The “Blue Screen of Death” Could Throw the Global Economy Into a State of Chaos for Weeks

(The Economic Collapse Blog)—It has become glaringly obvious that we are way too dependent on our computers.  The “largest IT outage in history” has thrown the entire global economy into a state of chaos, and we are being told that it could take “weeks” to fully recover.  Countless flights have been canceled, hospital services have been disrupted, online services are down for a number of big banks, and we are being told that millions of workers may not receive paychecks this month.

If a single software “glitch” can cause this much insanity, what would happen if the Internet was suddenly not available for an extended period of time?

A lot of people initially speculated that a cyberattack may be happening, but the truth is that virtually all of the chaos that we have been witnessing was caused by a CrowdStrike update…

The issue was caused by a technical problem that global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said it had identified in its software and was working to resolve. CrowdStrike provides antivirus software to Microsoft for its Windows devices.

“Earlier today, a CrowdStrike update was responsible for bringing down a number of IT systems globally,” Microsoft said in a statement to CBS News.

To me, this is yet another example of the rampant incompetence that is plaguing our society today.

Didn’t anyone test this update before they released it to the entire world?

The CEO of CrowdStrike says that the issue has been identified and the problem has now been fixed…

In a statement, CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said the issue had been identified and a solution was being implemented. He added that “this is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t going to do much good for users that are now dealing with the infamous “Blue Screen of Death”…

The notorious Blue Screen of Death is popping up everywhere, from banks to supermarkets and media outlets, causing widespread panic and confusion. All United, Delta and American Airlines flights were grounded amid the chaos.

According to one expert, if you are repeatedly getting the “Blue Screen of Death” right now there “is not a huge amount you can do”…

Mr Pardo continued: “Unfortunately, there is not a huge amount you can do if your computer has the blue screen of death.

“Computer users will need to wait for their IT team to resolve the issue, and many people may need to work from their phone or use a pen and paper in the meantime.

“This is a wake-up call for all the companies that have been floored by this attack. Organizations need to urgently review their disaster recovery plans to make sure they can deal with such problems.”

This tech disaster has already caused tremendous supply chain disruptions all over the planet, and CNBC is reporting that it could take “days or even weeks” to completely resolve this crisis…

The CrowdStrike software bug that crashed Microsoft operating systems and caused the largest IT outage in history caused disruptions at U.S. and global ports, with highly complex air freight systems suffering the heaviest hit, according to logistics experts, as global airlines grounded flights.

“Planes and cargo are not where they are supposed to be and it will take days or even weeks to fully resolve,” Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at supply chain consulting firm Xeneta, said in a statement shared with CNBC. “This is a reminder of how vulnerable our ocean and air supply chains are to IT failure.”

We certainly didn’t need this right now, because our economic numbers have already been heading in the wrong direction quite rapidly.

Meanwhile, the airline industry has been thrown into a state of complete and utter chaos…

Over 1,800 flights had been canceled within, into or out of the U.S. as of Friday morning, and more than 5,000 others were delayed, according to the flight tracking service, FlightAware. Globally, more than 28,000 flights were delayed early Friday.

I feel so badly for those that are stuck at an airport at this moment.

If you are one of those people, you might not get to where you are supposed to go for a while.

This IT outage has also forced the cancellation of surgeries all over the nation…

Gary Baulos in woke up at 3:30 a.m. on Friday for open heart surgery to fix eight blockages. A call from the hospital in Paducah, Kentucky, soon altered his plans. The procedure would be rescheduled because of a global technology outage that was derailing operations.

The 73-year-old retiree made the best of the situation, grabbing a breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes at an IHOP before heading home to Marion. “I guess I’ll do it some other time,” he said.

Not everyone was as sanguine. Lydia, who asked that her last name be withheld for privacy reasons, had her surgery at the University Hospital of Maryland canceled. A waiting room full of patients and family members all got the news that operations were being placed on hold.

Were there people that died because they couldn’t get the care that they needed?

I hope not.

We are also being told that “millions” of workers may not receive paychecks this month because so many systems are down right now…

Millions of workers are at risk of not receiving their paychecks this month amid a global outage that could last weeks.

Several of America’s biggest banks saw their systems crash this morning, preventing people from accessing their accounts or receiving or sending money.

If you are supposed to get a paycheck on Friday, you are probably at greatest risk.

The CEO of the Global Payroll Association says that her organization has “received complaints from a number of clients who couldn’t access their payroll software because of the outage”…

The Global Payroll Association (GPA) warned that people ‘risk going without their wages’ because their employers or banks rely on CrowdStrike for cybersecurity protection.

It remains unclear how widespread the payroll disruption is, but Melanie Pizzey, the founder and CEO of GPA said her company had received complaints from a number of clients who couldn’t access their payroll software because of the outage.

Payroll systems typically need to be notified of any issues that would stop direct deposits from going through at least two days before the payday for the issue to be resolved in time.

This certainly isn’t the end of the world, but it is yet another example that shows how incredibly vulnerable we are.

I think that life was much simpler when we all relied on pen and paper.

Sadly, this is the world that we live in now, and much more chaos is on the way.

Michael’s new book entitled “Chaos” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.