Global IT Outages

[Dembe]

Ran a fish and chip shop in Hull until last year when I sold up. Am working as an IT consultant now.

Thats a hell of a career change! I was only pissing about with my reply..

[lardy]

Same here...30 years....Worked at the likes of Banks/Supermarkets/Insurance companies......There ALWAYS has to be a verifiable roll back option and contingency plan....many companies had 'mirror sites' that stayed on the 'old system' while a new one was rolled out. Problem is by the time I retired companies were bringing in fresh graduates with MBA's but with no experience of the real world.

It was a Crowdstrike update that caused a fault with windows. What backup could companies have in place for this? An entire operating system?

[bobh]

It was a Crowdstrike update that caused a fault with windows. What backup could companies have in place for this? An entire operating system?

It's not the user companies that were at fault here - it was the obvious lack of proper testing by Crowdstrike.

[Maurice Swan]

It was a Crowdstrike update that caused a fault with windows. What backup could companies have in place for this? An entire operating system?

yes....a mirror facility and solid roll back procedures....and Bobh is right...I mean Crowdstrike, not the individual companies...although they too should have contingency plans.

[lardy]

yes....a mirror facility and solid roll back procedures....and Bobh is right...I mean Crowdstrike, not the individual companies...although they too should have contingency plans.

I'm not following.

Crowdstrike should have had a mirror facility and solid roll back procedures. But the problems were on the user computers, because Windows bluescreened there. What would a Crowdstrike contingency plan look like to solve this?

You'll have to help me out, as I'm not as experienced in IT as you.

[Maurice Swan]

I'm not following.

Crowdstrike should have had a mirror facility and solid roll back procedures. But the problems were on the user computers, because Windows bluescreened there. What would a Crowdstrike contingency plan look like to solve this?

You'll have to help me out, as I'm not as experienced in IT as you.

In simple terms, the Crowdstrike problem impacted Microsoft interface.....causing MS to show down screens. I hate MS but it was not wholly their fault..although surely somewhere there should be a risk assessment......"what do we do if Crowdstike failed....."

I don't have room or time or knowledge to give a precise Crowdstrike contingency plan.....unless they choose to hire me!

[lardy]

In simple terms, the Crowdstrike problem impacted Microsoft interface.....causing MS to show down screens. I hate MS but it was not wholly their fault..although surely somewhere there should be a risk assessment......"what do we do if Crowdstike failed....."

I don't have room or time or knowledge to give a precise Crowdstrike contingency plan.....unless they choose to hire me!

Users had bluescreens. Windows was impacted and unusable. The only contingency plan users could have would be to have a backup system that doesn't use Windows, just in case Crowdstrike (or something else) fails. That doesn't seem a realistic option to me.

[JamesWales]

Having sensible alternatives for when systems go down is key; always accepting cash, staff being trained for the scenarios, not having all the eggs in one basket - even little things like having a ready supply of a couple of flip chart boards for messaging etc.

I'm sure some coped better than others but it does show how exposed we are. That lasts for a few days and you have a potentially serious financial crisis on your hands.

[lardy]

Having sensible alternatives for when systems go down is key; always accepting cash, staff being trained for the scenarios, not having all the eggs in one basket - even little things like having a ready supply of a couple of flip chart boards for messaging etc.

I'm sure some coped better than others but it does show how exposed we are. That lasts for a few days and you have a potentially serious financial crisis on your hands.

That's a lot easier said than done. The whole world operates on computers and the internet.

Loads of businesses suffered, but let's take airlines. What is the sensible alternative for flight reservations, scheduling, ticketing, boarding passes, baggage, etc? Just imagine the logistics involved in having a hard copy of everything needed for just a single flight, on the off chance that the computers go down - and there's 100,000 flights daily.

I guarantee that an airline would choose the alternative, risking a few days disruption once in a blue moon, to having a backup to all that.

[Citizen's Nephew]

That's a lot easier said than done. The whole world operates on computers and the internet.

Loads of businesses suffered, but let's take airlines. What is the sensible alternative for flight reservations, scheduling, ticketing, boarding passes, baggage, etc? Just imagine the logistics involved in having a hard copy of everything needed for just a single flight, on the off chance that the computers go down - and there's 100,000 flights daily.

I guarantee that an airline would choose the alternative, risking a few days disruption once in a blue moon, to having a backup to all that.

Closed intranet systems that are operationally independent and not internet connected to one or two massive server administrators. Companies running their own systems. It's all very well saying we're locked into what we have but we don't have to be. Big Tech has had a massive influence. Everything, as is, can be hacked. It's an arms race.

Underneath all of this and the big driver to where we are is mass surveillance. Read anything by Snowden and you'll see why we've been pushed down this route by governments. It's not efficiency. It makes no sense and outages like the other day are proof of that. So why the big connect? It's surveillance.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Having sensible alternatives for when systems go down is key; always accepting cash, staff being trained for the scenarios, not having all the eggs in one basket - even little things like having a ready supply of a couple of flip chart boards for messaging etc.

I'm sure some coped better than others but it does show how exposed we are. That lasts for a few days and you have a potentially serious financial crisis on your hands.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Users had bluescreens. Windows was impacted and unusable. The only contingency plan users could have would be to have a backup system that doesn't use Windows, just in case Crowdstrike (or something else) fails. That doesn't seem a realistic option to me.

It's going to have to be Lardy otherwise we're f*cked. The writing is on the wall. It was never a good idea to go down the route we have. Nobody's even mentioned the other massive dependency and that is 'power source'. Switch that off......the world goes dark. We have no means of connection.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Here ya go: CrowdStrike-Microsoft outage: Chinese cybersecurity firms take victory lap https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/a...ke-victory-lap

[JamesWales]

That's a lot easier said than done. The whole world operates on computers and the internet.

Loads of businesses suffered, but let's take airlines. What is the sensible alternative for flight reservations, scheduling, ticketing, boarding passes, baggage, etc? Just imagine the logistics involved in having a hard copy of everything needed for just a single flight, on the off chance that the computers go down - and there's 100,000 flights daily.

I guarantee that an airline would choose the alternative, risking a few days disruption once in a blue moon, to having a backup to all that.

Sure, no way to completely mitigate for it.

[Wales-Bales]

Starmer to nationalise cyber security end point software in the uk ?

We also need digital ID to keep us safe.

[Wales-Bales]

It's going to have to be Lardy otherwise we're f*cked. The writing is on the wall. It was never a good idea to go down the route we have. Nobody's even mentioned the other massive dependency and that is 'power source'. Switch that off......the world goes dark. We have no means of connection.

When the time comes, it will be very easy to send us back to the dark ages.

[Citizen's Nephew]

When the time comes, it will be very easy to send us back to the dark ages.

👍

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Ran a fish and chip shop in Hull until last year when I sold up. Am working as an IT consultant now.

From chips to chips.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

When the time comes, it will be very easy to send us back to the dark ages.

I can imagine leaving the cave to see the latest petroglyph carved out by Sludge on a rockface and reading 'Tory scum'.