Website Security After the CrowdStrike Outage: What Small Businesses Need to Know

Website Security After the CrowdStrike Outage: What Small Businesses Need to Know

If you turned on the news in mid-July 2024, you couldn't miss it. Airlines grounded, banks offline, supermarket tills frozen, and even the NHS struggling with system failures. The massive CrowdStrike outage brought much of the world's digital infrastructure to its knees, all because of a faulty software update.

As a small business owner, you might be thinking: "Well, that's big corporate stuff , surely my little website is safe?" But here's the thing: the CrowdStrike outage lessons apply to businesses of all sizes. Let's have a chat about what this means for your website security and what you can actually do about it.

What Actually Happened with CrowdStrike?

Without getting too technical, CrowdStrike provides security software that millions of computers rely on. When they pushed out a faulty update, it caused a domino effect that crashed systems worldwide. The key lesson? Even the most trusted security companies can make mistakes, and those mistakes can have massive consequences.

For small business owners, this highlights a crucial point: putting all your eggs in one basket , whether that's one hosting provider, one backup system, or one security solution , can be risky business.

Why Small Business Website Security Matters More Than Ever

Your website isn't just a digital brochure anymore. It's your shop window, your booking system, your payment processor, and often your main source of new customers. When it goes down, your business suffers. The CrowdStrike incident reminded us that:

• Customers expect reliability: If your website crashes during peak hours, potential customers will simply go elsewhere
• Trust is fragile: One security breach or extended outage can damage your reputation for years
• Revenue depends on uptime: Every minute your website is down is money walking out the door

Practical Steps to Protect Your Small Business Website

1. Don't Put All Your Eggs in One Basket

The biggest CrowdStrike outage lesson is about avoiding single points of failure. Here's what this means in practical terms:

Diversify your backups: Don't just rely on your hosting company's backup. Use multiple backup solutions , perhaps one automated daily backup to cloud storage and another weekly backup to a different provider.

Consider backup hosting: Some businesses keep a simple version of their website ready to go on a different hosting provider. If your main site goes down, you can quickly redirect visitors to your backup site.

2. Regular Website Backups Are Your Safety Net

Website backup security isn't just about hackers , it's about being ready for any disaster. Here's what you need:

Automatic daily backups: Set up automatic backups that happen every day without you having to remember Test your backups monthly: A backup that doesn't work when you need it is useless. Test restoring from your backup at least once a month Keep backups in multiple places: Store copies on different services , perhaps one with your hosting company, one on Google Drive, and one on Dropbox

3. Choose Reliable Partners

When selecting hosting providers, security services, or any critical business partners, ask these questions:

• How often do they update their systems?
• Do they test updates before rolling them out?
• What's their track record for uptime?
• Do they have redundancy plans in place?
• Can they restore your website quickly if something goes wrong?

4. Keep Your Website Updated (But Safely)

This might seem contradictory given that the CrowdStrike issue was caused by an update, but keeping your website updated is still crucial for small business cyber security. The trick is doing it safely:

Schedule updates during quiet periods: Don't update your website at 2 PM on a busy Tuesday Take a backup before any major update: Always have a way to roll back if something goes wrong Test updates on a staging site first: If possible, test changes on a copy of your website before applying them to the live version

What This Means for Your Business Continuity

The CrowdStrike outage showed us that even brief disruptions can have lasting effects. For small businesses, this means:

Have a communication plan: If your website goes down, how will you tell customers? Make sure you have alternative ways to communicate , social media, email lists, or even a simple message on your Google My Business profile.

Prepare for payment disruptions: If your online payment system fails, can you still take orders by phone or process payments manually? Have backup plans ready.

Document your recovery process: Write down step-by-step instructions for what to do if your website goes down. When you're stressed and losing money, you'll be grateful for clear instructions.

Don't Panic, But Do Prepare

Here's the good news: you don't need to become a cyber security expert overnight. Small business website security is largely about good habits and sensible precautions.

Start with the basics:

• Set up automatic daily backups
• Use strong, unique passwords for all your website accounts
• Keep your website software updated
• Choose reputable hosting and security providers
• Have a plan for what to do if something goes wrong

Remember, perfect security doesn't exist , even the biggest companies with unlimited budgets face disruptions. The goal isn't to prevent every possible problem, but to minimise your risks and be ready to respond quickly when issues arise.

Moving Forward with Confidence

The CrowdStrike outage was a wake-up call, but it doesn't have to be a source of anxiety. Think of it as a valuable reminder to review your website security practices and make improvements where needed.

Your website is one of your most valuable business assets. With proper backups, reliable partners, and sensible security practices, you can protect your online presence and keep serving your customers, even when the unexpected happens.

After all, while the big corporations were sorting out their CrowdStrike problems, many small businesses with good backup plans and reliable hosting kept running smoothly. Sometimes, being small and nimble is exactly what you need.

Sources

• BBC News - CrowdStrike: What we know about global IT outage
• The Guardian - CrowdStrike IT outage affects banks, airlines and businesses worldwide
• UK Government - Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2024
• Microsoft - CrowdStrike issue impacting various Azure services
• Reuters - Global IT outage grounds flights, hits banks and media companies
• Financial Times - CrowdStrike software update triggers global IT outage