Last Friday’s Blue Screen of Death Caused a Global IT Outage, Were You Impacted?

Published on Monday, 22 July 2024 at 1:37:50 PM

Late last Friday a faulty update from cyber-security firm CrowdStrike triggered a massive IT outage affecting businesses worldwide. Impacts were felt across a range of industries, from airlines to banks, hospitals and supermarkets. This writer was in Coles as one by one each register stopped working. My phone lit up with messages from friends stating the IT in their office “was down” and Teams chats began to run hot. Were we experiencing the expected effects of Y2K, just some 24 years later?

What actually happened? CrowdStrike distributed a configuration update for its Falcon driver software, affecting Windows PCs and servers. Many experienced the infamous windows “Blue Screen of Death” (BSOD).

There was widespread disruption, in-hospital treatments were suspended, airlines cancelled flights and businesses couldn’t function. Many suggested this was proof that going completely digital is a dangerous game and others scrambled for cash. It is estimated that the cost of the outage globally could run into the billions of dollars.

CrowdStrike’s CEO George Kurtz's acknowledged the issue, deployed a fix, and apologised to affected parties, clarifying the incident wasn’t caused by a cyber-attack, rather an unintentional fault caused by an update, he emphasised the need for further investigation to prevent similar events in the future.

Integrated ICT’s clients were not impacted as we currently don’t use the CrowdStrike software. It should be noted though that this type of error could happen to any similar software when rolling out updates.

Many of our clients have asked how they could be protected, should something similar occur down the track? One way to protect your business is to invest in a private cloud as a backup to your existing cloud solution. Another is to ensure you have updated Disaster Recovery (DR) procedures in place (which may incorporate the use of Private Cloud such as the Integrated ICT Data Centre). Integrated ICT offer consulting services to create or review your DR plans. You can speak to our team on 6374 8200 or email hello@integratedict.com.au to discuss this further.

The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) has been publishing regular updates about the CrowdStrike software update outage. You can go here to learn more.

Back to All News