Heaptalk, Jakarta — Microsoft claimed that the global outage had affected nearly 8.5 million, or less than 1%, of its Windows devices. Previously, the cyber security firm CrowdStrike admitted that the problem was caused by a faulty update to its antivirus software designed to protect Microsoft Windows devices from malicious attacks.
Consequently, this Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) error paralyzed multiple operations worldwide, including flight cancellations and unaccessible 911 emergency services, hospitals, and other operations globally. Moreover, the incident impacted the share of this global cyber security firm which tumbled by 11%.
Information Technology Practitioner Ashari Abidin observed that the extensive adoption of Microsoft’s Windows operating system has demonstrated its capability to dominate globally. In effect, this has accidentally caused dependency. He suggested users maturely consider the positive and negative possibilities of their dependency, expecting to avoid the significant impact despite the small-scale disruptions that happened.
“This incident reminds us to strive for a technology diversification strategy in the digital infrastructure. It has also raised valuable lessons on the need to discover mitigation measures and be more vigilant in encountering potential risks that arise from relying on a particular technology product, which is expected to cut off the domino effects,” Ashari said in response to this global IT outage.
How can we cease this pile of lousy effects?
In his further statement, Ashari perceived that over-reliance on the most dominant technology product affects the global system, which is highly vulnerable to disruption. For this reason, he emphasized that safety and security are the primary fundamentals of maintaining the stability of digital infrastructure.
Besides, he realized the incident indicated that stringent regulations and security standards are critical to implement, ensuring the responsibility of technology enterprises to be more responsive in handling the disruption.
“Collaboration between companies and transparency to the public are also essential for building a safe and trustworthy digital ecosystem,” Ashari said in his statement.
Instead of an option, he recognized that the incident demonstrated that cybersecurity is mandatory. Based on his perspective, all parties, both the company and the user, are expected to be more vigilant and prepared to encounter multiple crises in the future.
