Banks Still Inaccessible after Crowdstrike Flop - How Long Do You Think It Will Take to Recover?

LReal Life Dexter on 19/07/2024 - 22:05

Suppose there is more to the story and your bank is unable to recover the account balances because for some reason they put the bitlocker key into the cloud which is also bitlockered in a boot loop. Yes, don't laugh, someone I know has done this. I would have thought a bank would have safety deposit box facilities, but hey, who knows.

Suppose there is more to the story other than a harmless update and somehow your account balance is zeroed.

What are you going to do?

How resilient is our infrastructure? Why is it always an Australian that blows up something, be it Optus or Crowdstrike?

You would think that the banks would have priority access to IT professionals, but maybe Australia is just a banana republic in disguise? A tweet stating, a simple "Our IT professionals are doing a recovery from last night", all is good, but nothing from the big 4. That is really surprising there is no update which means maybe something bigger is the underlying issue.

How long do you think it will take to recover?

Poll Options

  • 10
    1 Day
  • 3
    2 Days
  • 11
    3 Days
  • 3
    5 Days
  • 3
    7+ Days
  • 3
    Weeks
  • 16
    Never (Option if you believe you will lose $$$)
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Comments

  • askbargain on 19/07/2024 - 22:11
    +3

    it's not an Australian company. if it's affecting you, claim your losses from your bank.

  • mantra on 20/07/2024 - 00:18
    +3

    im so confused banks require the highest level of IT/security experience yet it's like they leave everything to auto update without testing or vetting code

    "if you make a change test it first before going production" -some random ozbargainer who has only completed cert 2 in IT

    • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 00:25
      +2

      This is why I don't use auto update in my Windows laptop, iPad, and Android phone. After few months, read reviews first before updating android/iPad apps manually …

      For Windows laptop, wait for few months at least before updating. There were some or a lot of bad updates from Microsoft in news lol.

    • DingoBilly on 20/07/2024 - 07:52
      +1

      It's not always possible to test completely in dev/test before going to prod. There's sometimes unique interactions you just can't foresee or limitations (e. G., test environment will run a lower specced system and the bug only occurs on a higher spec machine).

      Also many banks use the oldest shittiest systems ever because of how much risk change is.

      Otherwise yes, if it was that easy then we wouldn't have these issues.

    • mrdevil on 20/07/2024 - 11:23
      +4

      There is a difference between applying automatic updates to say Windows or other systems where there are design / code changes, and having a security platform which downloads and applies updates automatically though, in that you would expect the security platform to only update elements it itself requires - and would expect these to be highly tested and working before deployment (especially when it's a top $$$$ product that so many big businesses utilise).

      The issue is it was a buggered driver file - when the update has been applied to the client machine, the new driver file is loaded - crashing Windows. The device restarts, then crashes while booting because it tries loading the dodgy driver. Rinse and repeat. Only way for it to be "fixed" is for someone to physically go to the device, restart it in "Safe Mode", log in as an Administrator - which only the businesses ICT techs would have the ability to do - and to manually delete the dodgy driver. When the device is then restarted, it should boot up like normal… and I would assume the software would then re-download the latest - fixed - driver, and be good to go.

      That's the problem when all these big corporations rely on either third-party ICT support, or rely on the ability to do most of their ICT support remotely… all well and good, but if the devices you're expected to support won't even boot up, someone with the skills and level of access needed has to go and physically fix the problem at the machine.

      Add to that the complexities with servers - if the update has caused the server to reboot without shutting down properly, there could be data loss as most of the time these aren't meant to restart without shutting down properly. Applying the above fix may work, but then the systems installed on these may have lost data / require a backup to be restored. This is the nightmare part of the problem… trying to identify / resolve any issues stemming from a critical system suddenly crashing.

      The media were already reporting that Crowdstrike had applied a "fix" to the problem within hours… but haven't explained that would simply be an updated driver at their end replacing the dodgy one… but for the affected computers to be "fixed", it requires manual intervention at each device - only then does the "fixed" driver get downloaded and things are good to go.

      As for when everything should be fixed, it'd be a question as to when these companies can get someone to manually update each affected device. No bank customers should lose any money or anything like that - that's just fearmongering. Only people losing money out of this are the businesses unable to trade during the outage period… and Cloudstrike who I suspect are going to be in some serious shit as a result of this.

    • Iwantthebestprice on 20/07/2024 - 00:45

      I wonder why you were downvoted. I was at Coles and literally shopping trolleys full of shopping just sitting at the checkouts, so much dairy and meats and everything going to spoil because the staff couldn’t put it back as it was utter chaos.

      Guess who had no issues paying for their food and leaving, the people who had cash on them!

      Trust this site to think carrying money now makes you an anti vaxxer, 5G gives me superpowers pro trump supporter. I just like to have cash on me when I need it, and you can’t buy stuff you need under the table with credit card!

      • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 00:52

        Agree, I always have some cash just in case something like this happens. Too many outages in Australia that have affected card payments. Have some cash, folks …

        Remember, no man made are perfect. If we go fully digital without cash as a backup, how will you pay for your groceries, dine-in or takeaway, fuel, etc. when something really bad happen like natural disaster, no electricity, IT problems etc.

      • morse on 20/07/2024 - 02:26
        -1

        Trust this site to think carrying money now makes you an anti vaxxer, 5G gives me superpowers pro trump supporter.

        No one has said that or thinks that.

        I’d say the vast majority of people keep some cash at home, (maybe not on them), regardless of if they buy things ‘under the table’ or not.

        • mapax on 20/07/2024 - 06:18
          -1

          Some of the nu-left that I have spoken to certainly think that. These aren’t jobless crackpots either, they’re people with influence/power, and yes at least one of them is a member on here.

          • morse on 20/07/2024 - 08:06

            @mapax: It was the “trust this site” bit that got me. I haven’t seen that sentiment on this post or others. I’ve seen it on reddit to a small extent. There are obviously people who stand to benefit commercially from a cashless society, but I wouldn’t have thought these people were leftists.

            • mapax on 20/07/2024 - 08:43
              +1

              @morse: I see where you’re coming from now.
              The nu-left I’ve met aren’t normal leftists, they think that leftist values from a decade ago are now right wing whilst supporting things like digital identity databases to publicly track what everyone says. But you’re right, they’re not that widespread.

          • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 08:25

            @mapax: I am vaxxed, use 5G daily, and anti Trump …

            • mapax on 20/07/2024 - 08:45
              -1

              @neoleo: Me too, although to be honest I’m more “meh” about trump rather than being pro or anti.

    • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 01:16
      -8

      Whoever downvoted me, I wish someday you left empty handed for not having cash while shopping, paying for fuel, etc. :P

      • mapax on 20/07/2024 - 06:10
        -1

        Here you go new lion, have a poz.

      • Neoika on 20/07/2024 - 07:08

        It seems to be a win for fuel in most places as it can not be put back like groceries.

        I didn't neg you. All you need is more payment options, not relying on one bank. I think Store eGC is usually unaffected and probably be a winner in this kind of situation. Someone savvy enough may quickly purchase a Coles / Woolworths eGC on Shopback App for the measly saving that they don't care normally.

      • Nillionaire on 21/07/2024 - 07:07

        Why are you assuming you got downvoted for your thoughts on cash which no one has a problem with and not all the other ludicrous thoughts you had?

        • neoleo on 21/07/2024 - 07:54
          -2

          Someone downvoted me (- previously, now +2) in my post above with the news links

          • CrowReally on 22/07/2024 - 14:42
            -1

            @neoleo: The important thing is you're keeping track of them and reporting back to us

    • samfisher5986 on 22/07/2024 - 11:15

      There was nothing stopping people from withdrawing from ATM's.

      Plus supermarkets couldn't accept cash when their system were down anyway.

      • mapax on 22/07/2024 - 11:20

        My local Coles and IGA were both cash only on Friday night and Saturday morning.

        • samfisher5986 on 22/07/2024 - 11:28

          I believe only woolworths has the POS systems go down. Most likely your Coles and IGA had their EFTPOS down.

  • EightImmortals on 20/07/2024 - 07:07

    Is this effecting EFTPOS or people's banking apps on their phones?

    • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 08:22

      Bank app, yes for me. Upbank notified me after 5 pm when I wanted to transfer money to Wise. Osko/PayID was unavailable and also traditional bank transfers (BSB/Account number) was not available. I tried to send money through St. George Bank app and went through, but the fund arrived after few hours …

      Upbank is a neobank and have newer IT system. I think my other bank apps like NAB, St. George Bank, ING have older systems. Maybe that's why St. George bank app didn't notify about outages in Osko/PayID and traditional bank transfers (BSB/Account number).

  • AustriaBargain on 20/07/2024 - 07:33

    I bet someone at Crowdstrike hasn't slept for a few days. How it must feel to cost the world billions…

    • EightImmortals on 20/07/2024 - 08:33

      Probably be given a job in government. :)

      • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 08:51
        -2

        Someone need to go to jail … Need someone to be blamed … Lawsuits coming …

        • EightImmortals on 20/07/2024 - 09:09
          -1

          In that case government would be the safest place for them.

        • leiiv on 20/07/2024 - 09:17
          +3

          It is a systemic issue. Whose fault is it? Crowdstrike only? The IT folks who allow auto update without testing? The managers and CEOs who oversee this? Someone at Microsoft for designing an OS that can be made inoperable by a user program? Those who trust using Windows without any manual fallback process in place? Where do you draw the line?

          • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 09:30
            -1

            @leiiv: Usually people on the top positions get the blame, resign, or go to jail …

            • Neoika on 20/07/2024 - 09:42
              +3

              @neoleo: No, they just exchange top positions with another affected equivalents and continue…

              e.g.
              Previous CEO A become CEO B
              Previous CEO B become CEO C
              Previous CEO C become CEO A
              Something like it

              • azngamer on 21/07/2024 - 12:17

                @Neoika: All 3 CEOs get their massive bonus too for getting fired and higher pay at the new company

    • Sinnerator on 21/07/2024 - 09:16

      like the GFC 15 odd years ago, those people profited massively and are laughing
      I wonder what shenanigans went on amongst the chaos of this crowdstrike event?

  • serpserpserp on 20/07/2024 - 09:11
    +1

    Title a bit misleading. My bank has had no issues.

    • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 09:35
      -1

      Your bank didn't give you notice about transfer problem … After 5 pm my money transfer through St. George Bank app went through but only arrived hours later. It was Upbank app that notified me before that about transfer problem for Osko/PayID was unavailable and traditional bank transfers was unavailable too (BSB/Account number).

      Upbank is a neobank with newer IT system. Many other older banks have old systems …

      • serpserpserp on 20/07/2024 - 10:53
        +1

        Not sure of the point you are making. But my bank cleared all my transactions same day. Didn't use Osko though. So dunno if there was an issue there.

        • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 11:33
          -1

          What time did you do the transactions? How long did it take to clear the transactions? It's in the news as well that banks were hit with outages too.

          My money transfers (even with BSB/Account number) usually arrive within minutes at max. Yesterday was hours, unusual for me.

  • peteru on 20/07/2024 - 14:28
    -1

    Sorry, I live under a rock and have no idea what happened. Can someone please provide some context to all this in a couple of sentences?

    • askbargain on 20/07/2024 - 14:58

      some banks can't make transactions because third party provider down. most banks okay.

      • mapax on 20/07/2024 - 15:07
        +1

        You forgot to mention the part where airlines were grounded. That coles, Woolworths, a number of service stations and restaurants were cash only and that some private hospitals had issues.

      • neoleo on 20/07/2024 - 18:39
        -1

        No problem for money transfers between the same bank, but problem between different banks. It took few hours for my money from St. George bank to arrive in my Wise account. Normally my money transfers only take minutes at max or even less than a minute. For example my money transfer from NAB to Upbank usually only takes under 1 minute …

    • Ghost47 on 20/07/2024 - 19:13
      +1

      A cybersecurity company that many other major companies rely on for security pushed out an update which caused end-user machines to restart into a Blue Screen of Death therefore preventing them from booting into Windows.

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