Berlin/Redmond. According to the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), the situation in many areas is returning to normal following the global IT outages caused by a faulty security software update. However, many companies are still struggling with the consequences of the disruptions, as the BSI reports.
The update was on Friday also caused disruptions to the German healthcare systemamong other things, there were failures in a major pharmaceutical software system. The University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) canceled elective procedures and closed its outpatient clinics. On Sunday, the UKSH website said that systems were being restarted and patient care was being “gradually expanded” so that normal operations would be restored “by Monday at the latest.”
BSI: Cybercriminals are trying to profit
Many business processes and procedures were disrupted by the failure of individual computer systems or applications. The BSI warned that cybercriminals were exploiting the incidents for various forms of phishing, scams or fake websites. Unofficial code was also put into circulation.
BSI recommends obtaining technical information exclusively from official sources of the security software company Crowdstrike. According to BSI, the situation is also normalizing with regard to IT outages caused by an outage in the Microsoft Azure service.
Microsoft: 8.5 million Windows devices affected
According to Microsoft, around 8.5 million Windows devices were affected by the flawed software update, which caused widespread disruptions around the world. That represents less than one percent of all Windows computers, Microsoft announced on the company’s blog. That the economic and social impact is still so widespread is demonstrated by the number of companies operating many important services that have used software provider Crowdstrike.
Crowdstrike cited a faulty software update for Windows computers as the cause of the outages. The company said the bug had been fixed by Friday afternoon. However, some of the effects were felt for longer. (dpa/ger)