On July 19, 2024, a faulty software update from CrowdStrike’s antivirus program triggered a massive global IT outage, affecting multiple sectors including financial services, healthcare, airlines, and retail. Microsoft also experienced disruptions in its cloud services and applications such as Azure and Microsoft 365. This failure led to flight cancellations and delays, hospital disruptions, and operational difficulties for companies like Tesla and Amazon. While the cause was identified and a fix implemented, full system recovery varies across affected organizations. Some experts are calling this the «largest IT outage in history.» This incident highlights the risks of relying 100% on the cloud for critical operations. Companies might consider adopting hybrid systems, combining cloud services with local solutions, such as on-premises large language models (LLMs), to avoid sharing sensitive information and ensure greater resilience against future technological failures. #microsoft #cloud #llm