Global IT outage: How one software update could go so wrong | DW News

Global computer systems are slowly coming back online after a massive tech outage caused chaos and confusion around the world. From broadcasters to banks, stock exchanges, and airlines. The outage also affected health care systems, with many hospitals forced to cancel surgeries. The head of the cyber-security firm which caused the crisis says he's deeply sorry for the disruptions, which were traced back to a flawed software update.

00:00 IT crash causes worldwide chaos
02:32 DW speaks with Sven Herpig, Lead for Cybersecurity Policy and Resilience at Interface, a European thinktank specializing in information technology

Follow DW on social media:

#CrowdStrike #IToutage #CyberSecurity

[gwine]

As someone who worked decades for computer hardware and software manufacturers, this is inexcusable.

[cybergod]

This was what was feared back in the days of Y2K

[PeterSedesse]

Just to remind people, in january this ceo was bragging to investors about reducing workforce expenses, and using more contract workers from india. Since cloudstrike went public, all it has been doing is trying to squeeze out profits for investors

[amourflower]

I am amazed that there was no back up system in place for hospital, airlines, and other businesses.

[dondekeeper]

It's the sheer human arrogance and naivety of large tech companies that failed to do simple verification on their work resulting in such low tech mistakes

[Innosos]

It bears repeating: This is a CrowdStrike issue, not a Microsoft or Windows issue. The blame lies with CrowdStrike.

[lorestar]

How do we, as europeans, once again leave critical infrastructure in the hands of foreign companies...

[smitias_]

That's why I hate how companies force autoupdates on us. They make it as hard as possible to refuse and then something like that will happen to you.

[sepilokfui]

deeply sorry? ask how much it costs now.

[Me]

I never do software updates immediately. I wait days and sometimes weeks.

[roan]

Watched many interviews regarding this outage and this person they interviewed was the most knowledgeable.

[Owen]

We are so hopeless as a species. Imagine if, and likely when, something like a massive solar storm or an attack on infrastructure that knocks out the internet or electricity for days or weeks.

[RealWatch]

a lot of cutting corners this year for big companies

[MaxintRD]

The blame should be shared by providers as well as the using companies that all allowed an untested update to be rolled out to their systems. Society essential companies and providers such as hospitals and airports should have acceptance testing as a mandatory step of their update procedures.
Note that not all Windows users faced this issue, but only those that accepted this update without prior testing. Only complacent companies that trusted automatic updates to never go wrong got to learn this expensive lesson.

[LarryGrossman-sc]

Staged updates where not every user is updated simultaneously?

[zen]

Your guest needs better audio quality. It's not that hard - find a better guest next time.

[zen]

1:13 Not a Microsoft outage - Crowdstrike doesn’t have sufficient testing and quality assurance- that's the real cause of the outage.

[happymelon]

🤣🤣🤣
Feb 3, 2024, CrowdStrike CEO: FBI warning shows serious nature of cyber threats from China.
Now we all knew YOUR COMPANY is the biggest threat to global cyber security.

[tuapuikia]

CS is not traditional antivirus software. It's a network monitoring solution sending data from sensors/agents directly to the CS-managed customer endpoint. The solution focuses on endpoint security, detecting early signs of malware/cyber attacks by analyzing sensor data. Friday's CS update aimed to improve detection but caused chaos instead.
😂😂😂

[Bateau_Bautista]

0:31 Nope, thats NOT the Bluescreen of Death, thats the recovery mode. Pretty easy to figure out because no sad smiley. Your'e my most trusted news source, pleaso do the researches correctly as usual or i got to doubt my opinion and your reputation. Thanks.