Building Business Resilience: Lessons We Can Learn from the Recent Unexpected Tech Outage

July 19th brought a Friday the corporate world was not prepared for. Microsoft Windows users experienced an outage on a global scale, bringing businesses across industries to a standstill.

Flights were cancelled, payment systems were disrupted, and day-to-day businesses activities came to a halt. And the internet had a field day on social media platforms with memes.

So, what exactly happened?

A sensor configuration update gone wrong.

CrowdStrike, a global cybersecurity firm, rolled out a faulty update through its Falcon Sensor threat-monitoring software. The bug led to Microsoft Windows operating system crashing, affecting its servers and platforms and causing one of the largest global IT outages in recent years.

Though the update was rolled back, and services eventually started resuming back to normal, the disruption caused continues to affect many industries, most of all the aviation sector.

What does this mean for the business world?

This incident has reiterated the importance of cybersecurity, business continuity, and disaster recovery plans. But the biggest learning from the Microsoft outage is the critical importance of thorough testing and quality assurance for software updates.

What should technology and cybersecurity leaders do to stay safe from tech outages?

Every mistake contains a lesson. And from this incident, we must go back and re-evaluate our existing systems and make sure proper training, plans, and backups are available to help us steer clear of any such potential issues in the future.

Here are 5 must-haves to stay safe from unexpected tech outages:

• Pre-deployment testing across environments

  Testing, testing, testing. Before rolling out any update, no matter how seemingly small or insignificant, it is crucial to test it across different environments and weed out any bugs in the initial stages itself.

• Gradual roll out plans to minimize risks

  Rather than releasing an enterprise-wide update, plan your roll outs in phases. This way, even if something goes wrong, it will only affect a part of your process rather than disrupting the entire operations.

• Real-time monitoring and rapid response

  You need to stay on top of everything that is happening once an update or security patch is rolled out. Having systems in place for real-time monitoring ensures that you can catch a problem early and swiftly act to correct it before it snowballs into a bigger mess.

• Implementation of failover mechanisms

  Failover mechanisms ensure that backup systems take over if the primary system fails. During the Microsoft outage caused by CrowdStrike’s bug, failovers would have minimized downtime, reduced business impact, ensured service continuity, and prevented widespread disruptions.

• Resilience building through rigorous testing

  Rigorous testing helps find and fix problems before updates go live. This makes systems stronger and reduces the chance of outages or failures, keeping businesses running smoothly and preventing disruptions.

What role can cybersecurity play in avoiding tech outages?

The irony of a threat-monitoring system causing a global outage is not lost on anyone. However, this incident reiterates the importance of having strong cybersecurity measures in place to safeguard your business. It is even more critical for SaaS businesses to strengthen their digital defenses to keep their software safe.

Implementing strong monitoring and detection systems can quickly identify and mitigate any problems, reducing the risk of significant disruptions. Additionally, conducting regular security audits can expose faults in your system and give you ample time to fix it internally, without impacting your customer’s business.

In a nutshell

The freaky Friday incident could have been completely avoided if organizations across the board prioritized testing and cybersecurity over faster roll outs. Sure, it is good to have shorter release cycles, but never at the cost of quality.

If you want to learn more about building resilient businesses, you can read this whitepaper. Or get a free consultation with leading cybersecurity and testing experts who can make sure that your business runs smoothly, outage or otherwise!