2024-07-21 17:09:19
Cloud update process failure
Planes are grounded and financial and broadcasting facilities are shut down
The global IT chaos is also having repercussions in Korea
The possibility of external hacking is not great.
At least 1,400 flights cancelled worldwide… Hamburg Airport in chaos
Hamburg Airport in Germany is full of passengers waiting for check-in and other procedures on the 19th (local time) amid disruptions to major airport operations in various countries due to Microsoft’s (MS) cloud service failure. At least 1,400 flights were canceled around the world on this day. Hamburg = AP Newsis
On the 19th, an unprecedented incident occurred where the information technology (IT) systems of major countries around the world were partially paralyzed due to a failure in Microsoft’s (MS) cloud service in the US. Major airlines in each country stopped operating flights, and financial settlement, broadcasting, medical, and logistics services were also disrupted. There is a possibility that the operation of the Paris Olympics, which will open on the 26th, will be adversely affected. Online, a sense of bewilderment is spreading as photos of ‘Blue Screen of Death’ appearing on monitors all over the world are pouring in.
According to AP and other news agencies, some flights belonging to major airlines such as United Airlines, Delta Airlines, Japan Airlines (JAL), and Lufthansa in Germany were suspended or had boarding delayed on this day. Some domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs) such as Jeju Air and Eastar Jet were the same. In response, some employees of the airlines wrote flight numbers, seat numbers, etc. by hand with a pen on their airplane tickets. The BBC reported that at least 1,400 flights worldwide were canceled.
Some broadcasters in various countries, including British broadcaster Sky News and Australian ABC News, have experienced disruptions in their live broadcasts. The British National Health Service (NHS) had problems with its appointment reservation system, and some data and news services from the London Stock Exchange (LSE) were also interrupted. Major operations at Capitec, South Africa’s largest bank with approximately 22 million users, also came to a halt. According to CNN, there were errors in Italy’s railway and port systems. In addition, many countries experienced disruptions in credit card and online payment systems, forcing people to pay with cash for items. The Paris Olympic Organizing Committee, which is about to open the Olympics on the 26th, also announced that “some systems have been affected.”
The cause of the incident is said to be the program ‘Falcon Sensor’ by the American security company CrowdStrike. It is said that there was a conflict with Microsoft’s ‘Windows’ operating system during the process of updating the security patch Falcon Sensor. However, the possibility of hacking is known to be low. CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz told NBC, “I apologize to everyone who was affected by this incident.” The New York Times (NYT) commented, “This is a shocking example of how vulnerable and dependent the world economy is on certain software.”
1,400 flights canceled across the US, Japan, and Europe… “Paris Olympics system also disrupted”
[MS發 글로벌 IT 대란]
MS Cloud Outage Causes Global Chaos…European Broadcasting and Hospital Systems Also Down
Some services on Indian stock exchanges unavailable… Expert: “Dependency on one place, accidents were expected”
The world is in chaos due to the cloud failure of Microsoft (MS) in the United States. Some say it is the ‘worst IT blackout in history’. Some analyze that this incident could be a watershed moment for future IT development. This is because we have experienced the fear that a single company’s cloud problem could bring the entire world to a halt. It is the shadow of a ‘hyper-connected world’ where the world can be connected to a single cloud.
● Global IT crisis
According to foreign news agencies such as Reuters, at least 1,400 flights have been suspended at airports in the U.S., Australia, and Europe, and some broadcasters have also stopped broadcasting. There have also been disruptions in industries such as telecommunications, medical care, and finance. Check-in was delayed at Berlin Airport in Germany, and Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, and airports across Spain experienced cyber disruptions.
There were also disruptions in airport operations at Japan and Hong Kong International Airport, and Taiwan Taoyuan Airport. This incident also affected preparations for the Paris Olympics. The Paris Olympic Organizing Committee announced on the same day, “System operations were affected. We are currently in emergency planning.” However, they did not disclose the impact.
According to the New York Times (NYT), the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein in Germany canceled surgeries scheduled for that day and closed its emergency room. Christophe Beaugrangelin, a presenter for French broadcaster TF1, said, “I am in the live studio, but I cannot broadcast live because the control room is paralyzed.”
JR West has suspended its service for checking train locations due to a website service failure. At Osaka theme park Universal Studios Japan (USJ), some restaurants have stopped operating due to a payment management system failure.
The Indian stock market has also been hit. According to local media outlet Hindustan Times, brokerage firms such as 5paisa have had their systems affected and are experiencing difficulties in stock market trading. “Airports, airline operations and banking services have come to a near halt,” the Times of India reported.
On the 19th, a so-called ‘blue screen’ appeared on the electronic display board of a Japanese clothing company Uniqlo’s domestic store, with an English message indicating an error in white letters on a blue background instead of the original advertising image. ‘X’ capture
A fatal system error called the ‘Blue Screen of Death (BSOD)’ has also appeared around the world. It is a failure in which the computer screen turns blue and the computer does not boot. Also called the ‘Blue Screen of Death’, BSOD means that the computer cannot operate safely.
In Korea, damage has occurred in the aviation industry, and the Ministry of Science and ICT is working with Microsoft and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) to determine the extent of the damage and its cause.
● Security updates and conflict causes
Passengers are waiting in a long line due to delayed boarding of Eastar Jet at Gimpo Airport in Gangseo-gu, Seoul on the 19th. Reporter Song Eun-seok [email protected]
This disaster was attributed to a security update accident, not a cyberattack. It is said that a conflict occurred with the MS Windows system during the process of updating the security platform ‘Falcon’ of CrowdStrike, the world’s number one security company in the US. CrowdStrike also acknowledged this. MS stated their official position, “We are taking action due to a service issue and are fully aware of the inconvenience some customers are experiencing,” and “We are doing our best to quickly resolve the issue and recover.” It is known that MS is discussing the development of an emergency recovery patch with CrowdStrike.
There is growing evidence that this incident has exposed the vulnerability of a hyper-connected world. This is because the dependence on a specific cloud system with high market dominance can paralyze the global economy, and when a problem occurs, the impact and ripple effect can cause damage on an unprecedented scale.
Because major organizations and global companies in each country use large cloud service providers such as Microsoft and Amazon Web Services (AWS), the damage caused by accidents also spreads on a global scale. Professor Kieran Martin of Oxford University, who served as director of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, pointed out that “this is a clear and uncomfortable example of the vulnerability of the world’s core Internet infrastructure.”
A senior executive of a domestic cybersecurity company emphasized, “To prevent such accidents, we must thoroughly conduct a pre-verification procedure when distributing security patch updates.” Professor Kim Seung-joo of Korea University’s Graduate School of Information Security said, “If an accident occurs in a cloud company that we trusted, the damage will also be global in scale.” He added, “Instead of relying on a single cloud company, the best way to reduce risk is to use two or three cloud services, even if it costs more.”
Reporter Choi Ji-seon [email protected]
Reporter Lee Ki-wook [email protected]
Reporter Choi Ji-won [email protected]
Reporter Jang Eun-ji [email protected]
Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Sang-hoon [email protected]
Beijing = Correspondent Kim Chul-jung [email protected]
2024-07-21 17:09:19