Patching the problem relating to accountability

A fault with a security patch issued by cybersecurity company Crowd-Strike led to a meltdown of global IT systems on Friday.

"CrowdStrike is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts," the company said in a statement. It apologized for the outages on Friday, stating, "We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption."

Microsoft seems to be ready to pretend it is simply a victim rather than an accountable party, saying in a status update that it had fixed the underlying issue but that users would still feel "residual impact". That is far from enough to appease the outrage of those affected by the incident given the possible heavy losses that have been incurred by the incident in the global transportation, information, industrial, banking, financial, healthcare, and security sectors.

Microsoft actually monopolizes the market in many countries. Nearly 300 companies in the Fortune 500 use its operating systems. The company should realize that along with the huge profits associated with its dominance of the crucial market niche that is of strategic importance to security of various sectors, it shoulders corresponding social responsibilities and obligations to ensure not only the reliability of its operating systems but also its after-sales services, which should include compensation for losses caused by its partner companies.

Many Microsoft customers have already appealed for indemnity for their losses. These calls should not fall on deaf ears. The incident should serve to prompt policymakers and lawmakers worldwide to work together to come up with more feasible regulations and laws to spur such dominant corporations in key sectors to shoulder their due responsibilities.