Security | Threat Detection | Cyberattacks | DevSecOps | Compliance

5 common misconceptions about workflow automation

The potential benefits of workflow automation for security teams are huge - from improved incident readiness to faster time to value, improved retention, and reduced errors, there lots of compelling reasons to adopt this technology. But there are also some popular misconceptions holding teams back from fully embracing workflow automation. In this blog post, I'll debunk some of the most common myths about workflow automation and explain why it's worth investing in for any security team.

CrowdStrike Windows Outage

Across the world, Windows computers have by effected the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). This appears to have been caused by an outage of services provided by cyber security provider, CrowdStrike, and has impacted a large number of organisations – from banks to airlines. According to recent announcements, “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts,” CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said on X.

One Faulty File: Global Disruption

As I write this, billions of users are looking at “the blue screen of death.” Flights are grounded around the world, 9-1-1 service is offline in the entire state of Alaska, hospitals can’t check in patients, retailers cannot make sales because their POS systems are down, Newark airport has reverted to paper tickets for check-in, and countless other organizations are at a standstill. This is the top story on every major news site I’ve checked. What could cause this carnage?

A Brief History of Graduality

In the early hours of July 19th, 2024, CrowdStrike endpoints on Windows machines worldwide received a faulty content update, causing what is shaping up to be the one of the largest global IT outages to date. All over the world reports of Windows workstations and servers stuck in a boot loop with a BSOD were pouring in, impacting airlines, airports, banks, hospitals and many other critical infrastructures such as emergency services call centers, and the list goes on.

CrowdStrike & Rubrik Customer Content Update Recovery For Windows Hosts

Joint customers utilizing Rubrik for immutable backup are recommended to utilize Rubrik in-place recoveries for impacted Windows VMware Virtual Machines (VMs), standard VM restores for Azure VMs, AWS EC2 instances, and live mounts for Hyper-V and AHV VMs. For VMware VMs this significantly reduces the recovery time by only recovering the changed blocks required to revert the VM to a snapshot before the 04:09 UTC CrowdStrike host update.

CrowdStrike Outage: Short-Term Actions and Strategic Priorities for the Future

As most in the industry are aware, a defective content update to CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor for Windows led to a global cascade of system outages affecting critical industry sectors such as transportation, banking, healthcare, and public safety. Many enterprises and government agencies around the world are still actively managing their response to this incident.

78% of Organizations Are Targets of Ransomware Attacks Two or More Times in Twelve Months

New data puts the spotlight on the frequency and impact of modern ransomware attacks, highlighting the overconfidence organizations are showing in their ability to defend and respond to attacks. If you’re like one of the organizations surveyed in Halcyon’s latest Ransomware CISO Survey report, the findings were quite eye opening.

CrowdStrike Phishing Attacks Appear in Record Time

I have been the CEO of an anti-virus software developer. We had a special acronym for catastrophic events like this, a so-called "CEE". As in Company Extinction Event. Within hours of mass IT outages on Friday, a surge of new domains began appearing online, all sharing one common factor: the name CrowdStrike. As the company grapples with a global tech outage that has delayed flights and disrupted emergency services, opportunistic cybercriminals are quick to exploit the chaos.

Preparing for Cybersecurity Audits: Insights from US Regulations

Cybersecurity regulations often include audits that assess and strengthen an organization’s defenses against increasing cyber threats. In the United States, various cybersecurity regulations, including HIPAA, SOX, PCI DSS, and more, require audits. Each audit ensures your organization meets the required standards outlined in the regulation while also strengthening its overall cybersecurity framework.