Microsoft says EU to blame for the world's worst IT outage
Microsoft says the European Union is to blame for the world's biggest IT outage on Friday following a faulty security update.
A 2009 agreement insisted on by the European Commission meant that Microsoft could not make security changes that would have blocked the update from cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike that caused an estimated 8.5 million computers to fail, the Big Tech giant said in comments to the Wall Street Journal newspaper.
Thousands of flights were delayed or cancelled, leaving passengers stranded at airports worldwide, the UK's NHS service was affected and contactless payments failed to work.
The problem was triggered by a defective update for CrowdStrike's Falcon system which was designed to prevent cyberattacks. It has privileged access to a key part of a computer known as the kernel.
Microsoft has Windows Defender, its in-house alternative to CrowdStrike, but because of the 2009 agreement made to avoid a European competition investigation, had allowed multiple security providers to install software at the kernel level.
Apple in EU's sights over competition rules
The European Commission had been accusing Microsoft since the early 2000s of having an unfair advantage over other companies because of its popular Windows software.
Microsoft's main competitor, Apple, in 2020 blocked access to the kernel on its Mac computers, arguing it would improve security and reliability.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal, a Microsoft spokesman said the company could not make a similar change because of the EU agreement.
Up to 8.5 million Windows devices were affected by the outage, Microsoft confirmed, saying it was less than 1 per cent of all machines using the software. However, it said, there had been major impacts because CrowdStrike is widely used by businesses.
CrowdStrike has said "a significant number" of the affected computers are back online and has apologised for what happened.
Under its new Digital Markets Act, Europe is currently trying to force Apple to give access to its iPhone to allow alternative app stores and web browsers to be used.
Euronews Next has contacted Microsoft for comment.
