Saudi Central Bank Affirms Resilience Amid Global Tech Outage
In a reassuring statement on Friday, the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) declared that its national payment and banking infrastructure systems remained unscathed by the worldwide tech outage that wreaked havoc across various industries, ranging from travel to finance.
The chaos was reportedly triggered by a software update from global cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, causing system malfunctions that resulted in grounded flights, disrupted broadcasts, and left customers stranded without essential services like healthcare and banking.
SAMA emphasized its strict adherence to the highest internationally recognized standards for operational and cybersecurity practices, implementing rigorous protocols for its systems and national payment networks in conjunction with other financial institutions.
Furthermore, the bank underscored its ongoing commitment to updating precautionary measures regularly to uphold the effectiveness of business continuity plans and bolster the resilience of banking and payment systems, all in a bid to enhance infrastructure safety and service efficiency.
While CrowdStrike claimed to have deployed a fix for the issue, concerns linger among experts about the ease of patching up the damaged systems for millions of users.