IT Outage Shows Danger of Relying on a Handful of Companies for Critical Services

Today, technical problems reportedly related to the interaction between Microsoft’s cloud computing system and cybersecurity provider Crowdstrike caused massive worldwide IT outages, disrupting transportation, healthcare, and businesses. Emily Peterson-Cassin, Demand Progress’s Director of Corporate Power, issued the following statement.

"Today’s outage shows how one software issue stemming from only one or two companies can ground flights, take down hospital systems, stop 911 calls, and cut off access to the internet in one fell swoop. Economy-wide reliance on a few giant companies is a serious fundamental risk to Americans.

No one regulatory or legislative intervention will prevent this kind of situation, but there are plenty of policies that can reduce the danger. Efforts to empower regulators’ ability to tackle the risks posed by concentrated corporate actors are critical to protecting Americans from these kinds of failures.

Cloud systems are critical to our infrastructure, and need to receive legislative and regulatory attention equal to their importance to our economy and the harms they cause when they fail."