Gobind wants Microsoft to hear compensation claims from IT outage victims

Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo urged Microsoft to listen to compensation claims from victims of last week’s global information technology (IT) outage caused by a defect in a single Windows content update.

Among the affected individuals is Capital A Sdn Bhd CEO Tan Sri Tony Fernandes.

“I’ve discussed the matter with Tony and Microsoft and the latter is in the process of preparing a comprehensive report for us to view as well.

“As for the claims from Tony they should listen to what the request is and listen to their reasons,” he said reported Malay Mail.

“Meanwhile we have reports of people experiencing financial losses,” Gobind added

He stated that those impacted by the outage deserve a chance to be heard.

He added that once a report is available, the ministry can determine the appropriate course of action.

“I implore all the agencies involved to please try your best to help those who were affected by this financially.

“Let’s find an amicable way to fix this problem and we will start thinking about how to facilitate data sharing and how to make sure it is secure.

“We still encourage everyone to go digital.

“We will ensure the infrastructure is up to date to make sure we pull the laws up to mark,” he said at a press conference at the Digital Ministry in Putrajaya today.

Gobind reported that nine private companies from the banking, airline, and healthcare sectors were impacted by the outages.

He did not disclose the identities of the affected companies.

Last Friday, a global IT outage disrupted major institutions, including airlines, banks, media channels, and hospitals across multiple countries.

The outage was traced to CrowdStrike Holdings Inc., a U.S.-based cybersecurity firm specializing in endpoint protection, threat intelligence, and cyberattack response, headquartered in Austin, Texas.

In response, CrowdStrike announced they were addressing the issue, which stemmed from a defect in a single Windows content update.

The company’s CEO, George Kurtz, confirmed via social media on July 19 that the problem had been identified, isolated, and resolved.