Microsoft Deputy CISO recounts responding to the CrowdStrike outage

At the Black Hat conference, Ann Johnson, Microsoft’s Corporate VP and deputy CISO, recounted an incident on July 19, when a widespread IT outage impacted 8.5 million Microsoft Windows systems due to a problematic CrowdStrike software update. Johnson detailed how she and her team quickly mobilized hundreds of engineers to restore services and highlighted the collaborative efforts across the industry, often working alongside competitors, to resolve the crisis. Despite the severity of the incident, Johnson emphasized the resilience and community spirit within the cybersecurity sector, expressing a cautious optimism about the industry's ability to handle future challenges.

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