Technology @lemmy.world lemme in @lemm.ee 4 mo. ago

Windows 3.1 saves the day during CrowdStrike outage — Southwest Airlines scrapes by with archaic OS

www.tomshardware.com Windows 3.1 saves the day during CrowdStrike outage — Southwest Airlines scrapes by with archaic OS

Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 save the day.

Southwest Airlines, the fourth largest airline in the US, is seemingly unaffected by the problematic CrowdStrike update that caused millions of computers to BSoD (Blue Screen of Death) because it used Windows 3.1. The CrowdStrike issue disrupted operations globally after a faulty update caused newer computers to freeze and stop working, with many prominent institutions, including airports and almost all US airlines, including United, Delta, and American Airlines, needing to stop flights.

Windows 3.1, launched in 1992, is likely not getting any updates. So, when CrowdStrike pushed the faulty update to all its customers, Southwest wasn’t affected (because it didn’t receive an update to begin with).

The airlines affected by the CrowdStrike update had to ground their fleets because many of their background systems refused to operate. These systems could include pilot and fleet scheduling, maintenance records, ticketing, etc. Thankfully, the lousy update did not affect aircraft systems, ensuring that everything airborne remained safe and were always in control of their pilots.

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Not The Onion @lemmy.world Aatube @kbin.melroy.org 4 mo. ago

Windows 3.1 saves the day during CrowdStrike outage — Southwest Airlines scrapes by with archaic OS

www.tomshardware.com /software/windows/windows-31-saves-the-day-during-crowdstrike-outage

109 comments

Or, for your consideration, could it perhaps be because they don't use crowdstrike?
Best feature windows 3.1 has:

... it doesn't pop up message telling you to upgrade to windows 11.
Windows 3.1 didn’t have the BSOD. It just froze. I remember with Windows NT 4, when we first got the BSOD, being so grateful that Microsoft decided to actually tell us that our computer wasn’t going to recover from the error. Otherwise, we’d just be sitting there, waiting, hoping it would unfreeze itself.

It never did
The fact that they’re running 3.1 is not something to be proud of. They’re probably extremely vulnerable to any other attack.
This... Doesn't make me feel any better about flying Southwest
This is the "can't get a Word Document macro virus because I use the Corel WordPerfect Document type" kind of energy.
One X user suggested that the company switch to Windows XP—it’s also no longer updated, and it can run Windows 3.1 applications via compatibility mode.

Maybe that was a joke, but if anything that would reduce their security. Windows 3.1 and 95 are old enough that they can't even run most stuff from the last two and a half decades, which probably protects them. XP is just new enough, and plenty old enough, to be very risky.
Holy crap, they are serious. I though I was on !programmer_humor@programming.dev for a minute. I sure hope none of those computers are connected to the internet. There's a massive number of vulnerabilities in windows 3.1 and windows 95.
Is this actually confirmed anywhere though? I keep seeing it repeated and the only 'source' is a ?xeet? .
I’m inclined to believe this post, claiming this article is BS https://mastodon.social/@jplebreton/112825798853315264
This is both awesome and frightening for many reasons
Maybe don’t pay a company to install a rootkit on your critical infrastructure?
So...Battlestar Galactica scenario?
If they still use Windows 3.1 and it works, then I do have to wonder about the rest of their security setup.
That makes fuckall sense.

Windows 3.1 not being updated by Microsoft has nothing to do with Crowdstrike rolling out an update to their Falcon Sensor software including a file with 42kB of zeroes.

On Windows 3.1 you probably can't run Falcon Sensor, so in that way it could be related. But it seems way more likely that Southwest Airlines simply didn't use Falcon Sensor on their normal Windows 10 or whatever clients.

There are probably competitors to Crowdstrike, at least some companies would be customers to one of them.
Windows 3.1? You fancy kids, and your modern operating systems! What's wrong with Windows 1.0???
Hang on, if you're using CrowdStrike but not getting the updates, then why are you using it at all?
And they can play JezzBall.
I thought everyone already switched to 3.11
I thought I was eating an onion... Nope.
This software is shit Bob! What should we do Bob?

Well Bob, we should find something compatible with shit!

Bob, I think I got it! I got this other shit software!

Genius Bob! Just Genius! 😎
🤯
Ahhhh, the Technology Trap. The modern world has become a mere handful of bad zeros away from having this house of cards crash down and kill almost everyone.

Technology is great and makes our modern society comfy and great. But it also can be the Sword of Damocles. When will that slender thread break and kill us all?
Everything we know about this is that it was a disaster waiting to happen. Why the heck aren't the airlines using Linux instead of Windows for critical stuff? How about something like...Chrome OS? Then you don't need CrowdStrike because your OS is already secure because of the built in VMs and because it is Linux. Pay google for support and no updates unless there is something critical.

edit: Lots of Microsoft lovers here lol. And missing the point which is that using the most well known consumer OS for critical stuff like keeping flights going is begging for trouble.

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