Microsoft has revealed that it will host a major security event where it will reveal more about the recent CrowdStrike outage, but only to a select audience.
The company will be joined by CrowdStrike at its Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit, taking place at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond on September 10.
The event will mark the first time the two companies have spoken publicly together about the outage, which took millions of devices offline and wreaked havoc on organizations around the world.
Microsoft Security Event
The event will also bring together “key partners offering endpoint security technologies” to “discuss how to improve resiliency and protect mutual customers’ critical infrastructure,” Aidan Marcuss, corporate vice president of Microsoft Windows and Devices, said in its official announcement.
“Our goal is to discuss concrete steps we will all take to improve the security and resilience of our joint customers.”
Microsoft says government representatives will be invited along with other tech companies, but it appears the content of the event will remain under wraps, with Marcuss’ announcement indicating the company will only share updates on talks after the event.
Marcuss added that the CrowdStrike service outage offered “important lessons” for Microsoft to apply as an ecosystem, and that discussions will focus on “improving security and secure deployment practices, designing systems for resiliency, and working together as a thriving partner community to better serve customers now and in the future.”
The event will be closely watched around the world as several questions remain unanswered following the July 2024 service outage. First, there will be precise details on how the outage was able to affect so many devices around the world and what the two companies plan to do to ensure that such an incident does not happen again.
There is also interest in knowing exactly how many devices were affected, after Microsoft backed away from its initial estimate, and what the company is doing to reduce its reliance on individual security firms.
