CrowdStrike CEO to Testify Before Congress Regarding Global Tech Outage
The CEO of CrowdStrike has been summoned to testify before Congress regarding a worldwide technology outage.
TroibNews 
U.S. House leaders are urging CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify before Congress regarding the cybersecurity company's involvement in the significant tech outage that disrupted flights, bank operations, hospital systems, and other services globally.
CrowdStrike announced this week that a "significant number" of the millions of affected computers from Friday's global outage are now operational again, as customers and regulators await a comprehensive explanation of the incident.
Republicans heading the House Homeland Security committee expressed their demand for answers on Monday.
"While we appreciate CrowdStrike's response and coordination with stakeholders, we cannot ignore the magnitude of this incident, which some have claimed is the largest IT outage in history," wrote Representative Mark E. Green of Tennessee and Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York in a letter to Kurtz.
They emphasized that Americans "deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking."
A defective software update from CrowdStrike disrupted airlines, banks, hospitals, and other crucial infrastructures on Friday, impacting about 8.5 million machines running Microsoft's Windows operating system. Addressing the issue has often required manual file deletion by IT teams.
CrowdStrike mentioned late on Sunday through a blog post that it was beginning to implement a new method to speed up the resolution of the problem. It also released a brief statement on Monday, confirming active communication with congressional committees.
The Texas-based cybersecurity firm's shares have plunged over 20 percent since the incident, erasing billions of dollars in market value.
The wide-ranging disruptions have also drawn the attention of government regulators, including antitrust authorities, though it remains unclear if any action will be taken against the company.
"All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers," stated Lina Khan, chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, in a Sunday post on social media platform X. "Millions of people and businesses pay the price. These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems."
Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News
CrowdStrike announced this week that a "significant number" of the millions of affected computers from Friday's global outage are now operational again, as customers and regulators await a comprehensive explanation of the incident.
Republicans heading the House Homeland Security committee expressed their demand for answers on Monday.
"While we appreciate CrowdStrike's response and coordination with stakeholders, we cannot ignore the magnitude of this incident, which some have claimed is the largest IT outage in history," wrote Representative Mark E. Green of Tennessee and Representative Andrew Garbarino of New York in a letter to Kurtz.
They emphasized that Americans "deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking."
A defective software update from CrowdStrike disrupted airlines, banks, hospitals, and other crucial infrastructures on Friday, impacting about 8.5 million machines running Microsoft's Windows operating system. Addressing the issue has often required manual file deletion by IT teams.
CrowdStrike mentioned late on Sunday through a blog post that it was beginning to implement a new method to speed up the resolution of the problem. It also released a brief statement on Monday, confirming active communication with congressional committees.
The Texas-based cybersecurity firm's shares have plunged over 20 percent since the incident, erasing billions of dollars in market value.
The wide-ranging disruptions have also drawn the attention of government regulators, including antitrust authorities, though it remains unclear if any action will be taken against the company.
"All too often these days, a single glitch results in a system-wide outage, affecting industries from healthcare and airlines to banks and auto-dealers," stated Lina Khan, chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, in a Sunday post on social media platform X. "Millions of people and businesses pay the price. These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems."
Sophie Wagner contributed to this report for TROIB News
