WASHINGTON—Today, NetChoice sent a letter to leaders of the U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, requesting a hearing with both CrowdStrike and Microsoft to examine the steps both companies are taking to prevent a future IT outage.
Last week, the IT outage on CrowdStrike’s Falcon Sensor software inadvertently caused the largest disruption in history for Microsoft Windows users globally, hitting approximately 8.5 million devices worldwide—including U.S. government servers.
“The widespread nature of the outage and its profound impact underscores the urgent need to address the implications of single points of failure in America’s critical IT infrastructure. While Crowdstrike’s role will be explored in an upcoming hearing in the U.S. House, many questions remain about Microsoft’s role,” wrote Amy Bos, NetChoice Director of State and Federal Affairs.
Bos continued: “A hearing before your committee would provide valuable insight into what failures led up to the outage and what measures both Microsoft and CrowdStrike are taking to make sure this does not happen again. There could be many causes of a future outage that affects Microsoft software, from a nation-state cyber attack to another botched update, and this incident made clear that any widespread Microsoft outage could bring critical industries and services in our nation to a standstill.”
You can read the full letter HERE and below, and more about the Cyber Safety Review Board’s report on Microsoft’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities here.
Please contact press@netchoice.org with inquiries.