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The system outages, caused by an update to CrowdStrike’s cyber security platform, prompted crashes to Windows systems across the world.
“Valued Customers and Partners, I want to sincerely apologise directly to all of you for today’s outage. All of CrowdStrike understands the gravity and impact of the situation. We quickly identified the issue and deployed a fix, allowing us to focus diligently on restoring customer systems as our highest priority,” said CrowdStrike founder and CEO George Kurtz.
A variety of organisations were affected by the outage, as reported by Mortgage Business sister brand Cyber Daily: “The issue has caused disruptions to numerous websites, with users on the Down Detector website reporting outages to a wide range of major Australian websites, including the national broadcaster the ABC, the big four banks, Foxtel, Telstra, and the NBN, to name a few.”
In fact, reports claimed that globally, 8.5 million Windows devices were impacted. In the aftermath of this event, some are questioning the rise of digital finance, as many were left stranded due to bank systems collapsing.
“Cash is king,” said Australian Citizens Party (ACP) research director Robert Barwick, “but the banks have been working very hard to overthrow the king.”
“In 2019 the Morrison government tried to do the banks’ dirty work for them by banning cash transactions over $10,000, but was forced to back off by an enormous public backlash. Yet since then, the banks themselves have tried to force us to go cashless by taking away access to cash –closing thousands of branches and ripping out tens of thousands of ATMs.”
Barwick has taken a staunch opinion on the matter, claiming the outage is unacceptable.
“The banks want every single transaction to go through their computers, so they can take a cut of literally everything, and spy on everything we do so they can monetise our data,” he said.
“This outage should anger every Australian, because it should never have been this disruptive. Technology is great, but there’s no universe in which it can never be disrupted. Yet the banks and other corporations have deliberately forced people into complete digital dependence without caring about the consequences.”
Now, the ACP is calling on Parliament to keep the cash flowing in Australia by making it unlawful for businesses to not accept cash payments up to $10,000.
“The banks have set us up for disaster – they have plunged us into a digital dystopia … We’ve been conned by the banks to accept cashless businesses, and this is a wake-up call,” Barwick said.
“There should be no more cashless businesses, full stop. Cash is not only legal tender, it is the most reliable medium for transacting under all conditions, including natural disasters, power failures and digital outages. Almost 188,000 Australians have signed Jason Bryce’s Change.org petition for ‘A Cash and Banking Guarantee’, and it’s time the government delivered.”
Further to stopping cashless businesses, Barwick believes public postal banks should make a comeback to allow businesses to bank cash more easily.
“A public post office bank is the solution that the Australian people should demand. There are 4,271 post offices in Australia – more than all bank branches combined – and every one could be a branch of a new government bank that guarantees face-to-face banking services and access to cash,” he said.
“The competition will force the big four banks to lift their game and start serving their customers properly. And the revenue from banking will fund the postal network and stop Australia Post closing post offices. It’s a win-win solution that Friday’s digital outage proves is necessary.”
[Related: Banking chaos amid Optus outage]
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