What can we learn from the CrowdStrike outage?

If your business was impacted by the recent global outage caused by CrowdStrike’s update, or if you’ve come across the incident in the news, you may be wondering what steps you can take to safeguard against similar disruptions should a similar issue occur again.

In this article, we outline the top 5 actions you should take immediately to protect your business against cyber incidents.

1. Develop a contingency plan 

It’s always best to have a plan B for any potential risks. Establishing backup procedures that all staff are familiar with will help ensure that unexpected events, such as the CrowdStrike outage, are handled smoothly, minimising business disruption.

2. Get business interruption insurance 

It’s essential to reach out to your broker to review your business interruption cover, discuss your policy details and identify any potential gaps.

3. Check you are fully covered

You may be underinsured if your policy doesn’t cover the risks you face or if you think your business can handle more disruptions than it actually can.

4. Look into cyber insurance 

The outage has made many companies aware that all businesses, regardless of size, are susceptible to cyber incidents. However, SMEs struggle the most to recover. Large companies often have better IT resources and resilience measures in place. Investing in cyber insurance can significantly impact your recovery efforts.

5. Invest in cyber security 

In the wake of the incident, CrowdStrike issued a warning of a “second wave of disruption as criminals seek to exploit chaos”. Reports of hackers impersonating the CrowdStrike support team to breach systems further highlighted an additional risk to businesses. Investing in cyber security and educating your staff on best practices will help reduce the risk of future incidents.

For more information on cyber insurance and business interruption, reach out to your Account Executive.