CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz has been called to testify before Congress, following the major IT outage incident last Friday.

With the ongoing fallout caused by the company’s faulty update, the House of Representatives have called for answers in a letter to Kurtz. 

Around 8.5 million devices were impacted in what was described as “the largest IT outage in history” with CrowdStrike stating a significant number are now back online. 

An apology was issued as part of the response from the company in recent days.

“We understand the profound impact this has had on everyone. We know our customers, partners and their IT teams are working tirelessly and we’re profoundly grateful,” said CrowdStrike.

“We apologize for the disruption this has created.”

Congress issues deadline to CrowdStrike boss Kurtz

The cybersecurity firm also launched a “Remediation and Guidance Hub” on its website but Congress wants formal assurances from the company. 

“While we appreciate CrowdStrike’s response and coordination with stakeholders, we cannot ignore the magnitude of this incident, which some have claimed is the largest IT outage in history,” said the letter addressed to Kurtz from Rep. Mark E. Green of Tennessee and Rep. Andrew Garbarino of New York.

The CrowdStrike chief has been urged to schedule a hearing with the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection committee, as soon as possible. He has been requested to respond by Wednesday as officials seek to understand how this episode unfolded and what is being done to ensure it is not repeated.

Delta Airlines is also being probed as it struggles to recover from the serious disruption.

Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, says Delta must provide passengers with refunds and further compensation for disrupted travel plans, as required by law. Delta is thought to have canceled more than 5000 flights since Friday, but it has warned it will be a few more days before it returns to normal operations.

Image credit: Via Ideogram

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