Microsoft & Crowdstrike Disruption: Here’s Everything You Need to Know
It has been announced that Microsoft is experiencing a worldwide outage due to an issue with a third-party security platform known as Crowdstrike, which is causing significant disruption to businesses and organisations. Flights have been grounded, media outlets are unable to broadcast and banks are struggling to maintain operations.
Overview of the Crowdstrike & Microsoft Outage
Today’s outage occurred as a result of a recent update from Crowdstrike Falcon, a cyber security platform that is integrated within many Microsoft Windows systems. This update enacted a malfunction that caused what is known as the ‘blue screen of death’, which is a blue screen with white text that signals a fatal system error in Windows.
The outage has affected many of Microsoft’s popular applications and services, including:
- Microsoft Azure
- Microsoft Teams
- OneDrive and OneNote
- Outlook
- Power BI and Microsoft Fabric
- Microsoft 365 Admin Centre
- Microsoft Purview and Viva Engage
When the outage initially occurred, the disruptions were extensive. However, Microsoft have since reported that they have recovered some of their services, such as Microsoft Defender and Microsoft Intune, although some intermittent issues and delays may persist as the system fully recovers.
Impact of the Crowdstrike & Microsoft Outage on Businesses
From finance to travel, the outage of Microsoft services has caused widespread disruption to many industries.
Aviation
Airlines have been heavily impacted with check-in and booking systems experiencing disruption, resulting in flight delays and cancellations. So far, more than 1000 flights have been cancelled around the world. As today was set to be one of the busiest days for UK flight departures, with more than 3,200 departures scheduled, this outage is going to cause significant delays and disruption to the plans of thousands of travellers.
Finance
Customers have been unable to transfer money to their bank, due to service outages. In addition, the London Stock Exchange has reported significant disruption, leaving them unable to share news on their website. Payment systems have been rendered redundant, leaving users unable to accept or process payments.
Healthcare
Several NHS practices have reported disruption to their operations, due to the outage affecting their clinical computer system that is used for scheduling appointments and the storage and processing of medical records.
The Importance of Business Continuity
While the status of this outage seems to be improving, this incident highlights the importance of investing in business continuity solutions and services. When the worst happens, your business’s ability to step up and keep operations moving, despite disruption, is critical.
This outage shows that no matter how big or well known a business is, everyone is susceptible to disruption and technology issues, including technology giants like Microsoft. An incident of this scale is rare, but not impossible and we’ve seen the disastrous impact it can have on operations. Microsoft have worked swiftly to try and ensure a quick recovery, which would only be possible with a robust business continuity strategy. Without this investment in their business continuity, the impact of this incident would have been catastrophic with longer delays resulting in more disruption for businesses who rely on their services.
What is Business Continuity?
Business continuity refers to a business being prepared to maintain critical functions after an emergency situation, such as a security breach or a technical issue like the Microsoft outage. Business continuity should be a top priority for every business, to avoid lengthy, costly disruption to operations and to ensure a quick recovery time, when the incident passes.
Having a proactive business continuity strategy with suitable solutions and services that can recover operations quickly and efficiently, can save your business a significant amount of time and money. Business recovery plans should include roles and responsibilities for key personnel in the event of an emergency, as well as the systems that will need to be recovered and the order of priority in which they should be restored.
What Does a Business Continuity Plan Include?
A business continuity plan should cover the following key points:
- People: Clearly defined roles and responsibilities for both the crisis management team, but also for any teams and personnel responsible for implementing different areas of business continuity plan during the emergency scenario.
- Technology: Include direct instructions on the role that IT solutions will play to ensure critical information, applications and platforms remain available or can be quickly restored after an incident. Examples of key technologies include:
- Data backup and recovery solutions
- Cloud services
- Remote working platforms and desktop virtualisation
- Service Delivery: A business continuity plan should also describe which services are the most critical and should be prioritised for recovery.
- Health and Safety: Criteria and guidelines for ensuring the health and safety of all personnel involved within the incident.
How Can My Business Ensure Business Continuity?
The best way to ensure your business is safeguarded against disaster is to work with a knowledgeable IT provider who will ensure you have a suitable plan and solutions in place to cope, should the worst happen. A specialist IT service provider will work with you to understand exactly how your operations work, the potential risks an outage could cause to those operations and the solutions needed to ensure business continuity.
Once they understand exactly what you need, your IT provider will construct a suitable business continuity plan that covers all bases and ensures a swift recovery in the face of disaster.
Trust the Experts at Netcentrix
We’ve helped many businesses like yours to safeguard their operations against disruption with state-of-the art business continuity solutions and services. We’re proud to say that none of our customers were affected by the Microsoft outage, thanks to our dedication to providing a high level, knowledgeable of service. Our expert IT specialists are highly experienced and possess a wealth of accreditations, so are perfectly positioned to support your business to take control of your business during an incident.
Why not book a free Microsoft audit today with one of our specialists and find out how Netcentrix can benefit your business?
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