As the global chaos eases and systems come back online, the massive computer outage that wreaked havoc around the world on Friday is revealing some uncomfortable realities about the foundations of our digital lives — and how fragile they can be.
The outage demonstrated that even the platform of a giant company like Microsoft, with its vast resources and massive investment in robust system security, could be shaken by an accidental bug in a software update issued by an independent cybersecurity firm.
And with a catastrophic impact, because Microsoft computers are at the heart of much of our technology infrastructure.
The outage affected 8.5 million devices running Windows, the tech giant’s operating system – less than 1% of all devices running it worldwide, according to Microsoft. Even so, it was probably the biggest global computer outage to date, according to BBC technology correspondent Joe Tidy.
It also highlights how dependent we have become on these infrastructures and how helpless we are when something goes wrong beyond our control.
“Ultimately, when these systems falter, Neither you nor I can do anything about it.“, notes BBC Technology Editor Zoe Kleinman.
Yesterday on TV, a computer expert’s advice to those caught up in the hype was to “be patient.”
There is no doubt that patience was the last thing many felt at that moment, but honestly, it was the only possible action for most of us.
The problem of having a single IT provider
In the specialized publication Computer WeeklyOwen Sayers wrote that the disruption also demonstrated “the immense risk we face if we put all our eggs in one giant global basket.”
He was referring to the huge number of companies, services and people who use a single IT providerIt’s easy and convenient, but it also means there’s no plan B if that supplier suddenly has a problem.
There is an old saying that says that Comfort is the enemy of safetyand this is the greatest example of that I’ve ever seen.
As a consumer, it’s hard to escape this grip: if you shop in a store and pay by card or phone, you’re relying on someone else’s technology to process your transaction seamlessly. It’s increasingly unlikely that you’ll have any other choice: many retailers no longer accept cash.
For small businesses, budgets are tight.
“In some cases, a single vendor is the only option because of costs,” says Alina Timofeeva of BCS, a British computing institution.
“The reasoning is that the supplier is so large and powerful that companies do not anticipate that it could fail.”
This makes sense, but Zoe Kleinman wonders if it might not be the solution that has a greater number of small IT providers.
Possible plan B
What happened on Friday was not a cyberattack, and Microsoft was quick to point out that the outage was not its fault, although questions remain about exactly how cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike’s disastrous Falcon update slipped through.
In the program Today Speaking on BBC Radio 4, computer scientist Nigel Shadbolt said that most computing systems similar to CrowdStrike’s software operate at “very high quality levels.”
But when they fail “It’s like a pandemic”he said, and lessons can be learned from that.”
The reason this outage caused so much chaos is because millions of companies, services and platforms around the world run their technology infrastructure on the same products.
Professor Shadbolt said the priority was “resilience” – in other words, having a plan B.
“Maybe we could think about having multiple systems, not just relying on one,” he suggested.
By doing so, it would be possible to avoid large-scale seismic disruptions if fewer people depend on them, Kleinman says, but we would also be introducing multiple systems with multiple potential vulnerabilitieswhich could make them easier to hack.
The blackout occurred at a time of high air traffic. In the UK, it was the busiest day of the year at airports, as school breaks began and families were ready to travel.
Several airports have been able to resolve their problems, but the Domino effect It means that many travelers will still be trying to get home or go on vacation.
Although the flaw has been fixed, experts say it will take a certain amount of time to reboot each affected Microsoft computer.
“There will be someone at CrowdStrike who will be in a lot of trouble right now for not getting this right,” observes Professor Victoria Baines of Gresham College London.
“And there will be a lot of people working this weekend.”
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- Businesses and services are slowly recovering from the “unprecedented” computer blackout that affected technological systems around the world
- Why Microsoft advises turning off and on devices affected by the Windows computer shutdown up to 15 times
- What is Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity company responsible for the global computer blackout