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Microsoft will host a crucial cybersecurity event next month, bringing together various stakeholders following the devastating outage caused by the CrowdStrike incident in July.
The summit will aim to thrash out a plan to prevent a repeat of the critical problem that crashed millions of Windows computers, costing Fortune 500 companies more than $5 billion. A faulty software update caused chaos worldwide, from banks to hospitals and airports.
Microsoft has vowed to improve cyber systems with the dialogue to take place at company headquarters in Redmond, Washington on September 10.
At the Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem event, the US tech giant will be joined by CrowdStrike, other cyber companies, and government agencies to put in place “concrete steps” to protect the collective infrastructure systems which were shown to be vulnerable as a result of the failed update.
Risks of a Single Vendor for All Security Solutions
Microsoft VP of Windows and Devices, Aidan Marcuss, added in a blog update the summit “will lead to next steps in both short- and long-term actions and initiatives to pursue, with improved security and resilience as our collective goal.”
One possible direction of travel is for software updates from the likes of CrowdStrike to be more dependent on Windows user mode, compared to the existing ‘kernel’ approach, the optimum level of control that provides access to the primary operating system.
This could deliver some progress, but removing kernel access would not be able to prevent all possible issues.
The high-level talks could lead toward an ecosystem envisaged by Microsoft, as more is required to support companies in protecting their crucial systems. The CrowdStrike outage highlighted the overreliance and lack of contingency when a single point of failure is severely impacted.
It also underlines the risks of a single vendor acting as a one-stop shop for all security matters.
Microsoft will be aiming to ease some tensions between major partners and to rebuild relationships, but there will be some skepticism from vendors that it could use the situation to push or prioritize its Defender security programs.
