The "cyber blackout" that occurred on July 19 highlighted a significant vulnerability in the global digital infrastructure. The interruption was caused by a software update designed to improve threat detection and response.
As is known, many organizations are concerned about potential cyberattacks. A survey by Check Point Research reveals that attacks increased by nearly 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, tampering with information, and system unavailability, thereby avoiding risks to the organization's credibility. According to the survey, 84% of companies recognize the importance of cybersecurity; however, only 35% of them have a department dedicated exclusively to digital security.
The update aimed to enhance the capability of the program's dynamic protection mechanism, which performs pattern matching operations to identify and neutralize threats. However, the update resulted in a "blue screen" on several computers with Microsoft operating systems around the world.
A failure in the Rapid Response Content update caused an unplanned outage. This mechanism, which uses a highly optimized system of fields and values with associated filtering, directly impacted the machines that use 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 preventive approach.
The cyber blackout serves as an important lesson, reinforcing that, in addition to external threats, vulnerabilities can be in existing systems or processes, in this case in the change management process.
IT professionals must adopt rigorous approval and testing processes before releasing updates into production. I emphasize the need for this practice to ensure the quality and proper functioning of the systems, because it helps reduce costs, avoid waste, and minimize the risks of catastrophic failures.
The rigorous practice of change management andquality assuranceIt is crucial to maintain end-user trust and ensure the stability of services, ensuring that security improvements do not compromise the functionality of systems and operations.
