Regulators and lawmakers said the sprawling outage that knocked out Microsoft’s Windows across the globe shows the danger of a single company’s dominance
By Cristiano Lima-Strong and Cat Zakrzewski, The Washington PostPedestrians walk by blacked out screens, due to a global technology outage, in Times Square, Friday, July 19, 2024, in New York.
The outages were traced to a defective update from the cybersecurity company CrowdStrike, which was shipped to Windows systems across the globe, triggering the mass outages. The pervasiveness of Microsoft’s software in government IT systems reentered the spotlight earlier this year, after major hacks exposed federal officials’ emails, prompting lawmakers on Capitol Hill to haul in the company’s president, Brad Smith, to testify. A scathing report by the federal government’s Cyber Safety Review Board found that a “cascade of avoidable errors” and a security culture “that requires an overhaul” contributed to the events.
But the flare-up is already fueling calls for the federal government to diversify the pool of vendors that conduct its daily operations, serving as a potential boon to Microsoft’s competitors. At least one Republican committee member, Rep. Michael McCaul , learned of the outage as he faced his own flight disruptions while returning from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, according to a spokesperson.
Under the leadership of Smith, the company has sought to portray itself as more diplomatic and willing to engage with policymakers about their concerns than tech peers. Smith’s reputation as the industry’s de facto ambassador to Washington will probably be tested by the outage fallout.
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