CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz Called to U.S. Congress to Testify on Major Tech Outage

U.S. House leaders summon CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify on the widespread tech outage affecting flights, banks, and hospitals. The incident has raised concerns over the vulnerability of centralized systems.

Key Points:

• U.S. House leaders request CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify about the company’s role in a major tech outage.
• The incident affected airlines, banks, hospitals, and other critical services globally.
• Approximately 8.5 million machines running Windows were disrupted by a defective software update.
• CrowdStrike is implementing new techniques to resolve the issue and is in contact with congressional committees.
• The outage has drawn attention from government regulators, including antitrust enforcers.

Article:

U.S. House leaders are urging CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify before Congress regarding the cybersecurity company’s involvement in a massive tech outage that grounded flights, disrupted banks, and knocked hospital systems offline, affecting services worldwide.

CrowdStrike recently revealed that a “significant number” of the millions of computers that crashed last Friday are back in operation, but both customers and regulators are awaiting a more comprehensive explanation of the incident. This outage has been described as one of the largest IT disruptions in history.

Republicans leading the House Homeland Security committee, including Rep. Mark E. Green of Tennessee and Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York, expressed urgency in obtaining answers. In a letter to Kurtz, they stated, “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. Americans deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking.”

The outage was triggered by a defective software update from CrowdStrike, which disrupted about 8.5 million machines running Microsoft’s Windows operating system. The fallout from the update affected various critical services, requiring many IT teams to manually delete files on affected machines.

In a blog post late Sunday, CrowdStrike mentioned that it has begun implementing a new technique to speed up the remediation process. Additionally, the company stated on Monday that it is actively communicating with congressional committees.

Since the incident, shares of the Texas-based cybersecurity company have plummeted by more than 20%, erasing billions of dollars in market value. The widespread disruptions have not only caught the attention of lawmakers but also of government regulators, including antitrust enforcers, who are now scrutinizing the event.

Lina Khan, chair of the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, highlighted the broader implications of such outages in a post on the social media platform X. She remarked, “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. Millions of people and businesses pay the price. These incidents reveal how concentration can create fragile systems.”

As the investigation into the outage continues, the focus remains on understanding the root cause and preventing future occurrences. The congressional hearing with George Kurtz is anticipated to provide crucial insights into the steps CrowdStrike is taking to mitigate the impact and enhance the resilience of their systems.