CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz will testify before Congress over an IT outage that occurred due to a faulty software update, which brought millions of computers to their knees worldwide and grounded flights, disrupted banks, and put hospitals on their backs. Members of Congress are demanding answers to this question: How did all this happen, and what will take place to avoid such a disaster again?

The other day, there was a huge problem with computers, and now George Kurtz of CrowdStrike is going to have to speak to Congress about it. CrowdStrike protects computers from hackers, but this time, the software caused so much trouble.

Last Friday, a bad update from CrowdStrike screwed up millions of computers around the world. This paralyzed flights, shuttered banks, and even stopped hospitals. Many critical services consequently shut down operationally.

What Went Wrong?
CrowdStrike said many of the paralyzed computers are up and running again. The company is still working to understand the cause of the problem and to explain it to customers and government officials. Members of the US House Homeland Security Committee, on Monday, said they want answers fast.

Lawmakers’ Concerns
Two key Congressmen from Tennessee and New York, Mark E. Green and Andrew Garbarino respectively, have written a letter to George Kurtz. They indicated that while they do appreciate CrowdStrike’s effort toward getting the problem solved, they just could not turn deaf ears to how critical this incident is. They mentioned some are saying it’s the biggest IT outage ever. They went on to explain that Americans need to know what has happened and how CrowdStrike is fixing it.

Impact on Computers
The bad update of CrowdStrike affected some 8.5 million computers using Microsoft’s Windows operating system. Fixing the problem has been slow because in many cases, people have to delete files on each affected computer by hand. On Sunday, CrowdStrike said they are using a new method to fix the computers faster. On Monday, they said they are talking to Congress about what happened.

Company’s Challenges
The big mistake dropped CrowdStrike’s stock price by over 20%. This means the company lost billions of dollars in value. Government regulators are also eyeing the incident to see if action against CrowdStrike needs to be taken.

Expert Warnings
According to Lina Khan, chair of the US Federal Trade Commission, events such as this occur way too frequently. A small mistake in industries such as healthcare, airlines, and banks can create huge problems, she wrote on social media. She further elaborated that it shows how having a few firms in control of important services is exactly what makes systems fragile.

Looking Ahead
Everyone is on their toes, waiting to see what Congress will do and how CrowdStrike is going to prevent this from happening again. The testimony of George Kurtz will therefore be critical in understanding the extent of the outage and the measures that shall be taken to avoid this in the future.

This rewritten piece is aimed at taking a very complex issue and representing it in the simplest understanding possible at an eighth-grade level, without losing the essential essence and details of the original article.