Microsoft Announces Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit With CrowdStrike on September 10

After the CrowdStrike outage impacted millions of PCs around of the world in July 2024, Microsoft has just announced that it will bring its various security partners around the table next month to discuss how to make Windows more resilient. On September 10, 2024, the software giant will be hosting a Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit at its Redmond headquarters with the presence of CrowdStrike, other key security partners, as well as government representatives.

“The CrowdStrike outage in July 2024 presents important lessons for us to apply as an ecosystem,” said Aidan Marcuss, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Windows and Devices. “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.”

Microsoft quickly became an easy target after July’s global IT outage caused BSODs to appear on millions of PCs. A company like Delta claimed that the outage cost it no less than $500 million and threatened Microsoft and Crowdstrike with legal action. The outage was actually caused by a faulty update for its Falcon platform released on July 19.

While Microsoft wasn’t responsible for the outage, the company recently hinted that it was rethinking how third-party cybersecurity vendors like CrowdStrike can access the Windows kernel to better protect the worldwide computing infrastructure. The company said that last month that it was already planning to work with the anti-malware ecosystem to help them decrease their reliance on kernel drivers.

“It is expected that the Windows Endpoint Security Ecosystem Summit will lead to next steps in both short- and long-term actions and initiatives to pursue, with improved security and resilience as our collective goal,” Marcuss said today. While it’s a good thing that Microsoft is opting for a community-based approach to improve security for its customers, the company also recently asked all of its employees to prioritize security in everything they do. The effort go as far as making security work an integral part of how Microsoft now evaluates its employees.