Microsoft to host cybersecurity summit after CrowdStrike-induced IT outage

MICROSOFT said on Friday (Aug 23) it would hold a summit in September on improving cybersecurity systems, after a faulty update from CrowdStrike caused a global IT outage last month.

The conference marks the first big step by Microsoft to address the issues that affected nearly 8.5 million Windows devices on Jul 19, disrupting operations across industries ranging from major airlines to banks and healthcare.

The event will be held on Sep 10 at the company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington. Microsoft will invite government representatives to the gathering, it said.

“The CrowdStrike outage in July presents important lessons for us to apply as an ecosystem,” Microsoft said.

The outage raised concerns that many organisations are not well prepared to implement contingency plans when a single point of failure such as an IT system, or a piece of software within it, goes down.

“We look forward to bringing our perspective to the discussions with Microsoft and industry and government stakeholders on the need for a more resilient ecosystem,” a CrowdStrike spokesperson said when contacted for a comment. REUTERS