Black Mirror-style IT meltdown will cost billions – hackers could never have dreamed of such chaos, says expert

CROWDSTRIKE’S global IT meltdown could have come straight out of a Black Mirror episode as even hackers couldn’t dream to make such a damage, an expert has said.

Senad Aruc has more than 25 years of experience in cybersecurity and revealed that Friday’s “tech doomsday” will cause billions of financial impact across the globe.

A Crowdstrike update is believed to be behind the outage

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Hundreds of passengers wait in front of counters at BER Airport in Schoenefeld, Germany, after check-in was delayed due to a ‘technical fault’[/caption]

Senad Aruc

Senad Aruc is founder and CEO of Imperum Security Operation Center (SOC) platform[/caption]

Airports have been hit with ‘Blue Screens of Death’ leaving passengers scrambling amid delays and cancellations

The major global tech outage has sparked mayhem with flights grounded and TV channels and banks knocked offline.

The severe issues at Microsoft have crashed computer systems across the world leaving major businesses, newsrooms and television networks all plunged into chaos on Friday.

Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike say they have identified the issue behind the global outage as a flawed anti-viral update.

The firm are reportedly used by Microsoft to handle various updates to their systems.

Senad, founder and CEO of Imperum Security Operation Center (SOC) platform, told The Sun that CrowdStrike deployed an automatic update to its cloud-based Endpoint Detection Response (EDR) platform. 

But this update caused widespread issues, including the “blue screen of death” on systems using Microsoft’s operating system. 

The incident had far-reaching impacts, notably in airports where it led to widespread chaos.

Airlines were unable to check in passengers, and even basic airport terminal services were disrupted. 

The disruption also extended to banks, healthcare services and other critical sectors, leading to a domino effect of failures.

Senad described today as “doomsday” and likened the situation to a Black Mirror episode.

He explained that just as in the hit Netflix show, the day started normally but turned into a nightmare due to the heavy reliance on interconnected systems. 

The unexpected and severe disruptions caused by the software update echoed themes from the show, where technology failures lead to catastrophic consequences. 

He elaborated that this incident is a modern version of doomsday because it disrupts everyday activities and infrastructure, unlike the traditional idea of doomsday which was associated with wars.

Senad told The Sun: “It’s doomsday because you expect that you’re going to board the plane, you expect that you’re going to buy a coffee, you expect that you’re going to come, you expect that you’re going to have a flawless travel and communication in this connected world.

“And then suddenly nothing is happening. So, I mean, before connected world before IT, doomsday was only wars, right?

“But right now, doomsday can happen only with more basic things like this, unfortunately.”

He continued: “It’s a hundred percent the same as a Black Mirror episode.

“Another kind of doomsday is the wars that we’re facing in the world, right? So when you wake up in the morning and you don’t have anything.

“The doomsdays that we used to know for the wars is now happening for the IT. So that’s how it is.”

When asked if this is the biggest IT meltdown in recent history, Senad told The Sun: “Yes and the impact is huge since real hackers will hit the viability in 90% of the attacks.

“Even the best hackers groups cant do such an outage or damage.”

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Stores have been forced to temporarily close due to the tech issues[/caption]

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Banks and shops have been hit with the IT meltdown[/caption]

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Flights across the world have been plagued by the outages with many airlines announcing severe delays[/caption]

@akothari / X

Paper boarding tickets have been used in India due to the outages[/caption]

The root cause of the problem stemmed from the use of a cloud-based solution in mission-critical systems, which Senad suggests is a fundamental mistake.

While CrowdStrike released a workaround, it required human intervention, making the recovery process slow and cumbersome. 

Senad also criticised the reliance on cloud-based solutions for critical infrastructure, advocating for more resilient alternatives like air-gapped systems. 

He emphasised the need for robust disaster recovery plans to mitigate such incidents.

Senad made sure to stress that Microsoft is not the one to blame for the global meltdown as the issue was with CrowdStrike’s patch, not Microsoft’s operating system. 

He said: “I don’t want to blame CrowdStrike or Microsoft. It’s not fair because it can happen to anyone.”

“People who are profiting from a business where it’s tied to mission-critical infrastructure, they must have a disaster recovery plan in a case like this.”

The incident will likely cost CrowdStrike both financially and reputationally, although they remain a leading cybersecurity firm, the cybersecurity expert added.

The exact financial impact is uncertain but expected to be in the billions, given the widespread nature of the disruptions.

Senad said the incident highlights the collective mindset in IT to rapidly adopt trends like cloud computing without fully considering the risks. 

He explained: “Every single airline in the world is the problem.

“If we convert this to money, I think that billions is going to take right now.

“The reason for these billions flying is not the cost itself. It’s a collective mindset problem.”

Senad suggests that while cloud solutions are integral to modern IT, critical systems should maintain on-premises or air-gapped solutions to prevent such failures. 

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What we know so far…

• Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike sent out a flawed anti-viral update which affected Microsoft Windows systems around the world
•  Airports, businesses, banks, newsrooms, television networks, supermarkets, ships and more have been plunged into chaos
•  Planes were even made to remain in the air on Friday morning
•  Britain woke up to chaos with NHS appointments cancelled, mayhem at supermarkets and huge airport queues
•  Friday’s Sky News breakfast show was wiped off computer and TV screens completely
•  Microsoft uses CrowdStrike to handle its system updates – with the tech company looking to fix the outage “urgently”
•  CrowdStrike said the problem is related to their “Falcon Sensor” and they have reverted back to an older system to avoid further disruption
•  The company confirmed it was not a hack or cyber attack

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Moving forward, it’s crucial for companies to balance innovation with reliability, ensuring that disaster recovery plans are robust and that critical infrastructure is not overly dependent on potentially vulnerable cloud solutions.

The CrowdStrike incident serves as a wake-up call for the industry to reassess the balance between innovation and operational reliability, especially in mission-critical environments, he said.

Cybersecurity software firm CrowdStrike say they have identified the issue behind the global outage as a flawed anti-viral update.

The firm are reportedly used by Microsoft to handle various updates to their systems.

Microsoft has since announced it is taking “mitigation actions” against the issues.

CrowdStrike is said to be used by Microsoft to handle various updates to their systems

Many Microsoft users are facing a blue screen on their computers detailing the issue

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Sky News live broadcast was down early Friday morning – leaving viewers seeing just a statement on screen[/caption]

GP surgeries confirmed they are unable to access patient records or book appointments

They said via X: “Our services are still seeing continuous improvements while we continue to take mitigation actions.

“We remain committed in treating this event with the highest priority and urgency while we continue to address the lingering impact for the remaining Microsoft 365 apps that are in a degraded state.”

A Microsoft spokesperson told Bloomberg that a “resolution is forthcoming”.

CrowdStrike said in a post on their website: “CrowdStrike is aware of reports of crashes on Windows related to the Falcon Sensor.”

They confirmed it isn’t a hack or a cyber attack that caused the issues.

President & CEO George Kurtz said on X: “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.

“The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

It comes as American Airlines, Delta, and United flights were forced to stay in the air as the global outage sparked travel chaos for flyers.

And NHS GP surgeries confirmed they are now unable to access patient records or book appointments.

Sky News and Sky Sports have also been rocked by the outages with them going off air completely – leaving viewers baffled by the severe disruption.

Friday’s Sky News breakfast show was wiped off computer and TV screens for hours with a statement apologising for the “interruption” being shown instead.