Following a widespread tech outage that disrupted services globally, U.S. House leaders are urging CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify before Congress. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company, acknowledged that a significant number of the millions of affected computers are now operational, but customers and regulators are seeking a more detailed explanation of the incident.
The House Homeland Security committee, led by Republicans, emphasized the need for transparency and accountability in understanding the root cause of the outage, which has been described as one of the largest IT disruptions in history. Representatives highlighted the importance of learning how the incident occurred and the steps being taken by CrowdStrike to prevent future occurrences.
The disruption was caused by a defective software update sent by CrowdStrike to its customers, impacting critical sectors such as airlines, banks, and hospitals. Approximately 8.5 million machines running Microsoft's Windows operating system were affected, requiring manual intervention to resolve the issues.
CrowdStrike announced that it is implementing new measures to expedite the remediation process and is actively engaging with congressional committees to address concerns. However, the company's stock value has plummeted by over 20% since the incident, resulting in significant market losses.
Regulators, including antitrust enforcers, are closely monitoring the situation to determine if any actions need to be taken against CrowdStrike. The incident has underscored the vulnerabilities of interconnected systems and the potential risks associated with concentrated market power, as highlighted by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission chair in a recent statement.
