By now, many of you are aware of the recent CrowdStrike service disruption. You may have experienced its effects firsthand, whether through canceled flights or disruptions at medical appointments. Delta Airlines was one of the most heavily hit (and most heavily publicized), forced to ground most of its flights and suffering more than $500 million in losses.
But you didn’t have to be a part of the airline industry to feel the pain that this outage caused. It affected almost every single aspect of every single industry. Many companies are still picking up the pieces, and likely will be for weeks to come.
As is the case with any major crises, looking back carefully at what happened - and why - is the best way to prevent it from happening again.
Reflecting on this incident, three key observations come to mind:
First, the impact on cyber insurance is noteworthy.
As a company deeply embedded in the cyber technology sector, I’m concerned about the long-term repercussions this disruption may have on the cyber insurance landscape.
The financial losses for insurers could potentially reach $1.5 billion. This is a substantial figure, particularly given the number of highly profitable publicly traded U.S. companies that were affected, including Amazon and Microsoft.
Although the final assessment of the impact will take time to fully materialize, it is evident that the financial repercussions will be significant.
The disparity in recovery times among organizations throughout this situation has been striking.
Of the more than 29,000 enterprise customers that were affected, some managed to restore their operations with remarkable speed and efficiency. However, others are still grappling with the fallout more than a week later. As I mentioned earlier, it’s likely that many will continue to struggle in the weeks and months ahead.
Though certainly not something many of us could have planned for (or anticipated), this incident serves as a critical reminder of the importance of robust disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
Organizations must consistently reassess and strengthen their strategies to ensure resilience in the face of similar disruptions. Nobody wants to think about the “what-ifs,” but we have to if we want to stay ahead of these kinds of situations.
Finally, it is worth noting that the outage itself was not the result of a cyberattack. It was instead caused by a defect in a single content update for Windows hosts, according to a statement from Crowdstrike.
It didn’t matter, though, because malicious actors quickly seized the opportunity to exploit the situation.
Phishing emails purporting to be from CrowdStrike, offering supposed “fixes”, began circulating almost immediately. The company identified more than a dozen different malicious domains, as bad actors took advantage of the heavy media attention (and widespread consumer panic) to prey upon unsuspecting victims.
This underscores the importance of maintaining vigilant cyber hygiene. Those with well-established security protocols were better equipped to navigate these opportunistic attacks during a period of heightened vulnerability.
The CrowdStrike interruption has highlighted significant areas of concern and provided valuable lessons in cyber risk management, organizational recovery, and proactive threat defense.
Don't leave your organization vulnerable to the next crisis.
At Sicura, we specialize in comprehensive cyber risk management and offer robust solutions to fortify your disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Our advanced tools and expert support ensure that your organization stays resilient - no matter what comes your way.
By now, many of you are aware of the recent CrowdStrike service disruption. You may have experienced its effects firsthand, whether through canceled flights or disruptions at medical appointments. Delta Airlines was one of the most heavily hit (and most heavily publicized), forced to ground most of its flights and suffering more than $500 million in losses.
But you didn’t have to be a part of the airline industry to feel the pain that this outage caused. It affected almost every single aspect of every single industry. Many companies are still picking up the pieces, and likely will be for weeks to come.
As is the case with any major crises, looking back carefully at what happened - and why - is the best way to prevent it from happening again.
Reflecting on this incident, three key observations come to mind:
First, the impact on cyber insurance is noteworthy.
As a company deeply embedded in the cyber technology sector, I’m concerned about the long-term repercussions this disruption may have on the cyber insurance landscape.
The financial losses for insurers could potentially reach $1.5 billion. This is a substantial figure, particularly given the number of highly profitable publicly traded U.S. companies that were affected, including Amazon and Microsoft.
Although the final assessment of the impact will take time to fully materialize, it is evident that the financial repercussions will be significant.
The disparity in recovery times among organizations throughout this situation has been striking.
Of the more than 29,000 enterprise customers that were affected, some managed to restore their operations with remarkable speed and efficiency. However, others are still grappling with the fallout more than a week later. As I mentioned earlier, it’s likely that many will continue to struggle in the weeks and months ahead.
Though certainly not something many of us could have planned for (or anticipated), this incident serves as a critical reminder of the importance of robust disaster recovery and business continuity planning.
Organizations must consistently reassess and strengthen their strategies to ensure resilience in the face of similar disruptions. Nobody wants to think about the “what-ifs,” but we have to if we want to stay ahead of these kinds of situations.
Finally, it is worth noting that the outage itself was not the result of a cyberattack. It was instead caused by a defect in a single content update for Windows hosts, according to a statement from Crowdstrike.
It didn’t matter, though, because malicious actors quickly seized the opportunity to exploit the situation.
Phishing emails purporting to be from CrowdStrike, offering supposed “fixes”, began circulating almost immediately. The company identified more than a dozen different malicious domains, as bad actors took advantage of the heavy media attention (and widespread consumer panic) to prey upon unsuspecting victims.
This underscores the importance of maintaining vigilant cyber hygiene. Those with well-established security protocols were better equipped to navigate these opportunistic attacks during a period of heightened vulnerability.
The CrowdStrike interruption has highlighted significant areas of concern and provided valuable lessons in cyber risk management, organizational recovery, and proactive threat defense.
Don't leave your organization vulnerable to the next crisis.
At Sicura, we specialize in comprehensive cyber risk management and offer robust solutions to fortify your disaster recovery and business continuity plans. Our advanced tools and expert support ensure that your organization stays resilient - no matter what comes your way.
Ready to maintain secure and compliant infrastructure focused on cost, automation, and consistency?