It is important to note that the CrowdStrike/Microsoft outage was NOT a cyberattack. The incident began with a software update. As part of its ongoing threat protection, CrowdStrike regularly updates its sensor with the latest threat data. In this instance, the update violated a protected memory address within the Microsoft Windows environment, causing the operating system to encounter a critical error, resulting in the ubiquitous “blue screen of death” where an affected device is unable to recover on its own. 

The workaround to the issue involved a very manual process, requiring users/admins to log in to each machine under “safe mode” and remove the registry key that contains the faulty code. This event shows just how connected technology products are within our ecosystem, and one failure can cause a cascade of devastating impact on an entire infrastructure. 

While both CrowdStrike and Microsoft are working diligently to assist in recovery efforts, we all need to be aware of the potential for secondary attacks from cybercriminals based on information collected via a phishing attack.

Within hours of the incident on July 19, 2024 CrowdStrike warned of malicious activity trying to exploit the outage. One primary method that cybercriminals are using is to send phishing emails purportedly from CrowdStrike (or Microsoft) using “spoofed” addresses (i.e., somebody@crowdstrikeoutage.com) with malicious attachments or simply to gather information for a later compromise. 

CrowdStrike and Microsoft are working around the clock to provide guidance as well as potential tools to assist with recovery. Some good, free advice: DO NOT OPEN any emails from unofficial addresses posing as CrowdStrike or Microsoft support and thoroughly questioning any potential phone calls you may get from CrowdStrike staff; they are likely impersonators. 

Additionally, this unfortunate incident opens up the conversation for developing (or revisiting) a robust cybersecurity prevention and recovery plan. With access to a breadth of cybersecurity providers, solution architects, and managed services, Cloud 9 has the opportunity to help you with your entire strategy – from organization-wide cyber training, to IT outage response plans, to infrastructure automation for disaster recovery, to third-party risk management and consulting programs. 

Or, if you’re a maverick and really want to stir the pot, we can even help you switch it all over to Google and Chromebooks!

Note: We are not reporters, regardless we thought this story important enough to share. We've pieced together this article from a few other (hopefully) reputable stories, sources, and reports. We'll try to keep things updated appropriately

Starting Thursday evening July 18, 2024 and coming to a head on Friday, Microsoft experienced a significant global outage, affecting services such as Office 365, Azure, and Teams - but seemingly and mostly attributed to Microsoft Windows. This disruption impacted businesses worldwide, halting operations and causing widespread frustration among users and consumers alike. According to Wired, the root cause of the outage was identified as an issue linked to CrowdStrike's security software, which is integrated into Microsoft's infrastructure for enhanced cybersecurity measures

https://www.wired.com/story/microsoft-windows-outage-crowdstrike-global-it-probems/

Initial investigations revealed that a recent update to CrowdStrike's Falcon platform inadvertently triggered a cascade of failures within Microsoft's systems. This apparently routine update, meant to enhance security features, instead led to serious unexpected system incompatibilities and undesired behavior. The BBC reports that the issue was severe enough to cause cascading failures across Microsoft's global network, demonstrating the interconnected nature of modern IT ecosystems

Microsoft's security vulnerabilities reached a critical point recently, exposing U.S. and U.K. government customers in a series of high-profile attacks. Notably, a 2023 incident by Storm-0558 compromised sensitive government accounts across 22 organizations, impacting over 500 individuals and tens of thousands of emails. This breach triggered a scathing report from the Department of Homeland Security's Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB). The report exposed a chain reaction of security failures and a corporate culture that downplayed both enterprise security investments and rigorous risk management.

Further amplifying concerns, a separate high-profile incident involved state-backed cyber actors known as Midnight Blizzard. This group successfully compromised Microsoft corporate email accounts, enabling them to steal email exchanges between Federal Civilian Executive Branch (FCEB) agencies and Microsoft. This critical breach prompted the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to issue Emergency Directive ED 24-02.

It's pretty obvious now that government agencies are a prime target for cyberattacks due to their sensitive data and many other factors. Most agencies heavily rely on Microsoft products. In a 2022 Google survey, 84% of all Washington, D.C. metro area employees use Microsoft products. Furthermore a broader survey from Omdia found 85% of all federal government employees use Microsoft.

Google Workspace has sizable market share in the business, education, and healthcare sectors - largely due to its ease of use, simple and intuitive interface, comprehensive billing, and most importantly advanced cybersecurity protections built-in. 

Does that mean bad actors are targeting customers of Microsoft or going after specific targets of interest? That remains to be seen but likely a little of both. If the target is interesting enough it doesn't matter what platform or systems are used. 

Another important question might be: if the tables were turned, Google happened to have higher market share in government, would the "scathing report" be about them? Of course Google doesn't think so. 

No one is suggesting you haul off and switch you entire business or government agency from Microsoft to Google (oh, wait... no, that is exactly what Google is hoping for!) but, it might be a good opportunity for a deeper inspection and even a thorough evaluation/comparison of the two. At the least to see what the other has to offer. At least the whitepaper is compelling enough for customers to probe for more. 

Considering such a decision is so big and impactful for everyone involved, consider outside help. A technology adviser or IT consultant can guide you through the process and introduce you to the right experts and partners. 

Google is certainly an option, and a pretty good one at that. Microsoft has made announcements addressing some of the concerns outlined in the report. They are making efforts to change the behavior and culture within Microsoft ranks. A recent Dark Reading article reports that at least a portion of executive compensation will be tied to meeting security goals. 

While there may be a few more options for retention and recovery for SharePoint within Microsoft itself, as SharePoint grows, this can be a very costly proposition. Plus, too many administrators find the simplicity, low cost, and admin (and end-user) friendliness of cloud-to-cloud backup solutions--designed specifically for M365 backup plans-- just too good to pass up. Many of the most popular solutions can be found as a fully-managed service for surprisingly low monthly per user rates--like $4 to $6, and even lower at scale!

In today's quickly evolving global economy, Unified Communications solutions empower business strategies to break through boundaries that were once roadblocks. Decision-makers are taking a close look at which solutions boost productivity, collaboration, ease-of-use and cost-effectiveness. Through robust workforce collaboration tools, organizations can enact ROI-boosting productivity initiatives, monitor network usage, collaborate on shared applications and so much more.

Microsoft Teams is a perfect fit for many organizations

Microsoft’s recent announcement states that they have 13 million daily users actively utilizing Teams. The most important information for any company to understand about Microsoft Teams are the exact benefits of the solution and the value it delivers based on increased productivity and collaboration. Not only is CallTower the best resource to get this information about Teams for yourself and your organization, but we are also the top choice to provide Microsoft Teams with Voice - hands down.

CallTower is a customer-centric solution provider. That means, instead of pushing a single product on every customer, we find the solution (or solutions – we have many customers with multiple or hybrid solutions) that will work best for them. Since 2002, CallTower has been an industry leader in enabling people to connect; our portfolio reflects our solution enablement model. 

CallTower’s Microsoft Teams Direct Routing solution delivers an integrated Office 365 experience with global calling plans empowered by a US-based client services team, ensuring a personalized implementation, adoption, training and support strategy. CallTower has been voice enabling Microsoft solutions for years. As a Microsoft Gold Partner providing cloud voice solutions, our monitoring and management services ensure the highest quality user experience. The Microsoft Teams Phone System powered by CallTower enables customers to bring their current voice serves into the Microsoft Cloud through Direct Routing. Direct Routing ensures the ability to leverage CallTower’s preferred rates and unlocks the full potential of a Microsoft Teams Phone System.

Understandably, Microsoft Teams works best with a Microsoft PBX system as opposed to a third-party PBX system. Microsoft has invested an unmatchable amount of resources into their PBX systems and organizations can tap into these resources and put them to work in their communication solution.  CallTower delivers this exact setup with Microsoft Teams through Direct Routing - and the benefits are rated number one in the industry. To alleviate risk, instead of layering an existing external telephony solution like some providers, CallTower’s Direct Routing is built to work with Teams, Outlook, SharePoint and the rest of the Office 365 Suite in a native solution – plus other integrations like Salesforce, Slack and more. Organizations using CallTower's Direct Routing get the best of both worlds – the raw power and precision engineering of Microsoft with the personal, reliable support of CallTower. In addition to these benefits, CallTower also delivers CT Cloud Contact Center, CT Cloud Boost, CT Cloud Fax, devices, paging, door buzzers, receptionist console, credit card lines and more to provide a full turnkey solution to our customers.

Along with the limited resources and complex environment of a third-party PBX system, additional problems arise when considering the timetable of these hybrid Microsoft Teams setups. Most providers developing these setups won’t complete their vision until 2020 – which is not soon enough for organizations who want to innovate their communication strategies now. It makes much more sense to implement a system provided and proven by CallTower – a system that has been deploying Teams effectively since 2018 with the benefits of a well-tested native Microsoft environment. Instead of an unproven, third party application, organizations can have the best of both worlds and enjoy world-class 24/7/365 US-based support from CallTower. Why wait for 2020 or later when CallTower has already deployed thousands of users with Teams and Voice, and have the customer references to prove it? The choice is clear.

Read the original article from RingCentral here.