Experts warn to beware of cybercriminals seeking to exploit chaos

New Delhi, July 20: On Friday, a significant tech failure wreaked havoc on global travel, and its ripple effects continued into Saturday. The airline data company Cirium reported that as of 10:00 British Standard Time, 1,639 flights worldwide had been cancelled, including 23 departures from the UK and 25 arrivals. Friday saw an unprecedented 6,855 flights cancelled, accounting for 6.2% of all scheduled flights. Despite reports of the IT issue being resolved, the aftermath left thousands of travellers stranded or delayed, either trying to return home or embark on their vacations.

The root cause of the disruption was a faulty software update to the Windows system from CrowdStrike, a US-based cybersecurity company. CrowdStrike has since issued a fix but warned that it could take some time for all systems to return to normal. The outage not only affected the aviation sector but also crippled banking, healthcare, and payment systems globally.

There is no indication of malicious intent or data compromise in this incident. However, vigilance remains high for potential disruptions at airports as the situation unfolds. The last 24 hours marked one of the largest IT outages in history, with aviation being the most severely impacted sector.

The software glitch, attributed to an erroneous update to Microsoft Azure from CrowdStrike, caused widespread system failures and led to chaos across multiple industries.

Both Microsoft and CrowdStrike have been working to mitigate the damage. Microsoft reported that several of its applications were gradually coming back online, while CrowdStrike confirmed that the incident was not a cyberattack. Despite their efforts, CrowdStrike’s stock price took a hit, and CEO George Kurtz issued public statements to address the situation.

Experts are warning of further risks as cybercriminals seek to exploit the chaos. BBC reported that the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), similar to the UK's GCHQ or the US NSA, issued an alert about hackers distributing bogus software fixes posing as CrowdStrike.

The agency urged IT responders to rely solely on official CrowdStrike sources for information and support. This followed the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) warning of an increase in phishing attempts related to the outage.

CrowdStrike's CEO apologized for the disruption and advised users to verify the authenticity of those offering solutions. He emphasized the need for vigilance and recommended using official CrowdStrike channels for updates. The incident has brought CrowdStrike into the public eye, highlighting the company's role in global cybersecurity.

Although the software bug has been fixed, experts indicate that manually rebooting each affected Microsoft computer will require significant effort. The outage has left many questions unanswered, but it is clear that the impact was widespread, affecting flights, banking, healthcare, and payment systems. As the situation develops, further updates