Global Crisis: Imagine, what would happen if one day suddenly the services of the world’s five big companies like MasterCard, Visa Card, Google, GPS and AWS stop working? Will the world stop?
This question is being raised because a glitch in a software of the American anti-virus company Crowdstrike had such an impact that it threw the whole world into disarray. 95 percent of the computers running on Microsoft’s operating system across the world came to a standstill. Due to this glitch, essential services like airports, flights, hospitals, banks, digital payments, stock exchanges, TV channels and supermarkets came to a halt across the world.
Its biggest impact was seen at the airport. India’s well-known airlines Akasa, Indigo, Air India, SpiceJet all faced problems. Not only India but many low-cost airlines of America were also not untouched by this problem. Companies like Frontier Airlines, Allegiant and Sun Country also had trouble running their services.
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Global Crisis: How did all this happen?
On the morning of July 19, a big cyber security company CrowdStrike’s system suddenly faced a major problem. They had recently released a technical update for Windows computers, there was some error in its code. This update of CrowdStrike brought Microsoft’s Azure Cloud and Microsoft 365 services to a halt. Due to this, computer networks all over the world came to a standstill. However, this problem occurred only on Windows systems. There was no effect on Mac and Linux computers.
Microsoft Azure is a cloud computing platform. It works to create, deploy and manage applications. Microsoft 365 is productivity software, which includes applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook and One Note.
If a single company’s software update can cause such a huge problem worldwide, what will happen if companies like MasterCard/Visa Card, Google, Microsoft, GPS and AWS – Amazon Web Services stop working?
What will happen if MasterCard and Visa shut down?
Making online payments has become very common these days. But have you ever wondered which companies are behind the scenes that make your payments so easily? Visa is number one in the world of payments. After this, MasterCard is number two.Â
In today’s time, MasterCard and Visa are used for making payments everywhere, from shops to online shopping. If this service stops, then the sales of shopkeepers will be affected and online business can also suffer huge losses. Imagine you have to shop at shops, pay electricity bill or make online payment, everything will stop.
Nowadays, the world’s trade depends on these payment networks. Many international companies and business agreements also make payments through these. If these are shut down, there will be problems in international trade as well. The economy of the whole world can also be affected.
Banks around the world partner with MasterCard and Visa to issue credit and debit cards. Their closure will also affect the banking system. People may lose faith in banks and economic instability may arise. However, there are some countries where MasterCard/Visa service is not available, so it will not have any impact there.
Even if MasterCard/Visa services or companies shut down, everything will stop for a short time. There will definitely be trouble for some time and the economy will also be affected. But the world’s work will not stop forever. Then people will start using other methods of payment more. Other payment companies like Rupay Card, American Express, Discover or any local payment service of our country will start being used more. The use of digital payment wallets like Paytm, PhonePe, Google Pay may also increase. Gradually new payment systems will be created and people will adopt them.
Google down! Can this happen?
The biggest impact of Google going down will be on the internet. Google is the easiest way to find information for billions of people around the world. If it goes down, people will have trouble finding information and the activity on the internet will reduce significantly. Google was down for some time in 2013 as well. At that time too, internet traffic fell by 40% in just a few minutes.
Many services of Google are important for our work and communication, especially Gmail. If Google shuts down, email service will stop. This will cause problems in communication between offices and people. If Google Maps shuts down, people will have trouble finding directions. This will be especially difficult for those who use Google Maps to travel or visit new places every day.
Google employs thousands of people and has many partner companies and suppliers. A sudden shutdown could lead to the loss of many jobs and uncertainty in the economy, especially in those areas that rely heavily on Google’s services for advertising and data analysis.
If Google shuts down forever, people will first think that their internet is bad. Then they will look for other search engines. Like Bing, Yahoo or DuckDuckGo. The traffic on these search engines will suddenly increase a lot. They will also have to quickly find another email platform. Meaning, even if Google shutting down causes problems for a short time, the world will not stop. New companies will also come in the market, which will replace Google.
What will happen if GPS stops working?Â
We have become very dependent on GPS for finding directions. But what will happen if it stops working suddenly? The biggest impact will be on finding directions. People will again have to use paper maps and compass to show directions. This can lead to many people getting lost and traffic jams can also occur. This will happen because people will slow down their vehicles and look at the map or signboard, whereas GPS shows the route while moving.
There will be problems for vehicles like buses, trains and taxis as well. These vehicles tell people through a GPS-based app how long it will take for the vehicle to arrive. With the help of GPS, many companies track trucks and other goods delivery vehicles. This tells where the goods are and how long it will take to arrive. This will delay the delivery of goods and also increase the cost. Fire, police or ambulance will also face problems. All of them reach the spot quickly using GPS. This can also put people at risk as they will be late in getting help.
GPS is not just a route finding system, but it also plays an important role in providing correct time. Many technologies, such as phone networks and banking systems, depend on GPS to provide correct time. If GPS stops working, these related things may also face problems. For example, there may be problems in bank transactions, stock markets and electricity supply.
This shows that we have become mostly dependent on GPS. This also increases the risk that if something goes wrong, everything can come to a halt. Therefore, it is important that we find more ways to find our way so that such problems do not arise in the future.
AWS closed! What is the impact on the world of technology?
Amazon started as an online book store. Today it is such a big name whose dominance extends from online shopping to the world of technology. Not only this, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the largest companies providing cloud computing services. Earlier companies used to keep big computers in their offices. But now they can rent necessary things like storage and software. These renting companies provide cloud computing services.
Nowadays, many websites and apps running on the Internet are dependent on AWS (Amazon Web Services). Big companies like Netflix, BBC and Baidu also use AWS for their work. These companies use AWS to store, process their data and run their websites. Banks and stock markets use AWS for many of their tasks, such as completing the transaction process and analyzing data.
Apart from this, there will be problems in the supply chain as well. Companies that deliver goods to shops also depend on AWS for their work. This helps them know where their goods are and how much is left. Emergency services like hospitals, police and fire brigade also use cloud services to communicate with each other and keep data. If these systems stop working, they may be late in helping people and people’s lives may also be in danger.
If this service stops working, all these things will stop working. Crores of users will face problems in using them. It has happened many times before that even if AWS was shut down for a short time, more than half of the internet was shut down. This affected everything from online shopping to video streaming.
Right now AWS dominates the market, but if it closes down, new companies may also come forward to provide cloud services. This will increase competition in the market and we may get even better cloud services in the future.
If MasterCard, Visa Card, Google, Microsoft, GPS and Amazon Web Services (AWS) suddenly stop working for some reason, the world will not come to a complete standstill, but there will definitely be trouble everywhere. The situation may become very bad for some time. However, such a thing is still hypothetical.
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