When you hear the name “CrowdStrike” you might picture  a gathering of crows, plotting their next feast or maybe planning  about which shiny thing around them will  be their next target 🙂

But rest assured, Crowdstrike is far from a Hitchcockian bird drama, instead a cutting edge cyber security company that strikes fear into the hearts of Hackers.  Founded in 2011, this company became a major player in the cyber landscape and created its own space. At the center of CrowdStrike’s service is its Falcon platform, a cloud solution that leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning  to detect and mitigate threats in real time.�

Friday, the 19th of July 2024

It marks one of the largest outages in the history of the IT world.

But what really happened???

As discussed earlier, CrowdStrike sells its Falcon platform to major business giants and one of them is Microsoft. On Friday, it released a major update to this software, and that’s when everything went wrong.The update released contained some files that were released to millions of computers. The moment users installed it, it got integrated into the Microsoft Windows’ kernel (a program at the core of any operating system), and some files confused to security software to the point where the whole computer crashed, showing the windows’ infamous BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) and sending the computer into an endless reboot cycle.

About 8.5 million computers that were running on the Windows operating system were affected.�

WHAT WAS ITS IMPACT?

As a result of the outage, many healthcare clinics and hospitals that store patient lists, appointments in the cloud were disrupted. It led to cancellation of appointments, which caused a huge loss in this sector.Finance sector took the hit as well. The outage caused many transactions to be delayed and compromised data.Flights got cancelled and many schools and educational institutions also faced a lot of inconvenience, due to the fact that they stored important data on the cloud.

Anyhow, every incident prepares us more for the next, Here is the takeaway of the incident:

Preparedness is Key

Organizations must have a proactive approach to cybersecurity, including regular assessments and updates to their security protocols.

Collaboration is Crucial

Effective communication and collaboration between cybersecurity firms and service providers can significantly reduce the impact of such incidents.

Transparency Builds Trust

 Keeping clients and the public informed during crises helps maintain trust and confidence in the services provided.

As we move forward, staying vigilant and prepared will ensure that we can weather any storm—whether it’s a rogue crow or a sophisticated cyberattack.

Manas Gakkar (IX C)

Young Authors Lab
CyberCrew
DPS Greater Faridabad