ICSM Business News: fears that unscrupulous firms will use the Microsoft/Crowdstrike outage as an excuse to delay payment to suppliers

By Harry Mottram: The global tech outage will cost billions in lost revenue around the world but will also sink some firms as cash flow dries up warned Ian Carrotte of ICSM. He said: “The fall-out from the global tech and business crisis on Friday 19 July will continue for weeks as the software update from Crowdstrike continues to cause major problems. Where businesses rely on card payment through some systems at airports, trains and some retailers will create a cash flow crisis with a knock-on effect for suppliers and contractors who need prompt payment.”

He also pointed to the legal fall-out where numerous claims will be laid at the door of Crowdstrike (that has already seen its value collapse) as well as Microsoft whose name is inevitably dragged into the issue.

As airports, hospitals, television companies and numerous other organisations reported they hard problems Crowdstrike issues this statement on Friday: “CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts. Mac and Linux hosts are not impacted. This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed. We refer customers to the support portal for the latest updates and will continue to provide complete and continuous updates on our website. We further recommend organizations ensure they’re communicating with CrowdStrike representatives through official channels. Our team is fully mobilized to ensure the security and stability of CrowdStrike customers.”

ICSM said anecdotally they had heard from members when a similar outage took place in 2017 with the Wannacry cyber-attack that it was used as an excuse to delay payments to freelancers, contractors and suppliers. Ian Carrotte said every time there is a high profile crisis such as the Covid 19 crisis, the Iceland volcano or a cyber-attack unscrupulous finance departments use it as an excuse to delay payments.

He said: “Stick to your terms and conditions of payment and you credit agreement. Firms will use any excuse to delay payment and sadly this one will no doubt be used. Our free legal letters have been very successful for members to use to extract late payment with its implication that a late payer maybe blacklisted.”

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ICSM, The Exchange, Express Park, Bristol Road, Bridgwater, Somerset TA6 4RR. Tel: 0844 854 1850. www.icsmcredit.com. Ian.carrotte@icsmcredit.com