TODAY’S global IT outage could take “weeks” to resolve – as airlines, TV channels and even hospitals face computer chaos around the world.
Experts told The US Sun that although an official fix has been released, issues related to the mass IT outage will drag on.
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PCs around the world booting up on Friday, July 19th were faced with an insurmountable “Blue Screen of Death.”
The clumsy update shut down airlines, broadcasters, supermarkets and even banks around the world.
It was linked to a clumsy update from security firm CrowdStrike, which helps companies stay safe from hackers.
CrowdStrike has released a fix for the update – but problems may continue, according to security professional Al Lakhani.
Read more about global IT disruption
“The consequences of incidents like these can be far-reaching and prolonged,” said Al, CEO of security firm IDEE.
“In terms of restoring all affected computers to full operation, recovery can take hours, days or even weeks.
“This is because this is a supply chain attack. These are particularly harmful because a single compromised software update can impact thousands of organizations around the world.
“Leading to serious consequences, including service disruptions, intellectual property theft, and threats to national security.”
Another security expert, Adam Pilton, told The US Sun that it will take days for larger companies to recover.
“Depending on the size of the organization will determine the recovery time,” said Adam, senior cybersecurity specialist at Cybersmart, speaking to The US Sun.
“CrowdStrike has released a fix and provided guidance that is working for many users.
“For smaller organizations, this will take hours; for larger organizations, this can take days to resolve.”
The update meant that Microsoft Windows PCs were unable to power on.
It will cost time and effort.
Martin Jartelius
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They would get stuck in a “boot loop,” trying to start Windows but failing repeatedly.
This prevents Windows PCs and even some servers from working properly.
The outage first appeared in Australia as businesses came online before the rest of the world.
But the problems spread quickly, with Sky News completely breaking in the UK.
What is CrowdStrike?
The global cyber outage affecting television channels, banks, hospitals, airports and emergency services appears to be related to an issue at cybersecurity company CrowdStrike.
IT security firm CrowdStrike published a recorded phone message on Friday – saying it was aware of reports of flaws in Microsoft’s Windows operating system related to its Falcon sensor.
A pre-recorded message read: “Thank you for contacting CrowdStrike support. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of Windows crashes… related to the Falcon sensor.”
The Falcon system monitors the computers it is installed on and detects hacks and bugs before responding to them.
CrowdStrike, based in Austin, Texas, claims to be a global security leader that provides an advanced platform for protecting data.
A CrowdStrike update on Friday is said to have caused a critical bug in Microsoft’s operating systems, affecting millions of people around the world.
The company regularly updates systems with new antivirus software
Toby Murray, associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, Australia, said: “If Falcon is experiencing a malfunction, it could be causing widespread outage for two reasons.
“One: Falcon is widely deployed on many computers, and two: due to the privileged nature of Falcon.
“Falcon is a bit like antivirus software: it is regularly updated with information about the latest online threats.
“It is possible that today’s outage was caused by a buggy update to Falcon.”
Cyber expert Troy Hunt told Australian TV network Seven: “It appears they have released a bad update, which is currently destroying all machines using it.”
Airlines, banks and even hospitals in the US and UK have been affected.
Some devices will have avoided the update and no other machines are expected to be affected after the fix, according to CrowdStrike.
But others that have been affected will need to be manually repaired and said this could drag on until the summer.
“For those affected, if their systems didn’t receive the wrong update, that’s a positive,” said Martin Jartelius, chief security officer at Outpost24, speaking to The US Sun.
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“If they got the update, some seem to be able to start working and will fix themselves.
“Others will currently have a workaround to get the good update and will have some practical support including booting into safe mode and removing some files, hoping this can be done quickly for any system that needs high availability.
“But expect the cleanup in IT departments to potentially extend throughout the year. summer vacation.
“So where it really matters, this shouldn’t be too difficult to fix, but it will cost time and effort.”
CROWDSTRIKE RESPONSIBLE – FULL RESPONSE FROM THE CEO
Here is an official statement from CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz…
“CrowdStrike is actively working with customers affected by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.
“Mac and Linux hosts are not affected.
“This is not a security incident or cyber attack.
“The issue was identified, isolated and a fix was deployed.
“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide thorough and ongoing updates on our website.
“We further recommend that organizations ensure communication with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
“Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”
Earlier today, experts told The US Sun how this exposes a major vulnerability in our global IT systems.
They warned that hackers could leverage popular enterprise security systems like this to shut down computers around the world – with Adam Pilton adding that “we must learn from this”.
In a statement sent to The US Sun, CrowdStrike said: “This is not a security incident or cyberattack.
“The issue was identified, isolated and a fix was deployed.
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“We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide thorough and ongoing updates on our website.
“We further recommend that organizations ensure communication with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels.
“Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”
The US Sun has reached out to Microsoft for comment and will update this story with any response.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
