House Republicans are pushing CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify before Congress following a global tech outage that disrupted flights and businesses worldwide last Friday.
Representatives Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) issued a letter to Kurtz on Monday, demanding a public hearing to discuss the incident, The Hill reported. The lawmakers said it is important to understand the outage's causes and the measures CrowdStrike is implementing to prevent future occurrences.
"Recognizing that Americans will undoubtedly feel the lasting, real-world consequences of this incident, they deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking," the letter stated.
The outage was linked to a software update defect from CrowdStrike, and the company clarified it was not a cybersecurity attack. The disruption led to thousands of flight cancellations and delays, and also affected hospitals, emergency services, and government offices.
Green, who chairs the House Committee on Homeland Security, and Garbarino, who is head of the subcommittee on cybersecurity and infrastructure protection, pointed out the national security implications of network dependency, warning that adversaries like China and Russia are observing the U.S. response closely.
"This incident highlights the broader national security risks associated with our reliance on network systems," they wrote in the letter.
A CrowdStrike spokesperson told CNBC in a statement that the cybersecurity tech company "is actively in contact with relevant Congressional Committees."
"Briefings and other engagement timelines may be disclosed at Members' discretion," the spokesperson added.
Early Friday, a faulty update to CrowdStrike's Falcon vulnerability-protection software triggered widespread crashes, affecting PCs, data center servers, and display screens. The outage led to grounded flights and canceled medical appointments, impacting 8.5 million Windows devices. According to Microsoft, this figure represented less than 1% of global Windows devices.
In response, IT teams scrambled to restore the system. However, at the same time, hackers exploited the situation, creating fake websites that mimicked legitimate software update sites in an attempt to spread malware.
CrowdStrike shares dropped 13% Monday as the cybersecurity firm dealt with the fallout. Green and Garbarino have asked CrowdStrike to set up a hearing with the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection by Wednesday at the latest.
