CrowdStrike CEO called to testify before US House committee
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The impact of the outage rippled across the globe and disrupted healthcare systems, airlines, ports, companies and governments.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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NEW YORK – A US House committee called on CrowdStrike chief executive George Kurtz to testify on a defective software update that caused widespread global outages
The House Committee on Homeland Security requested the appearance of Mr Kurtz and asked cyber-security firm CrowdStrike to promptly schedule a date.
“In less than one day, we have seen major impacts to key functions of the global economy, including aviation, healthcare, banking, media and emergency services,” committee chair and Tennessee Republican Mark Green, and representative Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican and chairman of the panel’s sub-committee on Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection, wrote in a letter to him on July 22.
“Recognising that Americans will undoubtedly feel the lasting, real-world consequences of this incident, they deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking,” they wrote.
A CrowdStrike spokesperson said on July 22 that it was in discussion with congressional committees, which have the power to compel testimony by issuing subpoenas but usually first ask potential witnesses to appear voluntarily. Other congressional committees have asked its officials for briefings on the outage, its causes and the company’s response.
The outage on July 19 was blamed on a defect in a software update and impacted CrowdStrike customers using Microsoft Windows. The impact of the outage rippled across the globe and disrupted healthcare systems, airlines, ports, companies and governments. BLOOMBERG
