DBT Bureau
Bengaluru, 19 July 2024
A huge outage in Microsoft disrupted computer systems globally with several sectors including aviation, healthcare, government services, and consumer businesses facing serious disruption throughout the day globally.
Many experts termed the current outage in Microsoft as the single biggest outage in the IT systems that the world has ever seen since the invention of the internet.
Millions of computer users faced the ‘blue screen of death’, which occurs on a Windows device when a critical issue forces the device to shut down or restart to prevent further damage.
In India, over 200 flights were cancelled with India’s largest airline, Indigo being affected the most. Globally, three major US airlines, American, United, and Delta grounded most of their flights. Hospitals in London, Paris, and New York also faced difficulties in operations owing to the outage.
The outage happened due to a recent update from CrowdStrike, a US-based cybersecurity company that provides services to several companies globally.
Meanwhile, Microsoft said that multiple services were slowly coming to normalcy after remedial measures were taken.
“We’re investigating an issue impacting users’ ability to access various Microsoft 365 apps and services. “Multiple services are continuing to see improvements in availability as our mitigation actions progress,” the company said on the social media platform ‘X’.
George Kurtz, CEO of CrowdStrike, said on X, “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”
The Indian government also got in touch with Microsoft authorities to get updates on the outage.
“Meity is in touch with Microsoft and its associates regarding the global outage. The reason for this outage has been identified and updates have been released to resolve the issue,” Ashwini Vaishnaw, electronics & information technology minister, said on X.
The Microsoft outage created a debate among Indian entrepreneurs with some flagging up risks associated with dependence on global technology giants.
“Outages are momentary with no deliberate intent to cause harm. Can happen once in a while to any company. But it represents an outcome that could also happen due to deliberate action by bad actors and intentions. And since 80% of our data is stored outside India, we won’t be able to do anything,” Ola CEO Bhavish Aggarwal wrote in ‘X’.
Commenting on the outcome, Jake Moore, Global Security Advisor at ESET said, “These outages are increasing in volume due to the sheer increase in the number of online users and traffic. After witnessing the blue screen of death (BSOD), many people are quick to suspect a cyberattack or find similarities to Netflix’s Leave The World Behind but this can often add to the confusion. It highlights the importance of these services and the millions of people they serve. Businesses must test their infrastructure and have multiple fail safes in place, however large the company is, this is typically referred to as a cyber-resilience plan.”
