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Having Backup
Big business has to learn this lesson and we do too
A couple of weeks ago on a Friday morning, a massive disruption occurred in the internet system. At its heart, was CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity firm that provides software to companies worldwide. The company says the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows, noting that the issue behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack.
On Friday afternoon I heard a cybersecurity expert talking about how the companies could have avoided such a catastrophe by using not just one cybersecurity firm in their business — still, two unrelated cybersecurity firms to handle the company’s cybersecurity. Half of the company’s computer system is serviced by one cybersecurity firm while the other half is serviced by the other. This way, if there’s a glitch in one system, it doesn’t affect the entire company. The event didn’t affect my household at all. However, this interview did get me thinking.
Why are we dependent on a single system only to whine when that system inevitably fails we are unprepared? Why don’t we have backups in our homes for things we have become dependent upon in our lives.?