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Study: CrowdStrike Outage Impacted Arizona Banking Heavily

July 28, 2024

By Matthew Holloway |

Last Friday’s CrowdStrike outage, which made headlines for disrupting operations at valley polling places, severely disrupted life for people all over the state because of Arizona’s heavy use of mobile banking, according to a study from Vention released Tuesday.

According to a release obtained by AZ Free News, the study by software development company Vention was based on Google Keyword Planner analysis of the U.S. Google search volume related to mobile banking on the basis that it can identify the states that utilize it most and were therefore the most impacted.

Arizona ranks fifth in the nation based on Vention’s findings following Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut and Florida.

Credit: https://ventionteams.com  Sources:  Search volume data was gathered from Google Keyword Planner |
Mobile banking usage survey results are from marketwatch.com  | Penetration rate of online banking in the US is from statista.com

In Arizona, the utility of mobile banking is intuitive given the nature of Arizona’s development with tens of thousands of residents living in far-flung communities further from civic and business centers. But in other areas where mobile banking is prevalent, insufficient physical banking locations to handle customer density is a reasonable cause.

Vention reports, “In recent years, mobile banking has rapidly gained popularity, driven by the convenience and accessibility it offers. A recent survey conducted by MarketWatch found that nearly 75% of people prefer mobile and online banking over in-person banking.”

Marc Karasu, CMO at Vention, commented on the findings saying, “It’s fascinating to see which states are adopting the latest trends in banking technology more quickly and which are lagging.”  

“What’s more, mobile banking popularity is set to keep rising, with research predicting that over 79% of the population will be using online banking by 2029.”  

“Studies such as these are invaluable for the banking industry to identify where they need to focus their marketing efforts. Additionally, it highlights the states that could benefit from increased financial technology education and support.” 

A report from the Arizona Republic Friday stated that the outage brought down point-of-sale systems at Circle K locations, caused delays and flight cancellations at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, and disrupted police dispatch and communications systems all over the state.

Founder and president of Data Doctors Computer Services, Ken Colburn, told AZCentral that the situation could cause CrowdStrike and other cybersecurity firms to perform a “deep self-examination,” adding, “The silver lining of this is maybe we as an industry become better at this type of thing.”

Discussing the convenience of technology and interconnectivity as well as the risks he told the outlet, “You can’t really have it both ways.” He continued, “Every day, we as individuals make risk decisions. It is the nature of individuals. It’s the nature of business. It’s the nature of life. What we have to do is make sure that the risks that we’re taking do not exceed the value of what we’re getting out of our interconnected world.”

According to CNN, the outage, described as the largest IT outage in history, is expected to cost Fortune 500 companies in excess of $5 Billion in direct losses with healthcare and banking systems hit the hardest, suffering estimated losses of $1.94 billion and $1.15 billion respectively.

Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.

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