Australian workers could lose the chance to receive their wages due to fears that the CrowdStrike service outage could affect payroll systems.
On Friday, a global computer outage caused airlines to cancel flights, supermarkets to close their card-only self-service checkouts and television stations to display “blue screens of death” behind their news readers.
The crisis came after a software update to the CrowdStrike security program caused problems with Microsoft applications worldwide.
Graeme Hughes, a professor of business and technology at Griffith University, said businesses that relied on CrowdStrike were particularly at risk after Friday’s outage.
“The risk is that if employers or banks use CrowdStrike, payroll transactions may be halted on Friday until systems are back up and running,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
Corporate payroll systems could be compromised if companies do not have backup plans to deal with them.
“It really puts some of those fundamental things at risk,” he said.
‘As far as payrolls are concerned, that will really depend on the individual providers and their technology – some may have some issues with it.
Australian workers could be left without wages due to fears that the CrowdStrike service outage could affect payroll systems
We know we’ll have to wait and see what happens in the coming days.
Cybersecurity expert Benjamin Britton said online payments were at risk, describing it as a problem that could be more serious than the public realises.
“They are all digital payments, which means they can easily be affected by a cyber outage,” he told Daily Mail Australia.
‘Especially if a company’s payments department had systems that were affected by the outage or banks’ systems were disrupted.
‘But keep in mind that the rabbit hole in this matter is very deep.’
Australia is potentially facing its worst payroll disaster since 2010, when a new IBM payroll system in Queensland malfunctioned, resulting in thousands of health workers being underpaid, overpaid or in some cases not paid at all.
Anna Bligh, chief executive of the Australian Banking Association, was Queensland premier during the IBM blunder that led to her Labor Party losing the 2012 election in a landslide.
But the Australian banks’ lobby group, which he now heads, said any problems with payrolls would be minor.
“There have been no major disruptions to payment systems as a result of the CrowdStrike service interruption and none are anticipated,” a spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia.
‘The impacts on banks and payment systems have been relatively minor; the disruptions have already been resolved or are in the process of being gradually restored.’
Mr Hughes said CrowdStrike was not primarily a payroll program as IBM’s system was more than a decade ago.
But he said it was premature to declare there would be no problems with payrolls.
“Nowadays, with so much reliance on technology, you can’t guarantee that everything is foolproof,” he said.
On Friday, a global IT outage caused airlines to cancel flights, supermarkets to close their card-only self-service checkouts and television stations to display “blue screens of death” behind their news readers.
CrowdStrike released a statement on Friday evening confirming that a software update had affected Windows hosts and noting that it was not a cyberattack.
“The problem has been identified, isolated and a solution has been implemented,” he said.
‘We understand the seriousness of the situation and deeply regret any inconvenience and disruption.
“We are working with all affected customers to ensure that systems are back up and running and can provide the services their customers count on.”
The US Daily Mail reported that the Global Payroll Association (GPA) had warned that people “risk losing their pay” because their employers or banks rely on CrowdStrike for cyber protection.
Melanie Pizzey, founder and CEO of GPA, said her company had received complaints from several clients who were unable to access their payroll software due to the outage.
“Depending on the length of this disruption, it could have very serious implications for businesses across the country, particularly those that process payroll on a weekly basis,” Pizzey said.
‘In addition, we could see a delay in processing payrolls by the end of the month, which could delay employees receiving their monthly salary.’
