The cyber breakdown shows a weak spot

The Friday outage in the computer systems that snapped all communication and the computers went blank across airport terminals across the world, and in banking systems caused the inevitable disruption. It gave a fairly good hint of what happens when the computer systems that have become our lifeline go terribly wrong.

The explanations have emerged slowly. We have been told that this was not a cyber-attack, this was not a case of hacking. It was an error in a software update. No one seems to have checked the code of the software update properly enough. The software is that of the cyber-security company, CrowdStrike, and it struck the Microsoft’s Windows system, which is almost universal.

The cause of the breakdown at a global level seems to be due all the computers using the same cyber-security software. If there had been different software systems, not all of them would have snapped together. This has been put succinctly by an assistant professor of engineering at Cornell University, Gregory Falco, “This is the function of a very homogenous technology that goes into the backbone of all of our IT infrastructure. What really causes this mess is that we rely on very few companies, and everybody uses the same folks, so everyone goes down at the same time.”

This seems to be a pretty good summing up of the problem. It looks like that in matters of high technology with far-from-certain research outcomes, a handful of companies will remain in the field, with a monopolistic stranglehold. It was inevitable that the outage had impacted the markets and shares fell on Friday at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), with CrowdStrike’s shares falling 11.1 per cent. Jeff Kleintop, chief global investment strategist at Charles Schwab, said, “Today’s (Friday) outage reminds us that services can have supply chain disruptions too. While not a cyberattack, the outage is a worrisome reminder of how our systems are deeply integrated.”

There would have been less puzzlement and more righteous anger if this had been a cyberattack because there would be someone to blame, to demonise. When the glitch emerges from inside the system, and there is no ‘enemy’ behind the disruption, it becomes a difficult issue.

People operating the system – this involves Microsoft Windows and the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike – have to ponder on how to make the systems more immune, and also eliminate the glitch in the code – and those depending on the system, which includes airlines, banks, healthcare systems, and millions of ordinary people, have to grapple with the fact that there could be unintended slipups which could cause a huge disaster, and it would take time to get back to normal functioning.

In some ways, this could be compared to the power grid snapping and a whole region is plunged into darkness, and it will take hours to repair the lines and restore power. These are breakdowns in systems created by human beings.

It would be impossible to get off the computers, the software and the global integration that has taken place through the Internet. The systems would be restored and people are going to function as though there was no breakdown. It might be said that there is no alternative. The system when it fails has to be corrected and then there has to be business as usual.

Cyber companies are going to work extra hard to plug the loopholes much better. It is like the snag in Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft which has stranded the American astronauts in the International Space Station (ISS). Work is on to set right the problem. We have to get used to the fact that there would be mechanical failures like a car breaking down on the highway. You just have to do the repair work and get it running again.