The recent CrowdStrike outage in July has sent shockwaves through the cybersecurity industry, prompting a significant number of businesses to reconsider their reliance on the vendor. According to new research by Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), a staggering one in ten organizations affected by the CrowdStrike outage are now actively seeking alternative security solutions.
The CrowdStrike outage impacted an estimated 8.5 million Windows devices, leaving them offline and disrupting critical business operations. While Microsoft claims that customers using its own systems were back up and running within minutes, the reality was far more complex for those relying on third-party solutions like CrowdStrike.
The Impact of the CrowdStrike Outage
The BSI research reveals that nearly half (48%) of the affected organizations experienced a downtime of ten hours, highlighting the significant impact of the CrowdStrike outage. This downtime resulted in two out of five companies being unable to collaborate with clients, leading to disruptions in business operations and revenue losses.
The CrowdStrike outage has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many customers, prompting them to re-evaluate their vendor selection criteria. Around one in five companies are now planning to revise their vendor selection process, placing a higher emphasis on resilience and redundancy.
The incident has also served as a stark reminder of the precarious nature of relying solely on third-party security solutions. Two-thirds of the affected organizations have either already improved or are planning to improve their incident response capabilities, recognizing the importance of having robust internal security measures in place.
BSI President Claudia Plattner commented on the situation, stating, “There will never be a 100 percent protection against IT security incidents in the future… companies must and can increase their resilience through preventive measures, making them more resistant to IT security incidents.”
The CrowdStrike outage has also highlighted the critical role of social media in disseminating information during such events. More companies learned about the outage through social media channels than from CrowdStrike directly, demonstrating the importance of staying informed through multiple sources.
While the BSI research is based on a small sample size of 311 German organizations, it provides valuable insights into the broader impact of the CrowdStrike outage and the subsequent shift in vendor preferences. The incident has served as a wake-up call for businesses, emphasizing the need for robust security measures, diverse vendor strategies, and proactive incident response plans.
