When monoculture leads to monofailure.

On July 19th, a routine update by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused widespread computer failures, affecting 8.5 million systems worldwide. The reliance on a single operating system, Microsoft Windows, and a single threat checker, CrowdStrike, for critical commercial IT systems makes global ou...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Prospect no. 331; pp. 30 - 32
Autor principal: Zuckerman, Ethan
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Prospect Publishing Limited Oct2024
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:On July 19th, a routine update by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike caused widespread computer failures, affecting 8.5 million systems worldwide. The reliance on a single operating system, Microsoft Windows, and a single threat checker, CrowdStrike, for critical commercial IT systems makes global outages possible. This monoculture vulnerability is similar to the risks associated with monoculture farming, where planting a single crop can lead to devastating consequences if a disease or pest strikes. The article suggests that diversifying technical ecosystems, like polyculture farming, could lead to more resilient systems.