The “cyber blackout,” which occurred on July 19, highlighted a significant vulnerability in the global digital infrastructure. The disruption was caused by a software update designed to improve threat detection and response.
As is well known, many organizations are concerned about potential cyberattacks. A survey by Check Point Research reveals that attacks have increased by almost 70% in Brazil in one year.
According to the "Digital Security Barometer," cybersecurity is considered extremely important because it prevents the exposure of sensitive data, the tampering of information, and system unavailability, thus avoiding risks to the organization's credibility. According to the research, 84% of companies recognize the importance of cybersecurity; however, only 35% of them have a department dedicated exclusively to digital security.
The update was intended to improve the capabilities of the program's dynamic protection mechanism, which performs behavioral pattern matching operations to identify and neutralize threats. However, the update resulted in a "blue screen" on several computers running Microsoft operating systems around the world.
A failure in the Rapid Response Content update led to an unplanned outage. This mechanism, which uses a highly optimized system of fields and values with associated filtering, directly impacted machines running Windows.
This incident highlights the need for a more cautious and rigorous approach to implementing updates in critical security systems, emphasizing the need for more detailed internal attention, as security updates require a careful and preventative approach.
The cyber blackout serves as an important lesson, reinforcing that, in addition to external threats, vulnerabilities can lie within existing systems or processes, in this case, the change management process.
IT professionals should adopt rigorous approval and testing processes before releasing updates to production. I emphasize the need for this practice to ensure the quality and correct functioning of systems, because it helps reduce costs, avoid waste, and minimize the risk of catastrophic failures.
The rigorous practice of change management and quality assurance is crucial to maintaining end-user trust and ensuring service stability, guaranteeing that security improvements do not compromise the functionality of systems and operations.
