Accélérer le développement de l’économie numérique

Accelerating the development of the digital economy

The global computer bug

Late last week, Microsoft (Windows developer) services experienced a malfunction due to a faulty update on Windows systems of an IT solution from the American cybersecurity group CrowdStrike. Following this bug, multiple sectors around the world were paralyzed. These include airlines, airports, banks, media and hospitals that depend on these complex IT services.
On the direct and indirect financial impact of this bug, the president of the Digital Union and CEO of Alpha Computer, Souheil Guessoum indicated yesterday during his intervention on the airwaves of Channel III of the national radio that “it is estimated at tens of billions of dollars. The company Crowdstrike, worth 80 billion dollars, lost more than 8 billion dollars, and Microsoft recorded a loss of nearly 90 billion dollars.”
For the speaker, this global incident should encourage us to accelerate the development of the national digital economy to face the vagaries of digitalization and especially to strengthen national cybersecurity. “We must move very quickly to catch up on the delay accumulated in this area. Of course, we are making progress with the upcoming arrival of the Data center, but, in my opinion, not quickly enough as the global geopolitical situation recommends,” he noted in passing.
In this context, Mr. Guessoum indicated that Algeria has the skills to advance in the digital field, stressing that “the Higher School of Computer Science and the School of Artificial Intelligence produce hundreds of highly qualified engineers each year.”
“More than 90% of these engineers end up working abroad,” he regrets, calling for offering these graduates adequate salaries and conditions to keep them in Algeria and involve them in building our economy.
In addition, Algiers International Airport assured its passengers and partners in an official statement that its operations were not affected by this outage. It confirmed that its IT systems remain fully operational and secure. Flights scheduled to depart from the airport for the day of July 19, 2024 took place without incident, with the exception of the services of the subcontractor Swissport.
Manel Z.