Passengers gather and wait at Madrid-Barajas International Airport due to the global communications outage caused by CrowdStrike, which provides cyber security services to US technology company Microsoft, on July 19, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. Photo: VCG

Although Microsoft Windows' "blue screen of death" hit millions of users worldwide, including banks, airlines, hospitals and hotels, China was largely unaffected as the country's technology independence and self-sufficiency efforts have provided a protective shield. 

Chinese industrial players and experts said on Sunday that the Windows outage caused by a third-party cloud software faulty update left millions computers inoperable triggering chaos across many economic sectors, and the incident has prompted global cybersecurity concerns, highlighting the importance of tech independence. 

Analysts also noted that given a mistake by one company can paralyze half the planet, countries cannot count on others for their national and economic security. They urged other countries to do their own research and development or diversify their suppliers to reduce dependence on US tech firms.

Relative immunity

A software update for Windows issued by American cybersecurity technology company CrowdStrike caused the global technical havoc on Friday, leading to suspended flights, disrupted public services and paralyzed payment systems worldwide, according to media reports.

The software outage had a significantly lower impact in China. Key facilities across the Chinese mainland such as airports, banks, government services and payment systems remained unaffected by the tech failure, experts said.

Since CrowdStrike cloud computing systems were not sold in the Chinese mainland, flight operations at airports across the mainland largely maintained normal, according to yicai.com.

Domestic hotel chains such as Home Inn and H World International were basically not affected by the incident and only a few international hotel chains in the mainland were affected, it reported.

"The majority of Chinese enterprises, especially state-owned companies as well as large private firms were largely unaffected," Wang Liejun, a security expert from QI-ANXIN Technology Group Inc, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Wang noted that in China, the Microsoft outage might have affected foreign companies or their branches in the country, as their computers may have had CrowdStrike installed.

In China, the limited impact of this incident can be largely attributed to our early initiation of a substitution plan involving domestic hardware, operating systems and application software, Kong Xiangyan, head of 360 Endpoint Security department, told the Global Times on Saturday.

"Domestic government and business entities have a large user base of Windows hosts, yet we were almost unaffected by such a large-scale incident. This is because Chinese users can choose their own security products. This highlights to domestic entities, from government to individual users, the significant importance of China's self-reliance and strength in the cybersecurity industry and technology," Xiao Xinguang, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and chief software architect from Chinese cybersecurity company Antiy, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Experts noted that China has stepped up tech independence efforts against the backdrop of the US' tech war against China, which obstructs the entry of foreign equipment and software to the Chinese market. Instead, the US' push has contributed to China's rapid technological development, they said.

China's relative immunity to the global outage reflects the country's cybersecurity prevention capability amid a complex external environment. Moreover, since Chinese enterprises mainly use domestic antivirus software and they were less affected by this incident, this has enhanced the trust of domestic users in domestic network security software and provided more market opportunities for domestic brands, Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences said on Sunday.

Wang Peng told the Global Times that enterprises and individual users should realize that it is difficult for any single technology or product to provide comprehensive security protection. Therefore, a diversified network security protection system including multiple security technologies should be established.

Alarm to the world

Microsoft said on Friday that the underlying cause of the outage of its Windows 365 apps and services has been fixed, but the residual impact are continuing to affect some customers, according to Reuters. 

Approximately 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide experienced the "blue screen of death" on Friday. It may sound like a large number, but that is less than one percent of all Windows machines worldwide, Reuters quoted the company as saying. 

Statistical proportions are a way to assess risks on a macro level, but for the victims of system accidents, the loss they face is 100 percent, Xiao said. Modern economic societies are highly dependent on digital infrastructure. Incidents involving digital infrastructure can propagate and amplify in a chain reaction, compounding into physical space and social systems, resulting in a domino effect of disaster chains, he noted.

During the Asian trading session on Friday, the London Stock Exchange said its news services were experiencing a global technical issue that prevented news from being published on its platform.

News outlets in Australia reported that airlines, telecommunications providers, banks and media broadcasters were disrupted as they lost access to computer systems. Some New Zealand banks said they were offline.

Notably, Russia's Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media said on Friday that airlines and banks in the country had shown no signs of being impacted by the outage. 

"The situation with Microsoft once again shows the importance of import substitution of foreign software, primarily at critical information infrastructure facilities," the ministry said.

Experts noted that the IT woes highlight the need to reduce dependence on US technology. If one software update alone can paralyze the networks of multiple countries, they warned the consequences if US major tech firms target a country for sabotage.

Wang Peng said that overdependence on the technological products of a particular country or region may entail potential risks, such as technological embargoes, security breaches and supply chain disruptions.

"With the global development of technology, countries have made remarkable progress in the field of information technology. The introduction of multiple suppliers means that more technology paths and product solutions can be chosen to meet different needs and reduce cybersecurity risks," Wang Peng said.

Globally, reducing reliance on oligopolistic companies in the tech sector is crucial, and this is best achieved through the development and rise of national industries, with China leading the way. The Chinese internet information industry will provide other countries, especially developing countries, with an additional option in digitalization and cybersecurity protection, Xiao noted.