Featured Post from Florida Tech

Global Technology Outage Raises Concerns About Ease of Future Cybersecurity Attacks

Unstable Global Environment a ‘National-Level Issue’ That Must Be Addressed, Florida Tech Professor Says

Jul 22, 2024

3 min


CaptionResizeWrap TextRemove


The world came to a standstill after a technology outage reported Thursday evening grounded airplanes, disconnected hospitals and shut down banks across the globe. A faulty software update was to blame, not cybercriminals, but Florida Tech assistant professor TJ O’Connor said the outage’s cascading effect points to larger concerns about our society’s reliance on the internet.


The outage, which affected users’ ability to access Microsoft 365 applications, was traced back to a defect found in a software update from cybersecurity company CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike quickly released a statement confirming that the outage was “not a security incident or cyberattack.”

The outage was nonetheless damaging, kicking institutions offline. Issues remained more than a day later.


“Once those services go down, there’s this massive cascading effect,” O’Conner said. “If bank processing doesn’t work, then aviation doesn’t work. If aviation doesn’t work, shipping doesn’t work.”


Ultimately, O’Connor explained, the biggest concern isn’t the glitch in the system; it’s the number of systems that broke because CrowdStrike wasn’t working.


“I think what we’ll see a lot of people learn from this CrowdStrike incident is…that if they want to take the internet down in the future, all they have to do is hit one target,” O’Connor said. “It makes the threat landscape a lot smaller to attack for an adversary.”


Over the course of several hours, a blue Microsoft error screen taunted companies worldwide. Airlines including Delta, American and Frontier grounded all flights. Several television news outlets, including the United Kingdom’s Sky News, were unable to hold live broadcasts.


Some of the biggest concerns lie in the hospital industry, where planning, evaluation and continuous monitoring are essential, O’Connor noted.


“[Hospitals] are constantly processing so much data, and for them to go out for a couple of hours means that decisions aren’t being made on an automated basis,” O’Connor said. “We’ve kicked over so much of our decision making to automated systems that we can’t let those networks fail.”


According to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), the outage disrupted its appointment and patient record system. Mass General Brigham in Boston, Massachusetts was also one of several U.S. hospitals that cancelled non-urgent surgeries, procedures, and medical visits because of the disruption.


911 outages were also reported in several states, including Phoenix, Arizona, whose computerized dispatch center was affected, the police department posted on social media. In Portland, Oregon, Mayor Ted Wheeler issued a citywide state of emergency due to the outage’s impact on city servers, computers and emergency communications.


Although CrowdStrike confirmed the incident was not malicious, O’Connor said it raises questions about overall reliance on the internet to make decisions, as well as ineffectiveness in securing it.


“We continually have these wake-up moments where something happens, it’s large scale, it’s a news blip, and then we forget about it… but our adversaries don’t,” O’Connor said. “Unfortunately, the attack infrastructure and the ability to attack is getting easier and easier.”


O’Connor also expects future network attacks to get worse, calling the unstable global environment a “national-level issue to address.”


While large-scale attacks and outages are mostly out the individuals’ control, O’Connor said, people can take action to protect themselves from personal cybersecurity attacks by using multi-factor authentication as much as possible.


Looking to know more?  Dr. TJ O’Connor’s research is focused on cybersecurity education, wireless protocols, software-defined radio and machine learning.


If you're looking to connect with Dr. O'Connor - simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.



You might also like...

Check out some other posts from Florida Tech

2 min

Expert Insight: Understanding the Pacific Ocean's Missing Cold Water Surge

There's a mystery brewing in the Pacific Ocean, and it's worrying marine researchers. Every winter, between January and April, a blast of cold water surges from the bottom to the top of the Gulf of Panama. The cold surge helps marine life survive heat waves. However, this year, there was no blast. Researchers are concerned about the disappearance and believe it could be a sign of a larger problem. The phenomenon has garnered the attention of reporters from outlets like the New York Times, as well as others from across the nation. They're looking for answers.  To help find those answers, experts such as the Florida Institute of Technology's Richard Aronson are available to help explain what's happening deep beneath the surface. Each year between January and April, a blob of cold water rises from the depths of the Gulf of Panama to the surface, playing an essential role in supporting marine life in the region. But this year, it never arrived. “It came as a surprise,” said Ralf Schiebel, a paleoceanographer at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry who studies the region. “We’ve never seen something like this before.” Richard Aronson, a professor of marine sciences at the Florida Institute of Technology, has studied this particular patch of ocean off the coast of Panama for decades. The cold blob gives those corals a better chance of surviving marine heat waves than other areas, he said. Heat stress has plunged the world’s coral reefs into ongoing mass bleaching that began in January 2023. About 85 percent of the world’s coral reef areas have been affected, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “The climate is warming, that’s putting coral reefs at risk,” said Dr. Aronson, who was not involved with the paper. While corals can adapt to changes in temperature, the climate is changing too quickly for them to keep up in the long run, he said. Sea surface temperatures have risen by more than 1 degree Celsius since humans began burning fossil fuels during the Industrial Revolution, breaking records in 2024 and 2023. It’s too soon to tell if the blob will return in future years. But if it disappears repeatedly, then “it’s cause for grave concern,” Dr. Aronson said. If you’re covering this topic or looking to speak with an expert about climate change and its impact on our oceans, Richard Aronson is available for interviews. Simply click the icon below to connect with him today.

1 min

As Extreme Heat Scorches the U.S., Aviation Expert Explains Why Planes Struggle to Fly in High Temperatures

Record-breaking heatwaves are plaguing the U.S. this summer, making it difficult to stay cool. However, the scorching temperatures aren't just affecting us at the ground level — they're disrupting air travel, too, with increasing flight delays and aircraft weight restrictions.  Visiting assistant professor of aeronautics Shem Malmquist, a recognized expert in aviation safety and operations, spoke with FOX 35 Orlando about how extreme temperatures can directly impact aircraft performance, particularly at high-traffic airports during the summer. "Temperatures are probably not something people think about," said Shem Malmquist, a graduate lecturer in aviation at Florida Tech. "But the delays just compound on each other. If you start getting delayed because people need more time to take breaks to stay cool, now that flight’s late, and that has a snowball effect." These limitations can affect passenger loads, cargo capacity and overall flight scheduling. As temperatures continue to climb, Malmquist warned that these disruptions could become the new normal — not just a seasonal inconvenience, but a growing challenge for the aviation industry in the face of climate change. A seasoned Boeing 777 captain and accident investigator, Malmquist has spent decades researching aircraft operations and emergency scenarios. He’s also contributed to global conversations on aviation safety policy and climate-related infrastructure resilience. If you’re covering this topic or looking to speak with an expert on the intersection of climate and air travel, Malmquist is available for interviews. Click the icon below to connect with him.

2 min

Could China Beat America in the Race to Get Boots Back on the Moon?

Call it a matter of pride, national security or a desire for astronomical dominance; there's a sense of urgency within the U.S. government to return to the moon, sparked by China's team of taikonauts, who could land there before American astronauts get back to the lunar surface. The latest space race is a topic that is making national news. Florida Tech's experts are lending their opinions and insights about the likelihood of a lunar return, and what it might mean. NASA, with the urging of many politicians, has been racing to get astronauts back to the moon — before the Chinese land taikonauts on the lunar surface. But what’s the rush to return to a place the United States has already been and left 53 years ago? Especially when Mars looms as an enticing option for interplanetary travel. Space experts say there’s plenty of reasons for the urgency: national pride and national security. But also returning to the moon and building habitats would mean long term dominance in space and ensure access to resources that NASA didn’t know where there when the Apollo missions flew. Now with the Chinese making significant progress in human space exploration, the clock is ticking. “The Chinese in the last 20 years have made amazing strides in all aspects of space. They’re sending robots to the moon on a very regular basis. Now they’re doing some pretty amazing activities even on the far side of the moon, and they have a Chinese space station now in Earth orbit,” said Don Platt, associate professor of space systems at Florida Tech. Can China beat NASA to the moon? “The Chinese have really caught up,” said Platt. “I do believe that the Chinese are definitely advancing their efforts on the moon, and are identifying it as a critical aspect of their strategic future in space." When asked about the prospect of Chinese astronauts making it to the moon before NASA's planned Artemis III mission, Platt said he believes it’s a possibility and he cited the efforts China is making to highlight the importance of the nation's space efforts to its own populace. “They have some amazing videos. They’re really engaging the Chinese public, and really using it to do what what we’ve always done in space, and that is to inspire the next generation and to show the world the technical abilities of the Chinese,” said Platt.  May 21 - USA Today The race is on, and it's getting a lot of attention. If you're a journalist following this ongoing story, let us help with your coverage. Dr. Don Platt's work has involved developing, testing and flying different types of avionics, communications and rocket propulsion systems. He also studies astrobiology and biotechnology systems and human deep space exploration tools. Don is available to speak with media anytime. Simply click on the icon below to arrange an interview today.

View all posts
Powered by