MICROSOFT WINDOWS OUTAGE MAY COST FORTUNE 500 COMPANIES $5.4 BILLION

Microsoft Windows suffered a global outage last week impacting businesses and firms across industries. While the total amount of losses incurred has not been determined yet. According to an estimate by insurer Parametrix, US Fortune 500 companies will face $5.4 billion in financial losses from the outage, reports Reuters. In a statement, Parametrix said that insured losses from the outage will likely total $540 million to $1.08 billion for the Fortune 500 companies.

According to the Reuters report, major cyber insurer Beazley said earlier this week that it has no plans to change its guidance on its combined ratio - a key measure of underwriting profitability - after the mass IT outage. Ratings agency Fitch said on Monday that the global insurance and reinsurance industry is likely to avoid any major financial impact from the outage.

CrowdStrike update behind the outage

Microsoft’s CrowdStrike outage impacted nearly 8.5 million Windows devices worldwide, disrupting internet services across the globe and affecting a broad swathe of industries including airlines, banking and healthcare. As confirmed by Microsoft, a faulty software update from CrowdStrike- the US-based cybersecurity company caused the disruption that crippled the day-to-day operations across sectors.

Malaysia asks Microsoft, CrowdStrike to consider covering losses from outage

In a separate report, Reuters reported that Malaysia's digital minister has asked global tech firms Microsoft and CrowdStrike to consider compensating companies that suffered losses during the global tech outage last week.

The report quotes Gobind Singh Deo who said "If there are any damages or losses, where there have been any parties that have made such claims, I've asked them to consider those claims and see to what extent they are able to help resolve the issue." He further added that the government will also assist on the claims where possible.