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Our digital archiles heel

Of course there can only be one topic for today's column: the massive IT outage that swept the world at the end of last week.

It's old news now, that a buggy update of some security software crippled millions of Windows machines across the face of the globe and in doing so, halted airlines, fast-food outlets and a raft of other businesses.

Losses due to this outage have been estimated at anywhere from $12bn to $30bn and the fact that so many different types of businesses and services were effectively brought to their knees speeks volumes to the level of vulnerability we've introduced through our heavy reliance on IT systems.

So what are the lessons to be learned?

Well first of all, always carry enough cash to pay for at least one lot of groceries and gas for the car.

We're seeing governments around the world trying to push for a totally cashless society and while that does offer some benefits, it's also a massive risk in the event that events like this happen again (and they will).

This time it was a failed software update, next time it could be a widespread power outage, a hacker-attack, a CME or even sophisticated AI systems simply deciding to have some fun, that brings down the payment networks. Regardless of the cause, the effect of a totally cashless society could be that you're left stranded many miles from home (unable to pay for petrol) or that you're unable to pay for much-needed food items at the supermarket.

However, the effects of the recent outage were far more than simply creating an inability to pay. Many essential services were also crippled in a way that could pose a real threat to human life.

Some emergency service despatch systems failed, making it much harder for ambulances, fire and police services to receive the location and details relating to calls for assistance. Likewise, a number of crucial bits of tech in hospitals went down.

Perhaps it's time for some diversification in respect to the software pillars on which much of our modern computer-based systems are built?

This was a uniquely Windows-related failure and you could recognise Linux and Apple users by the smug smiles on their faces as the Windows-powered world crumbled around them. Yes, I was one of those doing the smiling.

I'm pretty sure that many eyes in China and other "non-aligned" nations were watching with great interest, as the Western world faltered under the effects of this outage. We know that one of the most crucial parts of any future conflicts is the ability to take out your opponent's IT infrastructure so I'm sure many lessons were learned by our enemies as well as ourselves.

Those businesses and organisations who are reliant on any third-party service or piece of infrastructure would now be well-adivsed to come up with some form of contingency plan for when it all turns to custard again at some point in the future. That's because the more we rely on this soft of tech, the more we become vulnerable in the event of its failure.

One can only imagine the effect if some state-sponsored hackers managed to poison the DNS system, crack the authentication protocols and inject malware into the regular Windows update system. Think of ransomware raised by many, many orders of magnitude.

So... don't be so reliant on centralised services that are beyond your control and try to ensure you have sufficient platform diversity to maintain at least some degree of functionality if any of those platforms are disabled.

Me?

Well if all else fails and the internet goes down, my computers become infected with ransomware or the power grid fails, I've got a nice pile of books to read. No electricity required, no connectivity needed and the best special effects your mind can think of. At least I'll have something to do while we wait for all the system admins to rebuild the world.

Carpe Diem folks!

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