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The massive system failures that occurred around the world have highlighted the vulnerability of societies that depend on digital technology for the foundation of their lives. For that reason, the public and private sectors need to reconsider the nature of their crisis management.
Large-scale computer system failures occurred worldwide on Friday. Many computers running on Windows operating systems provided by Microsoft displayed blue screens and became inoperable.
The aviation sector was severely affected. Japan Airlines’ reservation management system was disrupted in Japan, and the low-cost carrier Jetstar Japan canceled many flights.
In the United States, aircraft for all major airlines were unable to depart or arrive. A total of more than 40,000 flights are said to have been delayed worldwide.
Overseas, the impact spread over a wide range of areas, including logistics, finance, broadcasting and medical services.
U.S. hospitals became unable to perform surgeries. A news station in the United Kingdom suspended broadcasting, and Australian financial institutions were unable to transfer money to some customers.
It was one of the largest computer system failures in history. The disruption continued on Saturday, and the impact on people’s lives was enormous. Microsoft and other organizations concerned should hurry to fully restore their systems.
This failure that paralyzed the world was caused by the Falcon software from the U.S. cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. The software is provided through cloud systems, and the problem occurred due to a faulty update for Windows. It is believed that it was not a cyberattack.
Founded in 2011, CrowdStrike holds the world’s largest market share for protecting information on personal computers and other devices from cyberattacks, with about 30,000 corporate clients.
Companies around the world have been introducing this software as a cybersecurity measure as remote work spread amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has long been argued that oligopolies tend to occur in the IT industry. The widespread havoc that just occurred has revealed the risk of excessive reliance on a small number of companies. First and foremost, the two U.S. companies involved in this failure should take thorough measures to prevent a reoccurrence.
Digitization is progressing across a wide range of areas, including labor-saving measures to cope with labor shortages and to improve productivity.
Cloud systems, which allow the storage and retrieval of data via the internet, have become particularly important infrastructure that is indispensable to people’s lives. Their use is expanding in such areas as finance, medical services and electric power.
It is important for the public and private sectors to learn from this incident and prepare crisis response measures in the event of computer system failures.
