European Commission denies responsibility for massive Microsoft IT outage

It’s not our fault, it’s your fault!

A European Commission spokesperson has hit back at accusations by tech giant Microsoft claiming that the EU executive was to blame for a massive IT outage that caused commercial mayhem last week, telling Euronews that the US tech giant never raised any concerns about security with the Commission either before or after the incident, Euronews reports.

The outage, which affected 8.5 million computers running Windows and using CrowdStrike’s Falcon cybersecurity software, caused flights to be grounded, businesses to be unable to process card payments, and hospitals and clinics to cancel operations.

A Microsoft spokesperson yesterday suggested to US media that a 2009 agreement with the European Commission is to blame for the widespread IT failure last Friday.

According to a Microsoft spokesperson, the 2009 agreement “gives makers of security software the same level of access to Windows that Microsoft gets.” This deal was intended to counteract Microsoft’s monopolistic position, particularly in web browsers.

Microsoft has in-house alternative to CrowdStrike

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.

By contrast, Apple, which was not included in the deal operates in a closed ecosystem, and so was not affected by this update malfunction.

The European Commission spokesperson hit back at the accusations, telling Euronews that “Microsoft is free to decide on its business model. It is for Microsoft to adapt its security infrastructure to respond to threats in line with EU competition law. Additionally, consumers are free to benefit from competition and choose between different cybersecurity providers.”

The spokesperson also said that “the incident was not limited to the European Union and that Microsoft has never raised any concerns about security with the Commission either before or after the incident.”