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EuroSTAR Conference

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Track Talk W15

Engage the Crowd, Strike First! The CrowdStrike Incident

Ivan Merola

Cristian Merola

16:00 - 16:45 BST Wednesday 4th June

It’s July 19th, 2024, and you’re at the airport, either waiting for your baggage or checking your next flight when suddenly… the blue screen of death appears everywhere. Panic ensues, not just for you, but for everyone. No, this isn’t a scene from a horror movie—it’s the 2024 CrowdStrike incident. In this session, we’ll “strike first!” and present the story from a unique perspective you haven’t seen before.

Join us as we dive into the what, how, and why of this major cybersecurity event. We’ll explore its impact, the media’s portrayal, and—most importantly—how it could have been prevented.

This session brings together two worlds: cybersecurity and investigative journalism. Together, we (a Mobile QA Engineer at a cybersecurity firm and an investigative journalist) will offer a two-sided view of the incident that shook the digital world.

From the technical side, we’ll dissect the code, uncover the vulnerabilities, and review the post-mortem to see what went wrong and how it could have been avoided. We’ll also share strategies that could have mitigated the impact of the issue.

From the journalism side, we’ll explore the real-world implications of the breach—how it affected daily life, how the media responded, and what it meant for global society.

Our goal is to combine technical insight with investigative depth, leaving you with valuable lessons on how to better protect against and respond to future cybersecurity vulnerabilities.

What you will learn

  1. Identify vulnerabilities early.
  2. Crisis response.
  3. Media's role in cybersecurity events.

Session Details

  • Intermediate
  • 45 minutes
  • Includes 15 mins Q&A
  • Analytical thinking to dissect complex systems
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Check out this video from Ivan & Cristian Merola to hear more about his talk, ‘Engage the Crowd, Strike First! The CrowdStrike Incident’.

We look forward to welcoming you to EuroSTAR 2025.

Session Speaker

Headshot of EuroSTAR 2025 speaker Ivan Merola

Ivan Merola

Build 38, Spain

Ivan became QA tester, for more than 9 years now, working with many different frameworks and programming languages, as well as working in big and small companies and abroad.

The past 2+ years he’s been working on a cybersecurity company, and he was presenting his experience in the previous EuroStar.

Cristian Merola

Cristian Merola

Esneca, Spain

Cristian has a bachelors degree in Audiovisual communication and Journalism and a masters degree in Digital marketing. For the last 2 years, he’s been working on AI prompting text generation and editor.

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