Microsoft plans to improve the security of Windows after a faulty update sent to the operating system caused a global IT outage that affected hospitals and health systems.
The tech giant scheduled a summit for Sept. 10 at its Washington headquarters with CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company that delivered the bad update, and other security partners, inviting government representatives as well.
"Our objective is to discuss concrete steps we will all take to improve security and resiliency for our joint customers," Microsoft wrote in an Aug. 23 blog post. "Our discussions will focus on improving security and safe deployment practices, designing systems for resiliency and working together as a thriving community of partners to best serve customers now, and in the future."
The July outage caused millions of Windows computers across the world to start up with a blank blue screen, disrupting industries from aviation to banking to healthcare. Several health systems had to delay appointments as they manually restored their workstations one by one.
Microsoft told the Financial Times it had not ruled out cutting off access to the core, or kernel, of its operating system to third-party companies like CrowdStrike. "That would be a fundamental shift for Microsoft's philosophy and business model," Allie Mellen, analyst for research firm Forrester, told the newspaper. The Big Tech company could also require stronger testing for those vendors.