25.07.2024 09:32:00
Дата публикации
According to many experts, the problem has already gone beyond purely technical and even corporate issues, because on July 18 and 19, 2024, computers running Windows stopped working not only in offices.
The work of several large airports, railways, hospitals, and banks was paralyzed.
In addition, TV channels, stock exchanges, and telecom operators suffered. They were faced with the fact that their computers stopped working, and the so-called "blue screen of death" appeared on their monitors. The situation went beyond the "ordinary" failure.
As it turned out later, the problem was in an incorrect update of the CrowdStrike corporate antivirus software. They did not notice a bug in it.
Later, the error was fixed, but it was almost impossible to “cure” all the computers centrally or remotely — technical specialists from the affected organizations dealt with each computer on-site.
According to insurers, as a result of this, in the US alone, the 500 largest American companies by revenue (excluding Microsoft) suffered losses totaling about $5.4 billion.
Part of the damage was insured, but insurance payments will only cover 10-20% of the actual financial losses. However, this will not compensate for the nerves and time spent at airports for passengers stuck on departures. In addition, is there a guarantee that this will not happen again in the future?
Technical experts note that although Microsoft was not directly involved in the incident, the company still controls the operation of Windows and has the ability to improve the handling of such problems. The simplest solution is to disable the problematic drivers.
But a more radical change would be to restrict access to the Windows kernel to prevent system crashes caused by third-party drivers. Ironically, Microsoft already tried to do this with Windows Vista, but faced resistance from antivirus software makers and EU regulators.
Insurance analysts believe that this event will increase the focus on cyber insurance and may lead to an increase in insurance payments due to interruptions in work.
However, a number of industry experts believe that the failure has exposed another problem - a crisis of centralization. Sarkis Darbinyan, General Consultant at EDF, agrees with this thesis.
After reading messages from friends who were unable to get home, "stuck" in airports, seeing news about the "stopped" London Stock Exchange and a failure in online banking, he came to the conclusion that:
"This is not a rebellion of machines. This situation tells us about a deep crisis of centralization of the Internet and services. What is called a "monoculture" in the software world has failed. Conclusions will be made, and they will be made unequivocally. Decentralization of the Internet and services is the only chance to avoid collapse."
(text translation is done automatically)
The work of several large airports, railways, hospitals, and banks was paralyzed.
In addition, TV channels, stock exchanges, and telecom operators suffered. They were faced with the fact that their computers stopped working, and the so-called "blue screen of death" appeared on their monitors. The situation went beyond the "ordinary" failure.
As it turned out later, the problem was in an incorrect update of the CrowdStrike corporate antivirus software. They did not notice a bug in it.
Later, the error was fixed, but it was almost impossible to “cure” all the computers centrally or remotely — technical specialists from the affected organizations dealt with each computer on-site.
According to insurers, as a result of this, in the US alone, the 500 largest American companies by revenue (excluding Microsoft) suffered losses totaling about $5.4 billion.
Part of the damage was insured, but insurance payments will only cover 10-20% of the actual financial losses. However, this will not compensate for the nerves and time spent at airports for passengers stuck on departures. In addition, is there a guarantee that this will not happen again in the future?
Technical experts note that although Microsoft was not directly involved in the incident, the company still controls the operation of Windows and has the ability to improve the handling of such problems. The simplest solution is to disable the problematic drivers.
But a more radical change would be to restrict access to the Windows kernel to prevent system crashes caused by third-party drivers. Ironically, Microsoft already tried to do this with Windows Vista, but faced resistance from antivirus software makers and EU regulators.
Insurance analysts believe that this event will increase the focus on cyber insurance and may lead to an increase in insurance payments due to interruptions in work.
However, a number of industry experts believe that the failure has exposed another problem - a crisis of centralization. Sarkis Darbinyan, General Consultant at EDF, agrees with this thesis.
After reading messages from friends who were unable to get home, "stuck" in airports, seeing news about the "stopped" London Stock Exchange and a failure in online banking, he came to the conclusion that:
"This is not a rebellion of machines. This situation tells us about a deep crisis of centralization of the Internet and services. What is called a "monoculture" in the software world has failed. Conclusions will be made, and they will be made unequivocally. Decentralization of the Internet and services is the only chance to avoid collapse."
(text translation is done automatically)
