Despite testing, it is impossible to completely rule out crashes like the Crowdstrike outage, a computer science expert tells Euronews Next.
ADVERTISEMENTThe major IT outage that brought the world to a halt on Friday could happen again, a computer science expert has warned.
The meltdown was caused by a «defect» in a software update for Windows from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which bricked machines operating on Microsoft Windows and threw airports, businesses, hospitals, media outlets and other industries into disarray.
According to Axel Legay, a professor of computer science at the Catholic University of Leuven, the more interconnected a computer is, the more vulnerable it is.
«The more interconnected the software is, the more vulnerable we will be, because more and more software will interact and it will increase,» Legay said in an interview with Euronews Next.
Almost 30,000 flights were delayed on Friday and nearly 7,000 cancelled worldwide. Disrupted continued on Saturday.
The overall impact has been incalculable, but the incident did wipe billions off the value of Crowdstrike on Friday when trading opened.
Many companies use Microsoft and depend on the software to keep running. Every time a new update is released, especially those concerning systems used by large companies are scrutinised in detail and tested for bugs. Yet, «they happen every day,» Legay pointed out.
The problem is that «the very notion of testing is not perfect,» he said.
«There is no way to prove that a test will guarantee that there won’t be a mishap, because there is no mathematical theory that can prove this,» Legay added.
An error in an antivirus
But what was the faulty patch from Crowdstrike that caused delays and flight cancellations worldwide?
«It’s simply an anti-virus that has been updated, and the new update is not very compatible with Microsoft’s systems,» Legay explained.
After the update was pushed, thousands of businesses around the globe began to see a blue screen on their screens telling them that their computer software was not working. This is known as the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).
«That’s because the anti-virus is complex. And Microsoft’s own system is also complex. So, sometimes when you try to merge two things together, they become so complex that you don’t quite know what’s going to happen,» Legay told Euronews Next.
And for Microsoft, what consequences will the Big Tech behemoth face after the IT outage? Well, it seems that there will be few, according to Legay.
«Let’s face it, they have a monopoly,» he said, although he pointed out that it could cause damage to their image and reputation. The same will not be true for the long-term or economic consequences.
«Maybe in the stock market it will diminish a little bit,» he explained.
Despite knowing that no system is 100 per cent secure, the EU has been underinvesting in cybersecurity for years, he added.
