Senator Wyden Urges FTC to Probe Microsoft for Ransomware-Linked Cybersecurity Negligence
Sep 11, 2025
Critical Infrastructure / Ransomware
 U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has called on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to probe Microsoft and hold it responsible for what he called "gross cybersecurity negligence" that enabled ransomware attacks on U.S. critical infrastructure, including against healthcare networks.  "Without timely action, Microsoft's culture of negligent cybersecurity, combined with its de facto monopolization of the enterprise operating system market, poses a serious national security threat and makes additional hacks inevitable," Wyden wrote  in a four-page letter to FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson, likening Redmond to an "arsonist selling firefighting services to their victims."  The development comes after Wyden's office obtained new information from healthcare system Ascension, which suffered  a crippling ransomware attack  last year, resulting in the theft of personal and medical information associated with nearly 5.6 million individuals .  The ransomware attack, which al...