Poor writing and poor headline. It was not a Windows update. It was an update pushed out by CrowdStrike, for their software. Companies that don't use their software were not affected.
Surprised something like this would get past testing (assuming testing was done).
Proper testing requires "testbeds" that are identical to BOTH the server side (Cloudstrike) and the client side (the airlines.) You can't assume that a testbed on one side is all that is required for "testing."
Every system that needs to be reliable should have a document explaining what the average uptime percentage is. A 3-day outage per year would correspond to a 99% average uptime (since there are roughly 300 days per year.) I built and ran a system that had a 99.9% average uptime per year. That meant we were allowed about 8 hours of downtime per year. I think we always met that goal. But we had a lot of expenses building that system. Some years we had no downtime at all. If you want only one hour of downtime per year, then you need roughly 99.99% uptime. I would estimate that each additional "9" will double the price of your expenses, including salary, hardware, software, building space, etc.
So this is where we see letting third-party vendors have that level of access to the OS in order to provide security becomes a vulnerability in itself.
Nonsense. Good standards don’t let third parties to operate “on an OS level” since that access is not needed to begin with. In case of Apple and Microsoft they provide APIs and frameworks that other vendors can use. They stay within these boundaries (or there wouldn’t be a standard).
Also, you could argue the very opposite. Letting a few tech giants in control over protocols used world-wide means that when things go bad, everything goes bad.
You might not understand how antivirus work, but kernel access is needed for them to function.
So this is where we see letting third-party vendors have that level of access to the OS in order to provide security becomes a vulnerability in itself.
Yes indeed. Huge global flaw in QA testing, involving so many different industries. I understand this was a mistake but it could have been malicious and targeted.
A global Blue Screen Of Death from an automated 3rd party driver update, and I bet nothing will change at most companies, including Microsoft.
So this is where we see letting third-party vendors have that level of access to the OS in order to provide security becomes a vulnerability in itself.
Nonsense. Good standards don’t let third parties to operate “on an OS level” since that access is not needed to begin with. In case of Apple and Microsoft they provide APIs and frameworks that other vendors can use. They stay within these boundaries (or there wouldn’t be a standard).
Also, you could argue the very opposite. Letting a few tech giants in control over protocols used world-wide means that when things go bad, everything goes bad.
You might not understand how antivirus work, but kernel access is needed for them to function.
Got to love what was reported as a ‘fix’ “Microsoft has suggested switching devices on and off again up to 15 times” 😂😂😂 I love working in IT.
Why does that surprise you? If you have ever had the miserable experience of supporting Windows in the Enterprise you would know the old, hackneyed MS fix for every blue screen of death: ctrl+alt+del If that don't fix it reinstall Windows If that don't fix it 'thoughts and prayers'.
So this is where we see letting third-party vendors have that level of access to the OS in order to provide security becomes a vulnerability in itself.
Nonsense. Good standards don’t let third parties to operate “on an OS level” since that access is not needed to begin with. In case of Apple and Microsoft they provide APIs and frameworks that other vendors can use. They stay within these boundaries (or there wouldn’t be a standard).
Also, you could argue the very opposite. Letting a few tech giants in control over protocols used world-wide means that when things go bad, everything goes bad.
You might not understand how antivirus work, but kernel access is needed for them to function.
You proved my point. Antivirus software doesn’t just monitor “files that change” - any file on the computer, including OS files need to be monitored. You think viruses just play around in “My Docunents” folder ??
Think about it - if a virus can shut down that API then your antivirus software would be rendered useless.
Maybe it's time for Apple to consider opening a business computing division. Maybe acquire JAMF to start with. I imagine all these companies that suffered would want to get away from monoculture systems and set up at least a back-up or parallel network. Just think how big that business could be for Apple. It'll double the company's size overnight.
At least for small to medium sized companies, That is why I'm hopeful that Apple using their own hardware M2 Mac Studios as servers for Apple Intelligence will lead to leveraging what they learn so that they can apply it to the business computing side of things and offer solutions to the public, why not there obviously is a need?
So this is where we see letting third-party vendors have that level of access to the OS in order to provide security becomes a vulnerability in itself.
Nonsense. Good standards don’t let third parties to operate “on an OS level” since that access is not needed to begin with. In case of Apple and Microsoft they provide APIs and frameworks that other vendors can use. They stay within these boundaries (or there wouldn’t be a standard).
Also, you could argue the very opposite. Letting a few tech giants in control over protocols used world-wide means that when things go bad, everything goes bad.
You might not understand how antivirus work, but kernel access is needed for them to function.
You proved my point. Antivirus software doesn’t just monitor “files that change” - any file on the computer, including OS files need to be monitored. You think viruses just play around in “My Docunents” folder ??
Think about it - if a virus can shut down that API then your antivirus software would be rendered useless.
The point is that an application can do what’s needed, without being in a privileged position to screw the kernel. Apple provides similar security tools to monitor processes and the network too: https://objective-see.org/products/utilities.html
So this is where we see letting third-party vendors have that level of access to the OS in order to provide security becomes a vulnerability in itself.
Nonsense. Good standards don’t let third parties to operate “on an OS level” since that access is not needed to begin with. In case of Apple and Microsoft they provide APIs and frameworks that other vendors can use. They stay within these boundaries (or there wouldn’t be a standard).
Also, you could argue the very opposite. Letting a few tech giants in control over protocols used world-wide means that when things go bad, everything goes bad.
You might not understand how antivirus work, but kernel access is needed for them to function.
You proved my point. Antivirus software doesn’t just monitor “files that change” - any file on the computer, including OS files need to be monitored. You think viruses just play around in “My Docunents” folder ??
Think about it - if a virus can shut down that API then your antivirus software would be rendered useless.
The point is that an application can do what’s needed, without being in a privileged position to screw the kernel. Apple provides similar security tools to monitor processes and the network too: https://objective-see.org/products/utilities.html
You are wrong. Just look at the installation instructions for crowd strike on MacOS. You have to disable system security protection to allow kernel access.
Comments
Every system that needs to be reliable should have a document explaining what the average uptime percentage is. A 3-day outage per year would correspond to a 99% average uptime (since there are roughly 300 days per year.) I built and ran a system that had a 99.9% average uptime per year. That meant we were allowed about 8 hours of downtime per year. I think we always met that goal. But we had a lot of expenses building that system. Some years we had no downtime at all. If you want only one hour of downtime per year, then you need roughly 99.99% uptime. I would estimate that each additional "9" will double the price of your expenses, including salary, hardware, software, building space, etc.
I understand this was a mistake but it could have been malicious and targeted.
A global Blue Screen Of Death from an automated 3rd party driver update, and I bet nothing will change at most companies, including Microsoft.
Read more at Writing a File Monitor with Apple's Endpoint Security Framework over at Objective-See
“Microsoft has suggested switching devices on and off again up to 15 times”
😂😂😂 I love working in IT.
If that don't fix it reinstall Windows
If that don't fix it 'thoughts and prayers'.
Think about it - if a virus can shut down that API then your antivirus software would be rendered useless.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fVgRE_fcl00