In July 2024, CrowdStrike rolled out a software update that crashed more than 8 million Windows systems worldwide. The faulty release disrupted hospitals, grounded flights, halted banking operations, and affected government services. Comparable to a major cyberattack, the incident caused more than $5 billion in estimated losses, with widespread outages, loss of public trust, and a prolonged recovery effort.

The CrowdStrike failure highlights how quality and security are inseparable for businesses and organizations. Software defects, flawed integrations, and deployment errors can damage systems as severely as malware. As information and communications technology (ICT) systems grow more complex and interconnected, IT departments require a unified approach to managing both types of risk.

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