For most devices, fixing an issue is as simple as turning it off and on again. But last Friday, for airlines, hospitals, and banks without a reset button, it turned into a tech armageddon that threatens to wipe out billions in revenue. Blue screens of death swept the globe, interrupting business, commutes, and the weekends of IT workers worldwide — offering an isolated taste of what Y2K could’ve been like.

Year 2024 problem: A Windows update led to what security consultant Troy Hunt called “the largest IT outage in history.” Cybersecurity company CrowdStrikeCRWD

caused chaos with an overnight update, leading to widespread outages for hundreds of businesses, including banks, travel, and tech firms. Without a quick fix for the flawed update, some operations came to a standstill.

• The global travel industry was one of the most affected industries, with airlines canceling over 2K flights — and United AirlinesUAL
  and DeltaDAL
  issuing ground stops due to “schedule disruptions.”
• Health systems like Epic Systems, brokerages like Charles SchwabSCHW
  , and logistics giants like UPSUPS
  also experienced issues as a result of the outage.

Centralization Station

While CrowdStrike’s IT hiccup is significant, it’s not the first major incident to disrupt IT departments’ Friday plans. Businesses have become extremely reliant on infrastructure dominated by a handful of companies, so when those companies have problems, everyone does.

• In 2022, a CloudflareNET
  outage reportedly took down 90% of the internet, highlighting the problem with centralized services.
• Hosting platforms like Amazon Web ServicesAMZN
  and FastlyFSLY
  have also experienced outages in recent years, disrupting large swaths of the internet.

Solve for x: Thankfully, most issues with infrastructure providers are quickly resolved. Despite the widespread problem with CrowdStrike, business operations were anticipated to return to normal by end of day Sunday — assuming IT staff worked through their weekend. However, the inconveniences to millions of affected customers and employees are expected to cost businesses billions of dollars.