Hackers Take Advantage of CrowdStrike’s IT Outage
Amidst the chaos that the CrowdStrike global IT outage caused, hackers were trying to take advantage of people with malicious emails.
- They were pretending to be official CrowdStrike customer support.
- Malicious actors will slow at nothing to get where they want to go.
Cybersecurity agencies are warning people against falling for malicious emails and the like following the CrowdStrike IT outage, proving once again that you can never be vulnerable.
On July 19th, cybersecurity firm, CrowdStrike, deployed a faulty update for its Falcon sensor software, causing a massive global outage that affected every sector in almost every country.
Opportunistic Hunters
The world was paralyzed and vulnerable for several hours before companies managed to get everything up and running again. In a truly malicious fashion, hackers saw their window of opportunity and tried to scam people through malicious fake emails, calls, and websites, pretending to be official.
In a statement, George Kurtz, current head of CrowdStrike and Former CTO of McAfee, reminded everyone that malicious actors will try to exploit the situations at hand. “I encourage everyone to remain vigilant and ensure that you’re engaging with official CrowdStrike representatives,” he wrote.
Cybersecurity expert Troy Hunt explained to the BBC how this situation is a golden opportunity for scams through malicious emails, calls, and websites because of the coverage it got and the fear it had instilled in everyone.
Governments took it upon themselves to spread the word. Australia’s equivalent to the US National Security Agency, the Australian Signals Directorate, for example, sent out an alert warning all their citizens. It reads, “Alert! We understand a number of malicious websites and unofficial code are being released claiming to help entities recover.”
Left with Dread
Friday started just like any other day, but by sundown, we were left with existential questions about our use of technology and our tendencies to depend on it. The sole reprieve people had was that the hit was mostly to organizations that had the CrowdStrike Falcon software on their devices.
However, hackers fed off people’s fear and took advantage of their trust in authority during hard times to achieve their nefarious goals. People were receiving malicious emails and calls, often getting redirected to malicious websites. It was, unfortunately, working at times because in the middle of chaos, especially when we don’t fully grasp what’s going on, we seek authority figures to guide us through tough times.
Final Thoughts
One must wonder how empathy goes out of the window when vulnerability and hard times come down on others. Now, put that feeling in the context of thousands of people stranded in airports and train stations.
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