This happened because a small error during routine maintenance had unexpected and cascading consequences. On October 4, 2021, billions of users worldwide lost access to all Facebook services, including Instagram and WhatsApp. the Log4j incident-a slow-rolling crisis actively abused by malicious actors-with another recent global event that was shorter, sharper, and completely accidental. Until then, innumerable victims remain vulnerable to state-sponsored hackers, ransomware gangs, and other bad actors. 3 Experts predict it will take years to fully resolve the issue. Meanwhile, organizations struggled to apply these patches because Log4j is often hidden underneath layers upon layers of other software packages. The first patch was then followed by a second patch and a third patch, as more security gaps were uncovered.

By that point, the hacking had already begun. 2 The job of fixing Log4j fell to a team of volunteer programmers at Apache, who took two weeks to release a security patch. 1 The security flaw could permit hackers to take total control of vulnerable machines with relative ease. On November 24, 2021, Chinese cybersecurity researchers disclosed a severe vulnerability in Log4j-a low-profile software utility embedded in millions, or perhaps billions, of consumer devices and enterprise systems around the world. In the last few months alone, two very different events illustrated distinct versions of the problem.

Whereas most cyber events have a narrowly defined set of victims, a systemic cyber incident could do damage on a national or even a global scale-threatening the digital infrastructure that entire societies, economies, and governments rely on to function. There is growing concern about “systemic cyber risk”-the possibility that a single failure somewhere in cyberspace could cause widening ripples with catastrophic consequences.

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