Based on materials from the site - By Cryptopolitan_News
Microsoft has stopped allowing engineers from China to support the cloud systems of U.S. military companies after the Pentagon expressed concerns about foreign specialists accessing critical infrastructure.
This change was announced on Friday following the publication of a detailed ProPublica report, which stated that the cloud services of the U.S. Department of Defense are still being serviced — at least partially — by engineers working in China.
The company acknowledged that this change was a direct response to questions about why these foreign engineers were involved in U.S. defense projects at all. Frank Shaw, Microsoft's communications director, stated in an interview on X:
"In response to concerns raised earlier this week about foreign engineers working under U.S. control, Microsoft has made changes to our customer support for U.S. government clients to ensure that no Chinese engineering teams will provide technical support for the U.S. Department of Defense's government cloud services and related services."
The ProPublica report exposes foreign control over American military cloud technologies.
Negative reactions began a few days earlier when ProPublica reported how Microsoft Azure engineers in China were helping manage parts of the Pentagon's cloud system, with American 'digital escorts' overseeing the work.
But what's the problem? These American escorts often had lesser technical skills than the foreign engineers they were supposed to supervise. The report raised serious concerns about how such a scheme could pave the way for cyberattacks from Beijing.
Pete Hegseth, the defense minister during the Trump administration, stated on Friday that the entire scheme is unacceptable. "This is obviously unacceptable, especially in the context of today's digital threats," Hegseth said in a video posted on X.
He called the entire system outdated: "This is an outdated system created more than ten years ago, during the Obama administration." Hegseth also confirmed that the Department of Defense would begin a full internal review to identify similar activities in other systems. Microsoft's decision affects its Azure cloud division, which analysts estimate now accounts for over 25% of the company's total revenue. It surpasses Google Cloud in market size but still lags behind Amazon Web Services.
In its latest reports, Microsoft noted that more than half of its revenue of $70 billion for the first quarter came from U.S. clients, with government contracts playing a significant role.
In 2019, the company already received a $10 billion cloud protection contract from the Pentagon. However, this contract was terminated in 2021 after a lawsuit. A year later, in 2022, Microsoft received part of a joint cloud contract worth $9 billion along with Amazon, Google, and Oracle.
Before the ProPublica investigation, Microsoft insisted that all its employees and contractors comply with the regulations set by the U.S. government. However, public attention forced a rapid change in policy.
Frank, once again speaking on behalf of the company, stated: "We remain committed to providing the U.S. government with the most secure services, including collaborating with our national security partners to assess and adjust our security protocols as necessary."
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