ARTIFICIAL intelligence could be the key to saving the world from another global IT disaster, an expert has revealed.
People will have to rely more on machines to spot dangerous bugs that could lead to massive outages like Friday’s worldwide shutdown of Windows PCs.
A bad software update pushed to PCs left them unable to turn on, stuck on the dreaded Blue Screen of Death.
This meant that airlines, banks, supermarkets and even hospitals struggled to function normally.
The culprit was an update from security giant CrowdStrike to its Falcon business antivirus software.
Speaking to The US Sun, security expert Mark Manzano said that artificial intelligence can help us avoid problems like the one in future.
Read more about global IT disruption
“There is a growing trend to use AI to help developers write software code,” said Mark, general manager of cybersecurity at SandboxAQ.
“It can really increase developer productivity, but where we need more help from AI is improving code quality assurance.”
“This major global outage, which grounded thousands of flights and businesses, reminds us that humans are not very good at catching bugs in thousands of lines of code.
“This is where AI can help a lot.
“In particular, we need AI trained to look for the interdependencies of new software updates with the existing software stack.”
CrowdStrike’s CEO has apologized for the global security blunder, saying he “deeply regrets it.”
The company issued a patch that is rolling out worldwide.
But many machines that have already been affected by the faulty update will need to be patched manually.
The mistake was so serious that experts told The US Sun it could take “weeks” for the world to recover from the mistake.
What is CrowdStrike?
The global cyber outage affecting TV channels, banks, hospitals, airports and emergency services appears to be linked to a problem at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
IT security firm CrowdStrike released a recorded phone message on Friday saying it was aware of reports of crashes in Microsoft’s Windows operating system linked to its Falcon sensor.
A pre-recorded message reads: “Thank you for contacting CrowdStrike support. CrowdStrike is aware of reports of Windows crashes…related to the Falcon sensor.”
The Falcon system monitors the computers it is installed on and detects hacks and bugs before responding to them.
CrowdStrike, headquartered in Austin, Texas, says it is a global security leader that provides an advanced data protection platform.
A CrowdStrike update on Friday is said to have caused a critical bug in Microsoft’s operating systems, affecting millions around the world.
The company regularly updates systems with new anti-virus software
Toby Murray, an associate professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, Australia, said: “If the Falcon suffers a malfunction, it could cause widespread disruption for two reasons.
“First: Falcon is widely deployed on many computers and second: because of the privileged nature of Falcon.
“Falcon is a bit like antivirus software: it is regularly updated with information about the latest online threats.
“Today’s outage may have been caused by a buggy Falcon update.”
Cyber expert Troy Hunt told Australia’s Seven television network: “It looks like they’ve released a bad update that is currently killing every machine that receives it.”
We’ve also learned that hackers may try to replicate a similar outage in the future.
The good News is that the update only targeted business machines running CrowdStrike security software.
And it also didn’t affect Mac users, which made Apple fans happy.
Worryingly, however, scammers are expected target potential victims of fraud, even if their machines are not affected.
IT WAIVER SCAMMERS – BEWARE!
Beware of scammers, warns Sean Keech, The Sun’s head of technology and science.
This will trigger a wave of dangerous online scams.
Whenever major tech events like this happen, criminals come out of the woodwork to take advantage of innocent internet users.
You may find yourself receiving strange calls, texts, or emails warning you of a hack and asking for information.
So be extra careful if they ask you for personal details like your credit card information or phone number to fix this IT outage.
You may also be told that you urgently need to download security software.
This is another classic scam that allows crooks to install dangerous malware on your machines.
Don’t fall for it: your computer should be perfectly fine, so you don’t need to take any action like a normal person.
This wasn’t a cyber attack – it’s just a bad computer update for business. Don’t listen to the scammers.
It’s important to be on the lookout for suspicious emails, texts and calls.
Cybercriminals will hope that the confusion surrounding the event will cause people to make panic decisions – and hand over personal information or money.
A Microsoft spokesperson told The US Sun. “Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems worldwide.
“We are actively supporting customers to help them recover.”
CROWDSTRIKE ACCUSED – THE FULL ANSWER FROM THE CEO
Here is an official statement from CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz…
“Today was not a security incident or a cyber incident.
“Our customers remain fully protected.
“We understand the seriousness of the situation and deeply regret the inconvenience and disruption.
“We are working with all affected customers to ensure systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers rely on.”
“As previously noted, the issue has been identified and a fix has been implemented.
“There was a problem with the Falcon content update for Windows Hosts.” For the latest information, which we’ll be constantly updating, check out the CrowdStrike website, my LinkedIn posts, and my X posts.
“will continue to provide updates to our community and industry as they become available.”
