Image source: Photo.com
A few days ago, the "blue screen" incident of Microsoft's Windows computer aroused concern and concern on the whole network, and the topic of network security once again became the focus of heated discussion. It is reported that the issue was triggered by a flaw update to the Falcon system of security network company CrowdStrike, which is designed to prevent cyberattacks. It has privileged access to a critical part of the computer, the kernel.
The impact of this failure was huge, resulting in the cancellation of more than 5,000 commercial flights around the world, the disruption of countless corporate businesses, and the severity of the incident was described by Tesla CEO Elon · Musk as "the biggest tragedy in IT history." Patrick · Anderson, CEO of Anderson Economic Group, an United States research organization, estimates that the economic damage caused by the Microsoft technology failure is likely to exceed $1 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Microsoft said that the European Union should be responsible for the world's largest IT system failure. A Microsoft spokesman said the company had struck a deal with it in 2009 at the insistence of the European Commission, under which Microsoft was required to open up the kernel level of the Windows operating system and allow other vendors to install security software, a decision that increased the likelihood of system errors. Microsoft was unable to make security changes to the update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike, which caused the failure of about 8.5 million computers worldwide.
Microsoft believes that this policy comes at the cost of reduced system security, and the Blue Screen of Death incident is a reflection of the consequences of this policy. A Microsoft spokesperson complained, "While companies want to be able to further lock down operating systems to improve security, EU requirements make this goal difficult to achieve." ”
In the wake of the "blue screen" incident, CrowdStrike issued a statement saying that it apologized for the impact of the technical glitch, and that the company was working to accelerate the remediation process and would continue to provide updated information.
According to many tech media and social media netizens, CrowdStrike this week gave away a $10 apology gift card to its global partners, which can be used on the food delivery platform Uber Eats. According to the letter provided by the source, CrowdStrike said it recognises that the "July 19 incident" has caused additional workload for partners. The letter reads: "We would like to express our heartfelt thanks and apologies for the inconvenience, and as a token of our appreciation, we will treat you to your next cup of coffee or supper. ”
Looking back at the development of the cybersecurity industry from the "Microsoft 'blue screen' incident":
-- The cyber security situation is becoming increasingly severe
From 2022 to 2023, major cybersecurity incidents will continue to occur frequently around the world, and the threat of cyber attacks will continue to rise, with ransomware, data leaks, and hacker attacks emerging in an endless stream and becoming more harmful. The cost of cyber attackers is decreasing, and the attack methods are becoming more advanced, and the network security situation of critical information infrastructure is becoming increasingly severe, posing a serious threat to national security.
-- The scale of the network security market is increasing year by year
Due to the emergence of cyber threats and the frequent emergence of ransomware viruses and their variants, which seriously threaten the network security of enterprises, institutions and individual users, people's demand for network security products and services continues to grow, more and more enterprises are involved in network security, and the market size of the network security industry is also increasing year by year. As countries take measures to counter cyber threats, the rapid development of the global cybersecurity industry is being promoted. According to the report of IDC, Gartner, and the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the global cybersecurity market in 2021 will be US$168.77 billion, US$157.75 billion, and US$155.40 billion, with growth rates of 27.8%, 17.9%, and 13.7% respectively compared with 2020. Among them, as of March 31, 2023, IDC disclosed that the global network security scale in 2022 was 195.51 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year growth rate of 15.8%; Gartner disclosed that the global cybersecurity scale in 2022 will be 169.16 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year growth rate of 7.2%; The CAICT has not disclosed specific data for 2022.
-- The structure of the network security market segment
According to IDC statistics, the size of the mainland cybersecurity market in 2021 will be US$12.20 billion, of which the hardware product market is the largest, with US$4.70 billion, accounting for 38%, followed by software products, with a market size of US$4.24 billion, accounting for 35%, and service products with a market size of US$3.24 billion, accounting for 27%. On the whole, the network security industry market is in a "three-legged" trend.
-- Distribution of network security application scenarios
According to the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology's "China Cybersecurity Industry Research Report (2022)", China's downstream cybersecurity customers are mainly in the government, telecommunications and financial industries, accounting for 58.4% of the total market revenue, and the largest customers are government and public utilities, accounting for 24.1% of market revenue, followed by the financial industry, accounting for 17.4% of market revenue.
According to IDC's forecast, the compound annual growth rate of the global network security industry market will be 10.4% in the future, and it is expected that the global network security industry market size will reach $354 billion by 2028.
Experts said that in response to such incidents, if it is an enterprise-level application system, it is recommended to turn off the automatic upgrade function that comes with various products, and it is best for professional system management personnel to formulate an upgrade strategy and carry out a unified and phased upgrade operation. Upgrading the system progressively after determining that there are no potential risks places higher demands on both local IT managers and service engineers at the product vendor. In general, it is recommended that professional people do professional things for critical infrastructure systems.
Zhou Hongyi, founder of 360 Group, believes that this "global outage" highlights the potential vulnerability of critical infrastructure, proving that "there is no system that will not collapse, and there is no system that will not go down", and the key is "once there is a crash and downtime, whether it can be quickly recovered". He emphasized that technology is a double-edged sword, and the authority of security software is too high, which goes deep into the bottom layer of the system, so when there is a problem, the system "hangs on the hang", which puts forward higher requirements for the reliability of security software. Many foreign companies rely heavily on Microsoft, mainly using Microsoft's cloud services, and the experience of this "global outage" proves that in the future, enterprises should adopt a hybrid cloud strategy to diversify risks, "don't put all your eggs in one basket". At the same time, enterprises should increase the redundancy and fault-tolerant design of the system, ensure that a single point of failure will not bring about the collapse of the entire system, and improve emergency response capabilities. Governments and regulators also need to strengthen the development and enforcement of cybersecurity regulations.
Prospective Economist APP Information Group
For more research and analysis of this industry, please refer to the "Analysis Report on the Development Prospect Forecast and Investment Strategic Planning of China's Cybersecurity Industry" by Qianzhan Industry Research Institute.
At the same time, the Prospective Industry Research Institute also provides solutions such as industrial new track research, investment feasibility study, industrial planning, park planning, industrial investment, industrial map, industrial big data, smart investment promotion system, industry status certification, IPO consulting/fundraising feasibility study, and specialized and special new small giant declaration. To quote the content of this article in any public information disclosure such as prospectus and annual report, formal authorization from Qianzhan Industry Research Institute is required.
More in-depth industry analysis is available in the [Prospective Economist APP], and you can also communicate and interact with 500+ economists/senior industry researchers. More enterprise data, enterprise information, and enterprise development are all in the [Qichamao APP], the most cost-effective and most comprehensive enterprise query platform.