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Why Is Zero Downtime Crucial for Your Business? 🖥️ Unplanned downtime can disrupt operations, cause financial losses, and damage your reputation. In a world where businesses depend heavily on technology, every minute of downtime can lead to: 1. Financial Impact 2. Data Loss 3. Reputation Damage Maintaining uninterrupted operations is essential to protect your company’s assets and ensure customer satisfaction. 👩🏻💻👨🏻💻 Contact IT-flow today! We offer tailored solutions to minimise downtime risks, enhance productivity, and safeguard your business. Let us help you stay ahead with innovative services and robust cybersecurity. #downtime #onlinestore #techsupport #technology #tech #itsupport #computer #windows #itservices #cybersecurity #itsolutions #business #technews #computers #smallbusiness #informationtechnology #ittech #microsoft #computertech #computersupport #software #datarecovery #cloudcomputing

🔐 **The CrowdStrike & Microsoft Blunder: A Lesson in Overzealous Security** 🤖 Remember when around **8.5 million Windows computers crashed** earlier this year due to a faulty CrowdStrike update? 🤯 Yeah, kernel-level access is powerful, but when things go sideways, they really go *sideways*! The issue was caused by CrowdStrike’s Falcon software accessing system memory incorrectly at the kernel level, causing widespread outages and headaches across the globe. Microsoft has now started rethinking its approach to security partnerships—focusing on minimizing kernel access and adopting **user-mode security solutions** to prevent these sorts of catastrophic failures. Not trying to be funny but remember when CrowdStrike accidentally flagged **Microsoft Office** as a *potential threat*? Yep, you read that right! It was like calling your overly enthusiastic guard dog to "protect" you from your own mailman. 🐕📬 How are we doing things differently? We're developing a solution to **assess network and system postures without any kernel access**—ensuring that your Networks/Systems stay secure without the risk of, you know, *accidentally taking down half the world*! 🌍 By operating from the outside, we’re reducing the potential for crashes while still providing comprehensive security checks. It’s about balancing security and stability. 🎯 Let's face it, security should **protect** your system, not crash it. 😂 #Cybersecurity #NoKernelNoProblem #PostureManagement #Innovation #MicrosoftOutage2024 #FalconDown #PurpleSecurity

“The issue appeared to be with an update to CrowdStrike software called Falcon Sensor, according to Lukasz Olejnik, an independent cybersecurity researcher and consultant. An updated fix of the software has been sent to computers, but Mr. Olejnik said outages would probably persist because it was not clear how to fix the huge numbers of computers that had already been affected. A big part of the problem lies with the current suggested solution, which is to reboot each computer manually into safe mode, delete a specific file, and then restart the computer normally. Security experts said that while it is a relatively simple process, there is no way to automate it at scale. “There is a workaround, but it requires manually tampering with Windows systems files in recovery mode,” Mr. Olejnik said. “Such practice is in general not advised ordinarily, as mistakes may cause other problems.” That leaves affected organizations with a major quandary: how to raise the huge numbers of qualified professionals to go through and update the computers one by one. It could mean that even with the problem known and a patch sent, systems outages could persist for much of the day, if not longer, according to experts. Those with organized and well-staffed information technology teams could potentially fix it more quickly, said Mr. Olejnik.” https://lnkd.in/er23KtyF

🚨 Global Computer Outage: What's Really Happening? 🚨 Hey everyone, You might have heard about the massive global computer outage affecting around a billion computers worldwide. There's a lot of confusion and finger-pointing, so let's clear things up with some facts. 🧑💻🔍 🤔 What's Causing the Outage? It's not Microsoft's fault! Here's what actually happened: Crowdstrike Update: A recent update from Crowdstrike, a cybersecurity company, included a bug. Kernel Mode Monitoring: The buggy patch runs in Kernel mode, which means it has deep-level access to monitor system activity. The Bug: This update caused a critical error by attempting to access an invalid memory location, resulting in a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). 😱 🛠️ Fixing the Issue The problematic driver file is named "C-00000291.sys". Unfortunately, fixing this isn't as simple as an automatic update. It requires manual deletion of the file. Given the file runs in Kernel mode, deleting it is crucial but needs to be done carefully to avoid further issues. 📉 The Impact This isn't just a minor inconvenience. Here's why this is a BIG DEAL: Corporate Computers: Most of the affected computers are corporate devices, which often have restricted access for users to make changes. Manual Intervention Required: Each affected computer needs to be rebooted in fail mode, and the driver has to be manually removed. Scale of the Problem: Imagine the challenge of every affected user trying to perform this fix. Many might not even know what a file is, let alone how to safely remove a driver! 😬 🔑 Key Takeaways Blame Game: It's crucial to understand the root cause before jumping to conclusions. In this case, it's Crowdstrike's update, not Microsoft. Scale and Effort: The scale of this outage and the effort needed to fix it is enormous, highlighting the importance of robust update testing. Let's stay informed and support those affected by this massive issue. 💻🔧 📢 #TechNews #Cybersecurity #ITUpdate #GlobalOutage #TechCommunity

Global Computer Outage Despite efforts to deploy a patch, outages may persist, especially for organizations lacking extensive IT resources. Consider Polyadmin Inc. A global computer outage has disrupted operations for airlines, hospitals, retailers, and other businesses, stemming from two consecutive issues with widely used Microsoft systems. On Thursday, Microsoft Azure's cloud service experienced an outage affecting clients in the central United States, including some airlines. This issue left users unable to access certain Microsoft 365 apps and services. On Friday, a flawed security update from CrowdStrike caused problems for many Windows devices. The update to CrowdStrike's Falcon Sensor software required a manual fix that is difficult to automate, leaving many organizations scrambling to update their systems one by one. Despite efforts to deploy a patch, outages may persist, especially for organizations lacking extensive IT resources. #cybersecurity #ITconsulting #IT Source https://lnkd.in/e9ueT6xX

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Join me on day 3 of my #100DayCybersecurityChallenge as we navigate through the critical directories of Linux: 💻 🔒 bin : Explore user commands and tools crucial for system functionality. boot : Investigate the boot loader files and kernel, securing the system's foundation. dev : Understand device files representing hardware components, essential for device management and security. etc : Dive into system-wide configuration files, safeguarding sensitive data like passwords and user information. home : Secure home directories housing user data and configurations. lib : Protect shared libraries and kernel modules vital for system integrity and operation. media : Manage and secure removable media access points, reducing potential security risks. mnt : Securely manage temporary filesystem mounts, ensuring data integrity and system security. opt : Explore additional application software packages, ensuring they meet security standards. proc : Monitor and secure system and process information files, preventing unauthorized access. root : Protect the root user's home directory, safeguarding critical system administration functions. run : Monitor and manage runtime data for system processes, ensuring security and performance. sbin : Secure administrative commands and binaries, limiting access to authorized users. srv : Secure data for system services, ensuring availability and protecting against cyber threats. sys : Protect virtual files representing the kernel and system device tree, preventing unauthorized modifications. tmp : Manage and secure temporary files, reducing the risk of exploitation. usr : Safeguard user programs and utilities, ensuring they do not pose security risks. var: Secure variable data like logs and databases, preventing unauthorized access and data breaches. Together, let's embark on a journey to strengthen our cybersecurity knowledge and skills! #100DayCybersecurityChallenge #LinuxSecurity #CyberAware 🔒

This week, perhaps the most impactful event for everyone was the blue screen incident from #Microsoft, the leader in enterprise services. It's likely that before this, nobody had considered how a small software error could have such far-reaching effects on our lives, affecting everything from airline travel and hospital services to something as small as a refrigerator at home failing to protect food. The incident stemmed from a clear statement in Microsoft's official blog, titled "Helping Customers Navigate the #CrowdStrike Outage," explaining that a security software update triggered the blue screen on Windows. Microsoft estimates that the CrowdStrike update affected 8.5 million Windows devices, which is less than 1% of all Windows devices. Despite this small percentage, the extensive economic and social impact highlights how many critical services rely on some known enterprise softwares. This has made people across continents keenly aware of how enterprise services are flattening the world. Improving processes and tools to mitigate similar risks in the future has become a new challenge/focus for the security and enterprise service sectors. #CyberSecurity #EnterpriseServices #TechIncident #isaca #ITAudit #compliance #processimprovement #sixsigma The picture is from the internet.

Today's CrowdStrike update is wreaking havoc across the globe. For the lucky ones who haven't been impacted - popular cybersecurity software releases a botched update that crashes Windows systems. With airlines not operating, hospitals stopping surgeries, and supermarkets no longer taking card payments this is likely the most impactful software incident in history. In the popular tech spaces, I'm seeing the most upvoted comments debating the use of Windows or kernel drivers, but they're missing the real issue: 🔑 Instant Auto-Updates on Production Systems This inherently risks system-wide failures, regardless of your OS or security measures. Any meaningful update can potentially break your system. If you make one change, make it this: 1. Disable auto-updates on production servers 2. Create a separate environment that serves to confirm stability of updates. If you're hip: Maybe some kind of canary or blue-green server setup. If you're on a decades-old stack and it has to be manual: then manually. 3. Test updates in this environment for several days 4. Only roll out stable updates to production Every software update, even for your beloved calculator application, has the potential to break a system. For our SaaS vendors out there: Please make this clear if your product is B2B and used on servers. I hear you, "but then customers will never update!". Sure, enable auto-updates by default if you like. But mention prominently(!): "We recommend you move to a setup where updates are first tested in a separate environment". Let's take our responsibility - these are peoples' lives we're talking about here. #crowdstrike #cybersecurity https://lnkd.in/geXasV65