Secure updates

German BSI draws lessons from Crowdstrike mishap

The German Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) is proposing measures to improve operational stability so that faulty updates do not have such drastic consequences in future as they did in the major IT breakdown on July 19.

In talks with the software companies Crowdstrike and Microsoft, the BSI has already developed initial measures to prevent similar incidents in the future, according to a BSI statement.

Safe mode must always work
The BSI will also work with both companies and manufacturers of comparable software solutions to ensure that the respective operating system can always be started at least in safe mode, even in the event of serious errors. The BSI's long-term goal is also to "have new and resilient components designed and implemented". These should have the same functionality and protective effect as before, with less far-reaching intervention rights in the operating systems.

A faulty update for IT security software from Crowdstrike recently caused widespread disruption in many places around the world. An estimated 8.5 million Windows computers were affected. The consequences were felt particularly strongly in air traffic, but some supermarkets, hospitals and television stations also had problems.

Crowdstrike later discovered that the test mechanisms for the software update were leaking a faulty file, which then caused Windows computers to crash. The test systems are now being improved and updates are to be rolled out gradually in future so that any problems do not affect all customers immediately.