When Technology Fails
As some of you know probably heard or read, yesterday many parts of the United States that involved technology crashed. If you have not heard, you can read about it here: Timeline: How the CrowdStrike outage unfolded | CNN Business. Due to the crash, many airlines cancelled flights, 911 lines were down, public transportation had been affected, even surgeries were cancelled. So, what caused this big technology failure. A simple software update. That's right, you read that right. A software update caused a global outage that is still affecting people at this moment. It is crazy to think about a time when technology can fail because we may not see it, however it can create disruption and chaos when it happens. So, when technology fails, what are we supposed to do? Are we supposed to get mad and frustrated? Of course, we can get frustrated at the situation; however, we must remember that we are not the only ones in the same situation. Yesterday, there were thousands of people frustrated that they couldn't fly home or to their destination. Maybe this technology failure is a way of showing people that we use technology too much. When people were stuck, I'm sure they were tired and frustrated. Instead, they could talk to people at the airport and do other things they normally wouldn't do if they had technology.
As of the writing of this post, there are still thousands of flights being delayed or cancelled due to the outage, as well as other outages from various companies. However, for the most part, technology is starting to come back. In an article by CNN, the CEO of CrowdStrike (who was responsible for the outage) explained that the company "would take steps to prevent anything like this from happening again" (Rothenberg, 2024, para. 38). While his company may make the necessary steps, it is not guaranteed that the American people will not suffer from another technology failure. With the amount of technology, we have in the United States, any company software update could cause a global outage that affects multiple companies like the one yesterday. As a result, companies must ensure that they are all taking the necessary steps so something like this does not happen again.
References
Rothenberg, E. (2024, July 20). Timeline: How the CrowdStrike outage unfolded.
CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/20/tech/timeline-crowdstrike-system-outage/index.html
Great blog topic! I have to say when I woke up to this news, my first thought went to my husband who was overseas and due to return Saturday. There was a pretty good chance he wasn't going to make it back on time. That was fine, he's a pilot, we handle schedule changes all the time. At least everyone was safe. What really scared me though, was when the reporters said, "Make sure you have cash with you today." Ummmm....what? I desperately needed gas in my car, but I never have cash. Luckily, the gas station was still taking credit cards!! I could handle a forced digital detox, but not having cash could be a huge problem. Scary, how easy it is to cripple the globe with just a little blip on the software update.
ReplyDeleteOh wow! That is wild to think about when you factor in how folks send, receive, and process money. I worked from home on Friday and our only systems I readily use our Outlook and Teams (which were unaffected). Staying home shielded me a bit from how significant this outage really was, but all the reports helped me to realize the true magnitude!
DeleteThanks for this timely post--I woke up & read about the outage on Friday but didn't think about it in great depth until I got to work & realized that it had disrupted many of our essential systems (I work for a public transit agency). Prior to seeing its local effects, I was still thinking about its broader/national implications, but an outage like this really demonstrates that, in such a highly connected world, we can't really create a clean separation between the global and local because we're all dependent on these vast, intertwined systems.
ReplyDeleteI am applying for a job at one of CrowdStrike's competitors and this news was HUGE! Here is an article about what to do if you had the blue screen of death~
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/microsoft-memes-celebrate-happy-international-blue-screen-day/
It made me think about when the internet goes down at school and we all have to suddenly pivot to paper and pencil. Most teachers are never prepared for it. I am a math teacher and still use paper notes, so it is never a big deal to me. Most people do not have a backup plan for when major things like this happen, but it was a good reminder that technology is not indestructible.
ReplyDeleteAs a society, we are heavily reliant on technology, and I concur that it can cause stressful situations when it does not work. As I reside in Florida, there is always the risk that a hurricane will come through my area and temporarily cease our access. As such, I have learned to plan ahead, such as having a paperback on standby and reserving my phone battery for emergencies only.
ReplyDeleteI felt the failure! So, when the tech failed I was in Oxford (UK). My conference had finished the day before, I was taking a day to explore, and we get off the train at 8 am, make it to the ticket office for the fabulous library (with signs everywhere that said "payment with card please") only to find that they couldn't take cards! We had to find a functioning ATM. The financial network was up a few hours later, but at the end of the day we had our first return to London cancelled. Second train cancelled. The third (a local, every stop) worked, but let us off at a different place in the city, and then we had to deal with Tube stations that were down. And then we had to deal with not being able to fly back to the US because of Delta's meltdown. Yes, the technology failed us!
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