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The consequences of the CrowdStrike update

A screen displays an announcement on possible travel delays due to a global IT outage Gatwick Airport in Crawley, United Kingdom.
A screen displays an announcement on possible travel delays due to a global IT outage Gatwick Airport in Crawley, United Kingdom.

It’sbeen called the largest IT outage in history.A simple security update took down over 8 million machines, affecting industries from airlines to broadcast news to hospitals.

The buggy update came from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike and affected systems usingMicrosoft. 

Since that outage a couple of weeks ago, CrowdStrike and Microsoft have run their own investigations into what happened. But the federal government is also looking for answers. A House committee is calling on CrowdStrike’s CEO to testifyaboutwhathappened.

And the Department of Transportation is launching an investigation into Delta, which experienced ongoing delays for days after the outage.

How can a security update cause a global IT meltdown? And what can we do to prevent it from happening again?

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Michelle Harven