– The first word that comes to mind is insane, says Per Øyvind Thorsheim about “history’s biggest IT collapse.” He has 30 years of experience in IT security. Today he works as a security consultant for the Nordic IT company Tietoevry. The IT expert says the case has a number of fascinating aspects, as well as frightening aspects. Now he believes that more people, both at work and at home, should ask themselves: “What happens if the computer stops working?” For: – This will happen again. But first; what actually happened? The antivirus created trouble Crowdstrike is an American company. Very simply explained, Thorsheim says that they supply antivirus software. – These must have continuous updates, he explains and continues: – They can get updates once every half hour. These updates provide protection against new viruses that are discovered. Malicious software is designed to destroy – something Crowdstrike aims to stop. Photo: AFP – Usually when we read about hacking or the like, it’s criminals who want to do damage, says Thorsheim. But this time it was the company that fights the criminals who themselves were responsible for the destruction. An upgrade caused Microsoft Windows to crash. The error has now been found and a correction has been implemented, reports Crowdstrike. Per Øyvind Thorsheim says it is too early to give a clear answer as to how this could happen. Photo: Even Norheim Johansen / news But do we know anything about what was wrong with the update? – There is no information about that yet, replies Thorsheim. – Crowdstrike probably knows the answer to that, but in the technical language they say this is called a corrupt update that causes things to fail. Can happen to anyone The IT expert asks two questions he believes should be answered: Did Crowdstrike not check the software update well enough before sending it out? – It is tempting to say that the answer to that is no. Are such upgrades installed automatically without any control whatsoever? – It’s quite common, but in some situations you probably shouldn’t have 100 per cent automated installation without supervision. Apotek1 was affected by the problems caused by the update. Photo: Malin Kjellstadli Korsnes / news When asked if this could happen to other companies that supply various computer systems, Thorsheim quickly replied: – Absolutely. This could have happened to Microsoft or completely other suppliers. It also means that mistakes like this can affect most industries in the world. – If your systems go down, you have to wait for the systems to come back up. Physical transport, health, banking, industry – everyone can be affected by errors like this. What happens if Apple rolls out an update that causes a collapse in IOS? Then many will probably be without a phone for a period. Photo: Thea Berg Martinsen Don’t throw away pen and paper Thorsheim points out that this can also affect private individuals. – In the worst case, there could have been an update on your iPhone or Android phone, which resulted in it becoming a brick. What do you do? – Have we become too dependent? asks news. – I wouldn’t say that we have become too dependent, but there is still work to be done in terms of what we do if the accident happens first. Do you have a whiteboard at work? – Yes, there is actually one in a corner here, replies news. Behind the computers on the desk at news is a whiteboard. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik / news – Don’t throw it or pen and paper away just yet. This is actually an event that can make people practice what we do if all computers suddenly become unavailable. Thorsheim emphasizes that there are actually quite a few companies, and private individuals, who do not know what to do if their mobiles or computers take over the night. – We have to take a closer look at this, and practice how we handle it. – Is there reason to be more concerned now than before? – No more worried than yesterday or the day before that. But at work people can ask the boss; do we practice what happens if the computer becomes unavailable for a limited period of time? What do we do then? replies Thorsheim and concludes that today’s incident could actually have been far worse. – It sounds rather wild to say it as the situation is now, but it is luck in the accident. It’s just a standard software update that has failed and is easily resolved on each individual computer. Had malicious forces been behind this, it would have been both 10 and 100 times more serious. Published 19.07.2024, at 18.16 Updated 19.07.2024, at 18.34
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What happened when the whole world had computer problems? – news Nordland
