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      Congress Calls for Tech Outage Hearing to Grill Executive

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      The House Homeland Security Committee called on the chief executive of the cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike to testify on the disruption.A Congressional committee called on the chief executive of CrowdStrike to testify at a hearing about its role in a tech outage that roiled the global economy, in one of the first attempts to hold the cybersecurity company responsible.CrowdStrike sent a faulty security update to its customers Thursday night, resulting in millions of Microsoft Windows devices shutting down and disruptions to airlines, hospitals, logistics companies and others.Americans “deserve to know in detail how this incident happened and the mitigation steps CrowdStrike is taking,” wrote Representative Mark Green of Tennessee, the Republican chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, and Representative Andrew Garbarino, Republican of New York.The letter was sent to George Kurtz, CrowdStrike’s chief executive. Mr. Green and Mr. Garbarino asked the company for a response to scheduling the hearing this week, but did not specify when it would take place.“CrowdStrike is actively in contact with relevant congressional committees,” said a company spokeswoman. “Briefings and other engagement timelines may be disclosed at members’ discretion.”The request came as the world continued to deal with the fallout from the widespread outages. Delta Air Lines canceled more than 800 flights on Monday, leaving more passengers stranded. And other industries were still recovering after being knocked offline for hours.The outage underscores how the world has become reliant on a small group of companies to maintain its digital infrastructure. CrowdStrike, while little-known to most consumers, is the second largest American cybersecurity company. More than half of Fortune 500 companies use its products.“This incident demonstrates the interconnected nature of our broad ecosystem — global cloud providers, software platforms, security vendors and other software vendors, and customers,” said a Microsoft executive, David Weston, in a blog post on Saturday. “It’s also a reminder of how important it is for all of us across the tech ecosystem to prioritize operating with safe deployment and disaster recovery using the mechanisms that exist.”CrowdStrike’s products are used primarily by large businesses, not consumers. Its flawed update sent computers running Microsoft’s Windows operating system into a spiral where they continually rebooted. Although CrowdStrike sent a fix, many computers didn’t get it because of the loop. In many cases, businesses had to delete the damaging file from each machine manually.Mr. Kurtz on Friday told NBC’s “Today” show that the incident was not a cyberattack and was the result of the faulty update. But the congressional committee said in its letter to Mr. Kurtz on Monday said that the incident still presented vexing security questions.“Malicious cyber actors backed by nation-states, such as China and Russia, are watching our response to this incident closely,” the lawmakers said. “Protecting our critical infrastructure requires us to learn from this incident and ensure that it does not happen again.”Representative Ritchie Torres, Democrat of New York, on Friday also asked the Department of Homeland Security to investigate the outages. More

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      Counting the Costs of the Microsoft-CrowdStrike Outage

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      A “historic” tech failure alarmed investors, after a security update caused problems for Microsoft devices and services, and took down businesses worldwide.A major IT outage involving Microsoft and CrowdStrike has caused major delays at airports around the world.Clemens Bilan/EPA, via ShutterstockThe glitch felt around the world Grounded flights, emergency services unreachable, payment systems not functioning — the world is assessing the damage caused by a cascade of IT outages that is spooking investors and grinding many businesses and government services to a halt.“This outage is historic in scale,” Mikko Hypponen, a research specialist at the software company WithSecure and a cybercrime adviser to Europol, told DealBook.The problem is being attributed to a tech upgrade gone wrong. All eyes are on CrowdStrike, the cybersecurity company. It issued a software update that is causing Microsoft systems, including its Azure cloud service, to crash or not function properly. George Kurtz, the C.E.O. of CrowdStrike, said on X that a fix is being deployed, adding it’s “not a security incident or cyberattack.”Here’s the latest: American, United and Delta had grounded flights, according to the F.A.A. Airlines in Europe and Asia, including Air France-KLM and Japan Airlines, also had reported delays or cancellations. Some had reported a partial return to service.Long queues of airline passengers could be seen at airports around the world, with some resorting to manual check-in. In France, the television networks TF1 and Canal+ told the public on X that they could not go on the air on Friday morning. Comcast’s Sky News in the U.K. also went dark for a spell.The incident points to how reliant the global economy is on a handful of major tech companies to run vital infrastructure. CrowdStrike, a major cybersecurity vendor, is taking the brunt of the hit. Its stock was down nearly 12 percent in premarket trading. Microsoft was down about 1.4 percent, and also said a resolution was forthcoming.Security has become a big focus in the cloud wars. Google is trying to bolster its cloud operations with an eye on cybersecurity. The company is in talks to buy Wiz, a New York-based cybersecurity firm, in what would be its biggest acquisition ever, and an effort to take market share from Microsoft.Expect tough questions about the business world’s computing systems. Financial regulators in the U.K. have already begun speaking with financial services companies to learn the extent of the damage on banks and payment companies, The Financial Times reports.In other IT news: A U.S. judge dismissed most claims against SolarWinds, an IT security company, and its chief information security officer; the S.E.C. had sued the company after it was hacked by Russian agents in 2020.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Frontier Airlines Briefly Grounds All Flights Amid Microsoft Outage

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      A problem with Microsoft’s Azure system also hit check-in and booking systems at Allegiant and Sun Country Airlines.Frontier Airlines briefly grounded all flights on Thursday amid a major outage in Microsoft networks, which also knocked out some computer systems at low-cost carriers Allegiant Air and Sun Country Airlines.Microsoft said on the status page for Azure, its flagship cloud computing platform, that the problem began at 5:56 p.m. and affected multiple systems for customers in the central United States.“Our systems are currently impacted by a Microsoft outage, which is also affecting other companies. During this time booking, check-in, access to your boarding pass, and some flights may be impacted,” Frontier said in a post on X.The airline issued a ground stop for all its flights, according to a notice posted on the Federal Aviation Administration’s website. The ground stop was lifted about 35 minutes later.Airlines sometimes issue these orders to temporarily halt flights because of technical issues.Frontier did not specify how many flights and passengers have been affected so far. The Denver-based airline operates a fleet of more than 100 planes, according to its website.The Microsoft outage hit at least two other airlines.“One of our information vendors is experiencing a global outage affecting multiple airlines. As a result, some of our services are temporarily unavailable,” Sun Country said.Allegiant said on X that customers may face problems with check-ins, bookings and issuing boarding passes. More

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      Autistic Employees Find New Ways to Navigate the Workplace

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      As diagnoses of autism rise, Microsoft and other large companies are working to better support autistic workers so they can thrive without “masking.”When Chelsia Potts took her 10-year-old daughter to a psychologist to be tested for autism spectrum disorder, she decided almost as an afterthought to be tested herself. The result came as a surprise. Like her daughter, Ms. Potts was diagnosed with autism.Ms. Potts, 35, thought she might have had anxiety or some other issue. A first-generation college student, she had earned a doctor of education degree and risen through academia to become a high-level administrator at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. But after her visit to the psychologist, she had to figure out how her diagnosis would affect her work life.“Initially, I was confused, and I did keep it to myself,” Ms. Potts said. “I had a picture of what someone with autism looked like, and that did not look like me.”She considered the ways she had compensated in the past in an effort to hide her disability and come across as a model employee — a coping mechanism known as “masking.”For years, she had angled to meet with co-workers one on one, because she felt ill at ease in group settings. She reminded herself to smile and appear enthusiastic, knowing that some people found her speaking voice overly serious. She also tried to avoid bright lights and noise in the workplace.After wrestling with her diagnosis for six months, Ms. Potts met with a university official. That conversation “was one of the most difficult experiences of my life,” she said.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Ron Simons, Who Brought Black Stories to Broadway, Dies at 63

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      He left a career in tech and found success as a producer, winning four Tonys. His mission: staging productions about underrepresented communities.Ron Simons, who left his job as an executive at Microsoft to pursue his dream of acting but later found his métier as a theatrical producer — one of the relatively few Black ones on Broadway — and won four Tony Awards, died on June 12. He was 63.His death was announced by Simonsays Entertainment, his production company. A spokesman declined to say where he died or provide the cause of death.Mr. Simons had been acting for about a decade, but was unhappy with the roles he was being offered, when he started producing in 2009. He believed that his experience as an actor and businessman would serve him well as a producer.“I’ve found that many businesspeople can handle the question of financial viability but can’t judge a good story, so as an artist I also have that area of expertise,” he told DC Theater Arts in 2020. “Plus, even if it’s a good story, it has to be crafted to take it to the stage, so the leadership must understand how to get it there.”Success came quickly. He was a producer of “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” starring Audra McDonald and Norm Lewis, which won the Tony for best revival of a musical in 2012. Mr. Simons won a second Tony a year later for best play for “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike,” a comedy by Christopher Durang about three middle-aged siblings.Audra McDonald, center, in the musical “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” which Mr. Simons produced.Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesFrom left David Hyde Pierce, Kristine Nielsen and Sigourney Weaver in the Tony-winning “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.”Sara Krulwich/The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Workers at Microsoft-Owned Activision Vote to Unionize

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      The group will become the largest union at a video game company in the United States, while Microsoft pledged to stay neutral on the vote.About 600 workers at Activision Publishing, the video game maker owned by Microsoft, are unionizing, forming the largest video game workers’ union in the United States, the Communications Workers of America said on Friday. Microsoft recognized the union after the vote count was finalized.The employees work in quality assurance, testing Activision’s games for bugs, glitches and other defects, and 390 of them voted to form a union, while eight opposed the effort, the union said. About 200 workers did not vote.Microsoft acquired Activision Blizzard, the maker of Call of Duty and other blockbusters, for $69 billion in October. As part of its lengthy effort to convince regulators to approve the deal, Microsoft signed a first-of-its-kind pact in the industry to remain neutral if workers wanted to unionize with the C.W.A.Managers were trained not to express an opinion about whether unionization was good or bad, and the C.W.A. said Activision’s management upheld the pact and did not interfere in the workers’ organizing efforts.“That has been, organizing-wise, a huge blessing,” said Kara Fannon, a member of the union organizing committee who works for Activision near Minneapolis. “It has helped with a lot of people who were concerned about union busting or potential retaliation.”The new union is the first at Activision since the pact went into effect.“Microsoft’s choice will strengthen its corporate culture and ability to serve its customers and should serve as a model for the industry,” C.W.A.’s president, Claude Cummings Jr., said in a statement.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Microsoft Word’s Subtle Typeface Change Affected Millions. Did You Notice?

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      A change in Microsoft Word’s default typeface, from Calibri to Aptos, didn’t register for everyone, but fans of typography got excited.When you read — a book, a traffic sign, a billboard, this article — how much do you really notice the letters? If you’re like most people, the answer is probably not at all.But even if you don’t really notice them, you might sense it if something has subtly changed. That’s a feeling some people have had in recent weeks when they turn on their Microsoft Word programs.After 17 years of Calibri as Word’s default typeface, many users suddenly found themselves typing in a new typeface called Aptos. The change is also affecting the look of PowerPoint, Outlook and Excel.Letters are letters, but for designers and typography fans, they matter a lot.Why the change?“We wanted to bring something new and fresh that really was designed natively for the sort of modern era of computing,” said Jon Friedman, the company’s corporate vice president for design and research, who led the effort.(Technically Aptos and Calibri are typefaces, while a “font” refers to a particular face or size, like italics or boldface. But in practice, “font” is often used as a synonym for “typeface,” including by Microsoft employees interviewed for this article.)The big divide in the world of typeface is between serif, or letters with small lines or tails attached to their edges, and sans serif, letters without those lines that have a smoother look.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Technology Companies Are Cutting Jobs and Wall Street Likes It

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      The sector is laying off workers after a hiring boom during the pandemic and their share prices are soaring. Tech giants like Microsoft have continued to cut jobs, even after carrying out a wave of layoffs last year.Caroline Brehman/EPA, via ShutterstockTech giants are set to report quarterly earnings, starting on Tuesday with Alphabet and Microsoft. Wall Street is expecting good news, including more progress on artificial intelligence.But the industry has also relied on another strategy to improve financials: layoffs. The cuts aren’t as widespread as last year, when hundreds of thousands of jobs were eliminated. But they’re a reminder that the tech sector is still trying to find its footing after a boom in hiring during the coronavirus pandemic and finding ways to preserve dizzying stock gains.About 100 companies have cut 25,000 positions this year, according to Layoffs.fyi. By comparison, more than 1,000 companies eliminated about 260,000 last year.So far this month: Microsoft announced 1,900 cuts in its video game division, including at its recently acquired Activision Blizzard; Google laid off hundreds of employees, including in its engineering ranks and its hardware division; and Amazon said it was laying off hundreds, including 35 percent of the work force at its Twitch unit.Not all layoffs are the same, The Times notes:For big tech companies, job cuts have been a way to reduce spending on noncore operations and extract the kind of cost savings that Wall Street loves. Now, those cuts are more targeted: In the case of Meta, that means reducing the number of middle managers at Instagram.For smaller tech businesses, it’s more a matter of survival. Start-ups have been finding it harder to raise capital as risk-averse venture capitalists keep their wallets closed. In the words of Nabeel Hyatt, a general partner at Spark Capital, these fledgling companies “are just trying to gain runway to survive.”The cuts will probably continue so long as investors love them. Wall Street has rewarded tech companies that laid off thousands with higher stock prices. Meta’s shares have soared since it embarked on a self-described “year of efficiency” last year that has made it a third slimmer employee-wise. Those cost savings, coupled with a redoubled bet on A.I., has helped push the tech giant’s market value to over $1 trillion.And venture capitalists have told DealBook that they’re ready to invest in start-ups — but that it helps if those companies have made themselves leaner. That, the investors say, will enable them to operate better in potentially difficult times.In other layoff news: Some tech workers are filming their layoffs and posting them on social media, in the name of catharsis and transparency.HERE’S WHAT’S HAPPENING Boeing withdraws efforts to expedite safety approval for a version of its 737 Max jet. The aircraft manufacturer revoked an application it made last year seeking an exemption from a safety standard for a version of its 737 Max 7. Separately, Boeing received some good news amid its latest crisis: The European airline Ryanair, one of its biggest customers, said it would buy more planes if U.S. carriers dropped their orders.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber?  More