Most significant IT outage in world history unleashes chaos
The fragility of our digital world was exposed this morning as an IT outage brought critical systems across the planet to an abrupt halt.
Invoking the digital doom prophesied by Y2K preppers, businesses from Tottenham to Tokyo were forced to go manual as Microsoft computers everywhere succumbed to the “blue screen of death”, an impassable error message accompanied by an infuriating, sardonic frowny face.
Globally, the disaster led to the cancellation of over three thousand flights along with millions of appointments, and disrupted billions in financial transactions.
Initial suspicions of a sweeping cyber attack were alleviated after the CEO of a Texas-based tech company, Crowdstrike, informed the public that the catastrophe was spurred by “a defect in a single content update”. As Crowdstrike’s cybersecurity software is embedded in over 24,000 companies around the world, including Microsoft, the bug was able to cascade across platforms, crippling the online capabilities of some of the world’s greatest banks, airlines, retailers, and media organisations.
While many businesses restored operations within a few hours, others continued to be plagued by IT issues late into the evening, despite Microsoft “fixing the problem” just after noon.
The outage has had far-reaching effects across the United Kingdom on a scale never seen before. GPs struggled to access health records and appointments, cancer patients were turned away, London cabbies couldn’t process cards, Sky News went dark, digital council services flatlined, and eager Manchester United fans were prevented from accessing the club’s inaugural ticket release.
Coinciding with a record-breaking travel day, the outage came as 1.6 million passengers were expected to depart from UK airports. Instead, the holiday-hungry hordes were condemned to queues stretching “hundreds of metres” as operations in Gatwick, Luton, Manchester, Edinburgh, amongst others, ground to a halt.
In the City, banks and financial institutions struggled as various customer-facing services became briefly unusable in the midst of the outage. Securities trading on the stock exchange itself, however, was unaffected. The FTSE 100 fell upon the global IT disaster, but settled at a -0.60% decline on the day.
An unlikely hero emerged, however, to support the nation during its digitally-induced doom spiral: Cash. King once again, hard currency dominated the day as the credit card apocalypse, prophesied by Gerald Warner, came to fruition.
Across the globe, the outage caused similar levels of chaos. Airlines in the United States, Japan, India, Australia grounded flights. International banks, industries and governmental agencies reported major disruptions. The far northern state of Alaska even underwent a complete shutdown of its 911 emergency call system, endangering numerous lives and unsettling its rural communities.
Today’s unintentional lapse by Crowdstrike exposes the alarming extent of vulnerability in our global digital systems. One error in an obscure third party cybersecurity firm’s update has induced the “largest IT outage in history”, crippling the daily operations of healthcare services, banks, airlines, sports teams, and governments globally.
Imagine the harm a capable rogue actor or malicious state could cause. For the West, the clock is ticking. Russian and Chinese cyber efforts are rapidly intensifying while our defences are in dire shape. Just last month, a Kremlin-linked cyber organisation wreaked havoc on NHS England’s operations when it held patient data hostage to the tune of £40 million. The breach delayed thousands of operations and appointments.
Other attacks from Russia’s “Cyber Army” have targeted sensitive hydroelectric facilities and water utilities in France, Poland, and the United States. Could Thames Water, already on the brink of collapse, survive such an attempt?
China has also been exposed in recent months as a ruthless opponent of our cyber sovereignty. In May, the UK government disclosed that Chinese-state affiliates were responsible for a long-standing cyber campaign that targeted British parliamentarians, voters, and pro-democracy groups. The CCP has responded with castigation and denial.
Today’s events underscore the incredibly fickle nature of our interconnected digital world. One in which a minor defect, perhaps even an errant keystroke, was able to cascade into the most significant IT outage in history. The systems we rely on for daily life are unstable and ripe for targeting by malicious actors. It’s time we properly acknowledge that reality, and take steps to prevent an even greater cyber catastrophe.
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