The Context
The recent major IT disruption linked back to a CrowdStrike update has made headline news globally. On the morning of Friday, 19th July, Windows computers across the planet started “blue screening”: crashing and unable to restart. The scale was huge, impacting 8.5 million Windows systems, from payment processes to transport and healthcare, and resulting in over 5,000 flight cancellations.
At first, the cause was unclear, but it was later linked back to a faulty configuration update sent out by cybersecurity company CrowdStrike to its Falcon software.
This incident strongly highlights the importance of IT disaster recovery for large organizations. Despite CrowdStrike's swift rollback, the manual restoration efforts by the impacted organizations are proving extensive, with many requiring potentially days or weeks to get working fully again. Moreover, the immense resources needed to restart systems have left organizations more vulnerable to cyber threats in the form of phishing emails and malicious websites offering fixes.
As many have observed, this was the “real” Y2K incident, and it came from one seemingly minor software update.
Not If, But When
One of the main lessons of the CrowdStrike incident is how vulnerable organizations can be to the mistakes of third parties. The organizations impacted were unlikely to check and vet the software themselves, for fear of leaving themselves exposed to the threats CrowdStrike was designed to mitigate. The machines auto-updated and then started crashing. With automatic updates being prevalent across the technology industry and enterprise-level organizations relying on a huge suite of software across their technology estate, we face a “not if but when” climate of threat. An unfortunate situation, but one which organizations must prepare for, like wearing a helmet while riding a bike.
The Mainframe Market
This incident and the lessons to be learned from it have specific implications for legacy systems, as these are often the most business-critical systems. Contingency planning for these systems is vital to maintaining business continuity, even in the midst of a major incident.
Many existing terminal emulators used to access these legacy systems have specific requirements, specifications, and restrictions. Some emulators can only be used on specific devices, require client-side installation, or only work on certain browsers and operating systems. This can make them an extra burden when dealing with major incidents. If these devices go down, or if the operating system/browser is impacted by a bug or faulty update, these emulators are affected too and may cease to function.
By contrast, a terminal emulator which can be used on any device, from desktops to tablets and mobile, can ensure that even if one part of a technology estate is impacted, users can still use the emulator via another device without compromising security. The server-based, pure HTML Jubilant Terminal Emulator is a great example of such a modern, performant emulator. Completely device-agnostic, and with no potentially insecure plugins, applets, or VMs to install and update. Moreover, if the server Jubilant is running on is impacted by a fault, it can easily switch to running on the cloud.
Jubilant Terminal Emulator is also centrally maintained, giving administrators complete control of the entire user base. With a centrally-administered solution, fast, decisive action can be taken by administrators, ensuring users maintain access and giving organizations full peace of mind.
In this way, Jubilant represents the height of performant, secure resilient terminal emulation.
Preparing for the Aftermath
While maintaining its own functionality during a technology crisis, Jubilant can also help your wider organization recover from disrupting incidents.
In the context of "not if, but when," an established, tested, technology disaster recovery program is essential for any organization. With Flynet’s Enhanced Support package, our technical team can restore your business critical solutions quickly and securely. All of your configurations will be saved and ready, meaning your company gets a smooth “warm start” bouncing back from the incident. Team can immediately start repairing any other damage in the rest of the organization and keep business-critical systems running while they work. This means minimal downtime and maximum ability to counter any damage.
Moreover, for organizations that want extra layers of durability, Jubilant’s flexible nature makes it an ideal candidate for an emergency web based terminal emulator. If your current emulator is impacted by an incident, Jubilant can step in and allow for immediate access to your systems from any device with a web browser while you fix your primary emulator.
Conclusion
The CrowdStrike incident will become a historic example of how badly a third-party caused incident can impact organizations. The lessons learned are to vet software thoroughly to make sure it is prepared to perform under such pressures and to have a robust contingency plan to restore systems in the case of a crisis. If these lessons are followed, organizations will find themselves in a much stronger position, and Jubilant Terminal Emulator is an excellent starting point for ensuring company-wide security in this new era.