The July incident stemmed from a glitchy content update for a sensor product that is used to detect and block cyber attacks. — Photo by Shekai on Unsplash
Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike came before a congressional subcommittee this week to explain how its faulty software update temporarily bricked 8.5 million Windows machines around the world, and how it would work to ensure it doesn't happen again.
CrowdStrike Senior Vice President of Counter Adversary Operations Adam Meyers said the company is now taking more precautions when releasing updates. But he also pushed back against lawmakers who questioned if the company erred in implementing its update deep inside Windows operating systems. While some lawmakers argued that pushing updates directly to the operating system's kernel meant a mistake could have serious consequences, Meyers said this deep-level access is important if cybersecurity software is going to keep up against hackers.
