Microsoft is reportedly looking into whether restrictions imposed by the European Commission could be partly responsible for amplifying problems with Windows systems during the recent CrowdStrike outage incident.
He Wall Street Journal (WSJ) In an intriguing point about the security of Windows operating systems, the Microsoft spokesman noted that a 2009 settlement with the Commission prevented the company from improving operating system security more rigorously.
The settlement came in response to a complaint and required Microsoft to offer security software developers the same level of access to Windows that the company itself has.
Microsoft accuses the European Commission of hindering security
The decision, intended to encourage competition, inadvertently allowed third-party providers to disrupt systems.
The agreement specifies that Microsoft must share its APIs for Windows Client and Server operating systems with third-party security software developers, but last week's incident highlighted the risks of such openness.
On the other hand, Apple has been restricting developers from kernel-level access to its operating systems since 2020. Google is also not subject to similar regulations.
Despite the clear security benefits of locking down an operating system, the EU is unlikely to grant Microsoft permission to restrict access to certain developers, given its previous decision. The Commission has also been keeping a close eye on Microsoft in recent months, with two major antitrust cases involving the integration of Teams into Microsoft 365 and the company’s dominance of the cloud market making headlines.
Microsoft's displeasure with the European Commission comes days after a CrowdStrike update accidentally damaged 8.5 million Windows PCs worldwide, prompting Microsoft to intervene by giving affected users access to an automatic repair tool.
TechRadar Pro offered Microsoft the opportunity to share more context, but the company did not immediately respond.
