge investment in robust system security, could be knocked sideways by an accidental error in a software update issued by an independent cybersecurity company. And with catastrophic impact because Microsoft-powered computers are at the heart of so much of our tech infrastructure. It shines a light on just how reliant we have become on that infrastructure, and how helpless we are as a result when something goes wrong that is beyond our control. Ultimately, when these systems wobble, there is nothing you or I can do about it.
The outage also demonstrated, “the immense risk we face if we put all our eggs into one huge world-spanning basket,” as noted in Computer Weekly. This reliance on single IT providers can lead to a lack of alternatives in case of a problem. For small businesses, cost considerations often lead to choosing a single dominant vendor, further exacerbating this issue.
While the IT outage was not a cyber attack, questions remain about how the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s Falcon update slipped through the net. The incident serves as a reminder of the vulnerability of our digital systems and the potential implications of relying on a single provider for critical infrastructure.
