Global IT outage is latest crisis to highlight need for greater resilience

THE first quarter of the 21st century has seen a succession of disparate international crises, from the 9/11 terror attacks, through to the 2007/08 financial crisis, and the coronavirus pandemic. However, the global IT outage which struck on Friday (Jul 19) highlights the potential for a new era of cyber challenges in coming years.

The worst has now passed of what has been the largest ever global IT outage event, eclipsing all previous similar events. However, it is not yet over with potentially millions more computers across the world still needing to be fixed individually.

Microsoft estimates that the mass IT outage worldwide affected 8.5 million Windows devices. Banks, supermarkets and other major institutions, including transport hubs such as airports, saw services disrupted, while many businesses were unable to take digital payments or access key databases.