CrowdStrike’s failure led to billions of dollars in losses for Fortune 500 companies, and the global IT outage is one that all businesses must protect against. If you’re a business owner or head of an IT department, you need to take preventative measures to avoid a similar failure in your own systems.
What was the CrowdStrike Failure?
Our Miami cybersecurity was as shocked as anyone in the industry to see a widespread disruption like CrowdStrike. Airlines were grounded, hospital and financial institutions couldn’t operate at full capacity, and it was all a result of CrowdStrike.
CrowdStrike isn’t a form of malware or anything of the sort. Instead, it’s a company that offers cybersecurity software that is widely used by Fortune 500 companies and the subsidiaries that they own.
How Did the CrowdStrike Failure Happen?
CrowdStrike’s software is good - it protects millions of computers - but in this case, the company pushed an update that crashed millions of computers in the process. All of the systems, which were Windows-based, were hit with errors because the testing system allowed an update with problematic data to be released.
While the company rolled the update back within an hour and a half, millions of systems still received it.
A simple bad file led to an out-of-bounds memory error and a Blue Screen of Death. The fix? Millions of devices required manual bad file deletion.
How to Avoid a Catastrophic Disruption Like the CrowdStrike Failure
The CrowdStrike failure led to a catastrophic disruption. While there’s no surefire way to prevent similar disruptions, there are steps you can take to minimize the risk.
Understand the Importance of Redundancy
One of the most valuable lessons learned from the CrowdStrike incident is the necessity of redundancy. In cybersecurity, redundancy means having several independent systems in place. If one fails, another system can take over.
Redundancy helps prevent single points of failure.
Things like having alternative communication channels, a variety of authentication mechanisms and different security vendors can help prevent serious disruptions.
Vet Third-Party Vendors
Redundancy is crucial, but it’s also important to ensure that you’re vetting third-party vendors thoroughly. Research shows that 29% of data breaches now stem from attacks on third parties.
Yet many businesses admit that they do not thoroughly vet their third-party vendors or service providers.
Implementing a third-party risk management program is a great place to start. These programs may include:
- Security questionnaires
- Vendor risk assessments
- Continuous monitoring
Having a program in place will allow you to quickly identify and mitigate risks before they escalate. When unavoidable incidents occur, you can ensure a swift response time.
Be Proactive
Proactive incident planning can help businesses minimize the impact of an outage or breach. Invest in the development of an incident response plan and ensure that it’s updated regularly so that you’re prepared for incidents.
Regular drills and simulations can also help ensure that your team is prepared for an actual event should it occur.
Catastrophic outages can be devastating, but with the right approach, you can minimize the risk and impact. An experienced cybersecurity in Miami can help your business develop incident response plans and provide support should an incident arise.