A Home committee desires Microsoft‘s prime lawyer, Brad Smith, to attend a listening to this month on exploits of the corporate’s software program that resulted in hackers acquiring U.S. authorities officers’ emails.

Politicians frequently request that know-how firms ship their leaders to Washington. The CEOs of Alphabet, Meta and TikTok have all answered questions from members of Congress lately. Microsoft, the world’s most respected public firm, sells subscriptions to e-mail software program that is pervasive in enterprise and authorities, making it an apparent goal for hackers.

A proposed listening to earlier than the Home Committee on Homeland Safety, at 10 a.m. ET on Might 22 in Washington, would go over Microsoft’s response to China’s breach of U.S. authorities officers’ e-mail accounts, which the corporate disclosed final summer season. The assault concerned accounts belonging to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, the Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China.

However Smith won’t essentially present up on the time the committee requested about in a letter it despatched him on Thursday.

“We’re at all times dedicated to offering Congress with data that’s necessary to the nation’s safety, and we look ahead to discussing the specifics of the very best time and approach to do that,” a Microsoft spokesperson informed CNBC in an e-mail on Thursday.

Final month, the Cyber Security Evaluate Board mentioned in a 34-page report on the assault that “Microsoft’s clients would profit from its CEO and board of administrators instantly specializing in the corporate’s safety tradition.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella directed staff to place safety first in a memo final week. The corporate introduced operational changes that tackle shortcomings that the unbiased federal board recognized within the report.

Charlie Bell, government vp for safety, mentioned the Microsoft would “enhance the accuracy, effectiveness, transparency, and velocity of public messaging and buyer engagement” after the board expressed concern in regards to the firm not correcting an error in a company weblog submit for months.

In January, Microsoft reported one other cyberattack. This time, Russian intelligence gained entry to a number of the firm’s prime executives’ e-mail accounts.

Committee chairman Mark Inexperienced, R-Tenn., and Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., mentioned of their letter inviting Smith to the listening to that they have been inspired by the corporate’s plans to overtake its safety practices. However they mentioned the corporate’s failure to cease assaults put People in danger.

“Given the gravity of the problems mentioned above and the necessity for thorough examination and oversight, it’s important that you just seem earlier than the committee,” Inexperienced and Thompson wrote.

WATCH: Microsoft needs to prioritize security over feature development: Former CISA Director Chris Krebs