Microsoft got a reality check about the security measures of Windows when the massive Crowdstrike issue caused billions of PCs going offline. The company is clearly working towards making sure that another Crowdstrike-like outage doesn’t ever occur and for that it has decided to make some changes to reduce the control of its third-party vendors.
Microsoft even got everyone together at a security summit earlier this month where the company had talks about changing the dynamics of who can access the Windows kernel and control the changes.
Windows Kernel In The Spotlight
Microsoft realises that unrestricted access to Windows kernel is the big reason why the Crowdstrike outage occurred in the first place. It was even pointed out that Apple will never give that kind of access to its partners and vendors, which explains why no Mac machine was down on that day. When you have 8.5 million Windows systems going offline, which includes the airlines, healthcare and more, changes are critical and the need of the hour.
Ideally, Microsoft should block this level of access to hardware and system memory on Windows for these partners but the company is looking to balance out the changes without diminishing the value of these vendors.
So, what we might see is a new platform that allows Microsoft to keep a check on the level of access its partners like CrowdStrike, Sophos and Broadcom have, but also ensure the Windows systems don’t suffer because of any major security lapse, which is resolved/looked into by these vendors for the company.
Having said that, these new changes do sound like a compromise on Microsoft’s part but if it can ensure that another major Windows outage doesn’t hit the world, everyone will be happy.
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