The Fragile Electronic World We Live In

So the very first thing that comes to mind when we think about what can take out the electronics we rely on is loss of power. That loss of power can happen for any number of reasons. Downed power lines from a car accident. Severe weather knocking out service. Hell, even brownouts or blackouts because the power infrastructure is overloaded.

I have touched on this subject in a number of previous articles. Our electrical infrastructure is antiquated, and we keep putting more and more demand on it without really addressing the larger problem. Yes, we are building more power generation, but those power lines you see every day? I would bet a lot of them are older than both you and me. And trust me, I’m old as dirt.

And what about solar flares? There are times when the Sun is simply more active than usual. I did a quick search on what solar flares can affect, and the answer is a lot more than most people probably realize.

Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation from the Sun that disrupt Earth’s ionosphere, causing radio blackouts, GPS errors, and satellite malfunctions. While harmful radiation is blocked by our atmosphere, strong flares can endanger astronauts and damage power grids via associated geomagnetic storms.

I actually saw something once that made me wonder about this. When I lived on a farm on top of a mountain, there was one night when the horses kept looking up at the sky and whinnying for hours. It was the only time I ever saw them behave that way. I can’t prove what caused it, so I’m only calling it an observation, but it has always stuck with me.

How about updates that fail? Not to your phone or your personal computer, but major updates to systems that you rely on. Say you are booking into a hotel, or trying to pay a major bill. Why is your utility bill suddenly $5,000 when it is normally $100 a month? Here are some real-world examples of major updates failing in ways that caused serious disruption.

The year 2024 was marked by several significant software update failures, cybersecurity incidents, and technological missteps that caused global disruptions and highlighted the fragility of digital infrastructure. The most significant event was the CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor update in July, which resulted in the largest IT outage in history. 

1. CrowdStrike Falcon Sensor Update (July 19, 2024) 

• The Failure: A faulty configuration update (Channel File 291) to CrowdStrike’s security software caused Windows systems to crash and enter an endless boot loop, displaying the “blue screen of death” (BSOD).
• Impact: Approximately 8.5 million Windows computers were incapacitated globally. The incident caused massive disruption to critical infrastructure, including airlines (over 5,000 flight cancellations), hospitals, banks, and media outlets.
• Cause: A bug in CrowdStrike’s content verification software allowed a flawed update to pass testing and reach production.

2. AT&T Nationwide Outage (February 2024) 

• The Failure: A nationwide service interruption occurred on February 22, 2024, lasting over 12 hours. It was caused by an equipment configuration error during a network expansion.
• Impact: Over 125 million mobile devices were affected, resulting in 92 million failed calls and 25,000 failed 911 calls, prompting an FCC investigation. 

3. Microsoft 365 and Azure Outages (2024)

• November 25 Outage: A configuration change caused a backend issue that took down Microsoft 365 for over 24 hours. The error resulted in an influx of retry requests that overwhelmed servers, impacting Outlook, Teams, and Exchange Online worldwide.
• July 2024 Azure Outage: A distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack coincided with a regional power flicker, causing a chain reaction that disrupted Azure services in North America, Europe, and Asia

4. Meta Global Outage (March 5, 2024)

• The Failure: Users worldwide were unable to access Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads. While platforms were reachable, login and authentication services failed, affecting an estimated 11 million users.
• Cause: A server configuration error, rather than a security breach

5. Other Notable 2024 IT/Update Failures

• McDonald’s IT Meltdown (March): A “third-party configuration change” caused a worldwide outage of McDonald’s point-of-sale (POS) systems, disabling kiosks and app ordering for roughly 12 hours. Similar issues hit UK supermarkets Tesco and Sainsbury’s around the same time.
• OpenAI Telemetry Incident (December): A new telemetry service deployment caused cascading failures for ChatGPT and the Sora video service on December 11, resulting in partial page loads and HTTP 403 errors.
• Acemagic Malware Incident (February): The Chinese PC maker admitted to shipping mini PCs with pre-installed malware, specifically the Bladabindi and RedLine Stealer viruses, which it blamed on developers attempting to optimize boot times.
• UK Post Office Horizon System Failure: Ongoing revelations in 2024 regarding the flawed Horizon IT system (built by Fujitsu) showed it falsely accused over 700 employees of theft, resulting in wrongful prosecutions, ruined reputations, and legal battles

So far, I have talked about what I would consider the more innocent causes of system failures. But what about the malicious human factor? Yes, now we are talking about hacking, spam, ransomware, and denial-of-service attacks. These kinds of failures can involve loss of funds, loss of privacy, and even vital information being taken hostage, making it difficult or impossible for a company to provide a service.

Major ransomware attacks have heavily targeted critical infrastructure, healthcare, and government systems, with notable incidents including the $70M Kaseya breach, the $11M JBS Foods shutdown, and the 2021 Colonial Pipeline attack that caused U.S. fuel shortages. These attacks, often executed by groups like Conti and LockBit, encrypt data, demand massive ransoms, and cause widespread operational shutdowns. 

Key Recent and Major Ransomware Attacks

• Change Healthcare/UnitedHealth (2024): Disrupted over 100 applications and caused hundreds of millions in damage.
• Costa Rican Government (2022): A “national emergency” attack by Conti that paralyzed tax and customs systems, with the government refusing to pay $10M.
• Kaseya (2021): Hackers hit the IT software company, affecting over 1,500 downstream businesses, with a $70 million demand.
• JBS Foods (2021): A ransomware attack forced the temporary shutdown of all U.S. operating plants, with an $11M ransom paid.
• Colonial Pipeline (2021): A ransomware attack caused massive fuel shortages on the U.S. East Coast, with the attackers receiving a $4.4M ransom.
• NotPetya/Maersk (2017): Affected 50,000+ devices globally, causing an estimated $300 million in damages.
• WannaCry (2017): A global attack that affected hospitals, corporations, and governments, including the UK National Health Service.

Common Hacking Tactics

• System Vulnerabilities: Attackers gain access via compromised passwords, unpatched software, or phishing, allowing them to take over infrastructure.
• Supply Chain Attacks: Criminals compromise service providers (like Kaseya or SolarWinds) to distribute malware to multiple customers at once.
• Double Extortion: Attackers not only encrypt data but also steal it, threatening to publish sensitive information if the ransom is not paid. 

Recent Trends and Targets

• IoT Attacks: The DeadBolt ransomware, for example, has targeted QNAP network-attached storage (NAS) devices, affecting individuals and small businesses.
• Aviation Disruptions: In September 2025, a ransomware attack on Collins Aerospace’s vMUSE platform impacted airport operations in Europe.
• Healthcare Vulnerabilities: Continued, high-impact ransomware attacks on hospital networks, such as the 2020 attack on Universal Health Service (UHS)

I actually could go on and on about how fragile our technical society really is, but that would be like beating a dead horse. You get the picture. It’s not all gloom and doom though. Again, when I step back and look at the big picture, we are slowly moving in a direction where we have more fallbacks for when something fails.

From an individual standpoint, I know several people who now at least partially power their homes through solar or wind, if not both. Which brings up the second part of this. These off-the-grid homes store the excess power they generate in batteries, which, as we all know, are becoming more efficient and lasting longer. That is partly due to the renewable energy trend and partly due to the growth of electric vehicles.

When it comes to weather and other natural causes of power loss, this is something that has been around forever. Even though it may take weeks to restore power in disaster areas, utility companies do respond, and they also share manpower and equipment across different companies to help wherever it is needed. I know this firsthand because I previously worked for a utility.

Some things, like solar flare activity, are harder to predict and control. Still, I believe we have gotten better at identifying when this solar activity is likely to take place, and I also think the weaknesses in these systems are gradually being hardened against that kind of threat.

Now when it comes to the innocent human causes of disruption. These companies that do make mistakes in updates where millions are affected. Trust me, the loss of revenue to these companies and loss of trust will do more to insure they better roll back routines and also to perform better quality review before any they push update out that affects millions.

The disruptions caused by malicious people are another matter entirely. Sigh. I am sorry to tell you this, but this is a circle jerk. No matter how secure a system is, or how hardened it becomes through encryption, identification, and verification, there is nothing that cannot be hacked. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.

Just as there are super-intelligent people who spend all their time keeping your data and systems safe, there are also super-intelligent people who do nothing but look for ways around those safeguards. This is a war, and do not let anyone sugarcoat it and pretend it is not.

I believe our technical society is very fragile, both for the reasons I listed and for many more that I am still thinking about. But as a society, we are also putting protections in place so that everything does not fail all at once. Things will always fail. That part is never going away. But over time, I think those failures will become more contained as we keep progressing. At least that is my hope, and right now I see nothing that makes me think otherwise.

As a final note, ever since I started this blog, I have kept coming back to the idea of doing a post on the things people can do to protect themselves. Things to watch for. Things to immediately flag as wrong. Best practices, even though none of us follow every single one of them all the time. I think it is finally time for me to put that article together.

So in the next post, I want to look at a simple question: what can we do to protect ourselves in a technical society?