Business Continuity Management / Disaster Recovery , CrowdStrike Outage Updates , Cyber Insurance

CrowdStrike Outage: Cloud Risks and Recovery Lessons

The CrowdStrike outage has left lasting scars on the companies affected by the resulting losses. Businesses relying on physical computers experienced longer recovery times, highlighting the resilience of cloud-based systems. In the wake of the outage, companies must understand the criticality of their cloud service providers, the sensitivity of their data and the potential effects of outages, said Jonathan Hatzor, co-founder and CEO of Parametrix.

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Parametrix, a cloud outage analytics and insurance services company, estimated that the outage caused U.S. Fortune 500 companies, excluding Microsoft, a direct financial loss of $5.4 billion. Cloud played a dual role during the outage - it facilitated rapid response to the faulty update, reducing recovery time and alleviating the fallout, but it contributed to the systemic nature of the failure. Eliminating redundancy, implementing robust security measures and securing appropriate insurance coverage are required to minimize disruption, according to Hatzor.

"The recovery time for legacy businesses such as airlines and hospitals was much longer compared to tech-oriented companies," he said. "CIOs and CISOs should tailor their risk mitigation strategies in such a way that they cover all three important aspects: managing, mitigating and transferring risks."

In this video interview with Information Security Media Group, Hatzor also discussed:

• The operational and recovery challenges faced by Fortune 500 companies;
• Key findings from Parametrix's cloud outage risk report;
• Strategies for mitigating risks originating from third-party suppliers, including cloud service providers and software supply chain vendors.

At Parametrix, Hatzor is responsible for providing coverage for cloud outages and other IT disruptions. His experience in the insurance and technology sectors has helped him undertake various leadership roles. Before co-founding Parametrix, he was the co-founder and CTO of Matter Software.