Global Computer Outages Reveal Vulnerabilities of Internet Centralization

‘Today, there’s only three companies that control global access to internet trade and commerce,’ a tech analyst said.

Travelers rest where they can in the McNamara terminal at the Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in Romulus, Mich., on July 21, 2024. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

As the world’s communications and operations become more concentrated among a handful of tech oligopolies, they become both more efficient and more vulnerable.

This became apparent last week as an antivirus software update issued on the evening of July 18 by CrowdStrike, a security software company, caused more than 1 billion Windows-based computers to cease to function, taking down essential operations at airports, hospitals, 911 centers, police departments, trains, jails, and other municipal services, as well as corporate operations.