Businesses are reevaluating their continuity plans after the recent CrowdStrike outage. A faulty update issued by the cybersecurity vendor on July 19 triggered the blue screen of death on Microsoft Windows-based computers running CrowdStrike’s threat detection software, causing outages worldwide. Analysts warn that non-cybersecurity disruptions like the CrowdStrike outage are signs of the new normal, but that doesn’t mean you can’t protect your business.
How Did This Happen?
The interconnected and interdependent nature of businesses’ hardware and software systems, which enables them to operate and meet consumer demands, also makes them more prone to cyberattacks. “Many organizations rely on the same cloud providers and cybersecurity solutions. The result is a form of digital monoculture,” states David Tuffley, Senior Lecturer in Applied Ethics & Cybersecurity at Griffith University, in his The Conversation article: “One Small Update Brought Down Millions of IT Systems Around The World. It’s A Timely Warning.”
Analysts have also pointed to interconnected hardware and software systems as the culprit for the global IT meltdown, citing SaaS, cloud services, and modern applications amplified the impact of the CrowdStrike outage. Tuffley states, “While this standardization means computer systems can run efficiently and are widely compatible, it also means a problem can cascade across many industries and geographies. As we’ve now seen in the case of CrowdStrike, it can even cascade around the entire globe.”
The New Normal
For years, businesses have focused on defending themselves against cyberattacks, often relegating traditional disaster recovery and outages to the back burner. The CrowdStrike incident is a stark reminder that overlooking non-cybersecurity threats can have catastrophic repercussions. “Organizations have spent the past decade considering backup and disaster recovery from the perspective of cyberattacks through ransomware, but traditional disaster and outages are still an ongoing threat,” says Mike Matchett, founder and president of Small World Big Data, in writer Tim McCarthy TechTarget article, “CrowdStrike.”
Analysts recommend a shift in mindset, emphasizing business continuity planning, including robust backup and disaster recovery. We at Ozone IT Services have been saying this to our clients for years. Businesses face the threat of outages every day, whether from hackers, simple human error, or software or hardware failure like the faulty CrowdStrike patch. By proactively planning for their operational continuity, companies can ensure and keep the lights on, even in the face of catastrophic failures.
Mitigating Widespread Disruption
Experts say a complete global Internet outage is unlikely. Tuffley thinks the potential for another, even larger, widespread disruption than the CrowdStrike outage exists. Although global outage underscored the fragility of modern IT infrastructure, it reminded us about preparedness in the face of non-cybersecurity tech failures and outages. Businesses must prioritize the development of robust business continuity plans and backup recovery strategies to navigate the complexities of an interconnected digital ecosystem and fortify themselves against the new normal of disruptive incidents.
In this new normal, your business faces the threat of outages, whether from hackers or non-cybercriminal threats like human error or software or hardware failure. Ozone IT Services can help you fortify your infrastructure against these threats. We identify vulnerabilities in your business continuity plan and bolster your backup and disaster recovery with our Backup as a Service (BaaS). By contacting Ozone IT Services today, you can ensure your business keeps the lights on, even in the face of widespread outages.
