demo: computer glitch = massive failure

With cellphone in our pocket, we push a buggy through the store gathering groceries for the week. Once we complete the list we head to the checkout. It does not matter if we choose to have a clerk check us or do it ourselves at the self-checkout, the items will be scanned for their price. No longer does the store enter each number individually. The machine figures any taxes, the total of any discounts, the number of items and the total for our purchase. We no longer remember our curiosity when we saw the first UPC, in a time before cash registers had the capability to scan them. Much has changed since then. Now buying an airline ticket can be done online at home then printed out or simply saved to that cellphone in our pocket. Although one can go to the airport counter to check in it’s faster to go to the kiosk and do it yourself. Large digital screens scroll through the departing, arriving, delayed or canceled flights. If you can read, you will know your flight’s status. In medical clinics doctors and nurses carry a computer to chart information immediately. It can then be shared with other clinics with the flick of a few buttons, including copies of the digital x-rays that replaced film. Parents monitor their student’s progress at home on the computer. Handwritten report cards qualify as a relic of the past. Even at the international borders and entry ports of international airports, computers facilitate entries and departures. High Schools and colleges offer online coursework and accept homework online in place of papers and stacks of heavy books. Everyday in so many ways we have incorporated computers into our lives. We rarely notice how much we depend on their speed, efficiency and presence in our lives until the system crashes as it did July 19. A glitch now and then at the self-checkout is one thing. The massive shut-down that touched a variety of institutions around the world underscored our computer dependency. A hacker did not originate the shutdown. A terrorist did not attack. No, according to the Associated Press, businesses across the nation and around the world were brought to their knees because CrowdStrike, Holdings, Inc. (a cybersecurity company that provides cloud-based software and services to a variety of industries) sent a routine update to all the companies it serves. The update had a bug in it which caused a problem for 8.5 million Microsoft’s Windows operating systems around the world. Not all Microsoft based systems received the bug. Just those that contract with CrowdStrike to avoid such problems. Certainly a bad day and major blemish for the company. Especially a bad day for folks who could not go online and order their favorite Starbucks cup of coffee. A major headache of a day for the airlines forced to ground their planes while passengers filled the terminals and agents scrambled to satisfy them. Within 24 hours all but a few of the companies returned to their usual operations. Still, the incident provided a glimpse of how fast it all could go wrong. For a few moments, even those untouched by the computer glitch considered “what if this happened to us?” And then most forgot about it, went back to work, played games, scrolled through social media and messaged friends and businesses. While everyone settled back into the normal life in the computer age, CrowdStrike technicians hunkered down to strategize ways to make sure it never happens again – at least not on their watch. A great goal for any computer company. Just don’t say it can never happen. Those were the famous last words for the Titanic and we all know how that story ended.