Spot the glitches of technical network blackout

Technology outage is a calamitous impact on various services and disrupts or halts the operations of airlines, medical services, media channels, banking services, railways and business operations all over the world as these are connected with computers.

Recently, a giant tech Microsoft system server crashed suddenly, causing a major breakdown in the server network which led to errors in the login system, airlines operations and others that paralyzed most parts of the globe. The issue erupted in the process of updating some security software which led to an outage of the server and thus stopped all user services globally. The problem affecting the majority of services was caused by a flawed update by CrowdStrike, an American cybersecurity firm responsible for offering protection to existing users from any cyber threat.  

Network outages may be due to a gamut of technical reasons which have the power to crash the computer services and interrupt connectivity. Such a network crisis has devastating repercussions on business processes and other sectors. A small software bug or whole systemic letdowns both can create network crises in the computer system at huge scale and derails the life of the users. Several technical malfunctions such as software patches with bugs or viruses, improper MTU sizes, TCP packet mismanagement, routing problems, VLAN misconfigurations, and incorrect network parameters can shut down the computer network.

Another issue that can trigger the network failure is the hardware defects in the system. Obsolete firmware, software flaws, corrupt components such as network cards or SFPs may lead to technical outage. Other procedures that can interrupt computer networks may be overheating from high loads or insufficient cooling, power fluctuations, and physical damage or mishandling of equipment.

Human errors in uploading software, misconfigurations, improper settings, not creating data backup before any upload in server, wrong connections, unplugging operational cables are the grounds of network breakdown. Technical failure in computer systems is also propagated from high voltage to battery failure and wrong wire setting in devices, and electrical issues. It is also observed that traffic congestion or oversubscribing bandwidth in technical systems may induce sluggishness or total network shutdown. It is found that some environmental issues may create chaos in technical systems that include extreme weather conditions, abrupt temperature changes to tarnish materials, lightning strikes and pollutants.

Through intelligent security of environmental and technical anomalies, security experts can map the risks associated with technical systems, and accordingly strengthen architectures. When facing irregularities on the operating system in a device, there are many remedial actions to be taken depending on the nature of the issue. If there are further issues in operating the system, it is suggested to delete the app from cache also to remove the corrupt data that is disrupting the system. To prevent network collapse, professionals have to regularly update or upgrade the Software, equip personnel to deal with any technical emergencies through offering training sessions. Experts can smoothly enhance the defense through developing security layers, firewall devices and upgrading the hardware system to lessen downtime frequency.

Preparedness for technical shutdown can revive the system without major losses through regular updating the backup system. Experts of disaster recovery in companies must prepare effective technical plans to restore the network. To reduce technical faults, the software team must perform gate freezing. It will block the activities of hackers in the system. Technical team must be well trained to attend to the technical letdowns and in case of network collapse, they can immediately switch to backup internet services.

Normally there are provisions for two (Data centers) servers installed at different locations which are mirrored. This means whatever live data is changed in the main server, in real time the same is updated in the second server also. In case of any fault in the main server, the whole network connected with the main server switches over to the second server without any interruption of services.

In writer’s view, companies must plan technical alternatives to support emergency crisis in network to avoid major losses.

Technical bind up:

Major global IT shutdowns in the digital technical era are threatening situations for users as these may affect the financial dealings, airlines operations, stock exchanges, supermarkets, telecoms, media outlets, create medical emergencies as several hospital functions use online reports for major operations, and business interruption in many countries.