If you weren’t affected by the global IT outage experienced on Friday, you no doubt heard about it on the news. It was big – there were cancelled flights leaving airports in chaos, shopping centres full of confused customers who couldn’t buy anything because payment systems were down.
So, what happened? And is your business at risk? We’ve put together some answers to the common questions people have about this IT outage. If yours aren’t answered below, you can always get in touch with Smile IT on 1300 766 720 and one of our techs will answer them for you.
What Happened?
On Friday legions of Windows machines were brought to their knees by the infamous ‘blue screen of death’. This happens when windows encounters a critical failure or cannot load, and the user gets stuck on the dreaded blue screen. The problem was first reported in Australia, before spreading around the world to affect Fortune 500 companies, federal agencies and top tech companies.
Who’s Responsible for the Outage?
The outage is tied to an update of Falcon, an EDR (Endpoint Detection and Response) from US cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike provide malware, ransomware and internet security products to businesses around the world, and Falcon is a cloud-based cybersecurity program providing antivirus support, threat detection, incident response and a range of other security features. On Friday, the Falcon update installed faulty software on Windows that caused systems to get stuck into a boot loop, disabling systems and causing global chaos.
Was this a Cyber Attack?
No, this was definitely not a cyber-attack. It was purely a result of the above-mentioned faulty software update.
Were Smile IT Customers Affected at All?
More than 23,000 companies are subscribed to CrowdStrike, and millions of computers around the world were affected. Smile IT doesn’t use CrowdStrike or Falcon for our cybersecurity or EDR, so none of our clients should be affected by this.
We’re very happy to help businesses or organisations that have been affected by the CrowdStrike outage, so please refer any businesses who need assistance here.
It’s worth noting that Mac or Linux users weren’t affected by the Falcon update, it was only Windows users.
What is the Fix?
Within hours of the buggy update, CrowdStrike had pushed out a follow-up update to replace the flawed configuration file. They are working closely with impacted customers and partners to restore all affected systems, with their technical team mobilised to provide extra support. The fallout is likely to continue for a few days as businesses of all sizes implement the necessary fix.
What is EDR?
Endpoint Detection and Response is a cybersecurity technology that provides continuous endpoint monitoring and analytics to quickly evaluate and respond to cyberthreats. EDR tools provide detection, investigation and response capabilities that help security teams find and eliminate cyber threats quickly, reducing the harmful impacts of an attack.
Is EDR Part of The Essential Eight?
The Essential Eight is a group of cybersecurity controls identified and promoted by the Australian Cyber Security Centre as being essential for keeping organisations safe from cyber threats. You can learn more about the Essential Eight here.
While EDR isn’t one of the eight strategies it does complement each one of them, making it an essential component of any cyber security strategy.
Will This IT Outage Affect EDR Use Moving Forward?
This outage should not deter any organisation from implementing EDR as part of their cyber defences. EDR solutions provide significant benefits in terms of threat detection and incident response, as well as being integral to overall cybersecurity posture. The ongoing protection they offer against sophisticated threats far outweighs the temporary inconvenience of an outage. Again, we reiterate the outage was a result of a buggy update and not a cyber-attack.
If any of your questions aren’t answered above, or this is a good opportunity to improve your cyber defences and help your organisation align with the Essential Eight, get in touch with Smile IT. Our expert tech team are here to help.
When he’s not writing tech articles or turning IT startups into established and consistent managed service providers, Peter Drummond can be found kitesurfing on the Gold Coast or hanging out with his family!