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A West Virginia University cybersecurity expert said the recent global technology outage exposes over-reliance on a small number of software platforms and companies.

MORGANTOWN — A West Virginia University cybersecurity expert says the recent worldwide technology outage that grounded flights and disrupted hospitals, banks, businesses and governments should serve as a warning that society cannot rely solely on Microsoft or similar platforms for day-to-day operations.

A flawed Microsoft software update from CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm used by more than half of all Fortune 500 companies, caused systems to crash on July 19.

Christopher Ramezan, an assistant professor of management information systems and cybersecurity in WVU’s John Chambers College of Business and Economics, said the outage raised his concerns about overreliance on a small number of software platforms and companies, while also strengthening his belief in the need to teach information technology fundamentals at colleges and universities.

“Incidents like the CrowdStrike outage can highlight how dependent we are on a few software platforms and companies that dominate so much of our critical infrastructure.” said Ramezan.

“A simple, bad software update can affect a wide range of systems and industries, from airlines to hospitals. Think about how dependent we are on Microsoft systems in corporate America, and even the world. If you can’t run Windows, you have a huge problem.

“What happens when you can’t get to Google? Google had a major outage that affected their services in 2020 and, again, it caused massive disruption across multiple sectors” Ramezan said. “The major technology companies now offer so many enterprise-class professional services that have become embedded and interwoven into our daily lives. When they suddenly become unavailable, the disruption is enormous.

“It also places a huge responsibility on technology companies and vendors, because small configurations and changes can lead to massive outages. When we think of critical infrastructure, we often think of power grids or water treatment plants. People often forget that information technology is a critical infrastructure sector. Our daily lives are surrounded by enterprise IT systems. Outages like this really underscore the critical nature of these systems.

“This may cause some businesses and organisations to take a step back and reassess their risk posture for some of these large services and identify alternative plans for business continuity and organisational resilience in the event of future disruptions. For me, it’s not a question of if, but when future disruptions will occur. Businesses and organisations should plan accordingly. Accidents and incidents happen.” said Ramezan.

“Why I found this incident particularly interesting is that it highlights the importance of IT teams and systems administrators in ensuring incident response and business continuity in the face of such widespread outages. In academia and industry, we sometimes overemphasize teaching students the latest concepts and technologies, such as ‘cloud,’ ‘zero trust,’ or ‘generative AI,’ and forget about the importance of IT and systems administration fundamentals.”

“IT support teams and systems administrators have been on the front lines trying to troubleshoot issues and restore operations. It’s ironic that sometimes we focus so much on protecting against advanced cyber threats and incidents when a simple bad update or misconfiguration can cause just as much disruption as a large-scale cyberattack.” said Ramezan. “In my opinion, this shows that teaching systems administration and IT fundamentals remains critical for any cybersecurity, IT or information systems student to better understand how to increase organizational resilience and ensure business continuity in the face of future supplier failures.”

West Virginia University experts are available to provide commentary, insights and opinions on a variety of news topics. Search for an expert by name, title, area of ​​expertise or college/school/department in the expert database at WVUToday.

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