Microsoft stops relying on China engineers for Pentagon cloud support
Satya Nadella (L), President of Microsoft and Chairman of the Executive Officer, returns to the stage after a pre -recorded interview at the opening of Microsoft Build Conference in Washington on May 19, 2025.
Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images
Microsoft On Friday, he reviewed his applications to ensure that engineers in China no longer provide technical support to US defense customers using the company’s cloud services.
The company implemented changes to reduce national security and cyber security risks caused by a large customer cloud. The announcement arrived days after propüblica’s publication. comprehensive report It explains the Ministry of Defense’s dependence on Microsoft software engineers in China.
“In response to concerns about US -controlled foreign engineers at the beginning of this week, Microsoft, Microsoft, made changes to the US government customers to provide technical assistance for the DOD government cloud and related services,” Microsoft’s chief communication officer Frank Shaw said. Friday x post.
The change affects the work of Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Services section, which is estimated by analysts. Now it produces more than 25% of the company’s income. Makes it bigger than Azure Google Cloud but smaller Amazon Web Services. Microsoft receives “important income from state contracts” according to the last three -month earnings declaration, and more than half of the 70 billion dollars in the company’s first quarter income came from customers in the USA
In 2019, Microsoft won a defense contract for a $ 10 billion cloud, but Pentagon canceled in 2021 after a legal war. In 2022, the department, Amazon, gave Google a total of $ 9 billion cloud contracts. Prophecy and Microsoft.
Propublica reported that Microsoft’s work of Chinese Azure engineers was controlled by “digital escort”, which has less technical skills than the employees they manage abroad in the United States. The report detailed how the “digital escort” arrangement could leave the United States vulnerable to a cyber attack from China.
“This is unacceptable, especially in today’s digital threat.” He said. A video He was sent to X on Friday. He described the architecture as an old system that was created ten years ago during the Obama administration. Hegseth said the Ministry of Defense will review its systems in search of similar activities.
Microsoft initially said that his employees and contractors to Propublica complied with the US government rules.
“We are determined to provide the most secure services to the US government, including working with our national security partners to evaluate and adjust our security protocols as necessary,” Shaw said.
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