The age-old saying ‘never keep all your eggs in one basket’ proved to be a grim reality last week when a worldwide IT failure resulted in the collapse of numerous major corporations, leading to widespread disruption. Consequences of the failure included suspended flights, interrupted payment processes, and impacted health services, with repercussions felt around the globe.
As the situation begins to stabilise, people are querying how such a catastrophe could happen and, crucially, how to prevent it reoccurring. Analysts suggested that this incident served as an epitome of how significant failure can disrupt supply chains and underscored the importance for corporations to revisit their contingency and cyber resilience strategies to ensure uninterrupted service delivery during a major event.
More and more companies are outsourcing their expertise nowadays, either due to lack of competence or financial restrictions. Hence, it’s no wonder companies like CrowdStrike have established a foothold. Nonetheless, the recent downtime highlighted the pitfalls of such an approach. It also unexpectedly demonstrated what a cyberattack intending to create widespread chaos could look like. Imagine the possible devastation if a deliberate attack was made.
Absolute cyber security and a risk-free strategy are far-fetched concepts. However, this incident may encourage careful businesses to scrutinise how their services are organised, develop resilience strategies for worst-case scenarios, and implement necessary alterations.
The technology sector now faces grave queries, particularly considering emerging technologies that are being thrust into the market. To gain public trust, they must strive to earn it – and in certain situations, re-earn it.