A hearing scheduled for the House Homeland Security Committee on May 22 at 10 a.m. ET in Washington will discuss Microsoft's response to China's breach of the email accounts of senior U.S. government officials, which the company disclosed last summer. It will be deliberated. The attacks involved the accounts of Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo, Congressman Don Bacon (R-Nebraska), and US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.
But Smith won't necessarily show up at the time the committee asked questions in a letter it sent to him Thursday.
“We are always committed to providing Congress with information important to our nation's security, and we look forward to discussing specifically when and how best to do so,” a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC in an email Thursday. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Microsoft's customers would benefit from a CEO and board that focuses directly on the company's security culture,” the Cyber Safety Review Board said in a 34-page report on the attack last month. .
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees in a memo last week to make security a top priority. The company announced operational changes to address shortcomings identified in the independent federal commission's report.
Charlie Bell, executive vice president of security, said after the board of directors expressed concern that Microsoft did not correct errors in corporate blog posts for several months, Microsoft was “improving the accuracy, effectiveness, and accuracy of public messaging and customer engagement.” “We will improve speed, transparency and speed.” .
In January, Microsoft reported another cyber attack. This time, Russian intelligence services gained access to the email accounts of some of the company's executives.
In a letter inviting Smith to a hearing, committee chairs Mark Green (R-Tenn.) and Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) outlined the company's plans to overhaul its security practices. He said he was encouraged. But they said the company's failure to stop the attack put Americans at risk.
“Given the gravity of the issues discussed above and the need for thorough investigation and oversight, it is extremely important that we appear before the committee,” Green and Thompson wrote.
clock: Microsoft needs to prioritize security over feature development: former CISA Director Chris Krebs
