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Microsoft said it will stop using China’s computer engineering teams to work on the Pentagon cloud systems and other classified systems after conducting this week to national security concerns at the highest levels of a program used by Microsoft since 2016.
The PROPUBLICA report, which was released on Tuesday, accused Microsoft of allowing engineers in China of helping with the Pentagon cloud systems with insufficient handrails in an attempt to expand its government contracting business.
The report acquired the attention of legislators in the Republican Party and Trump Administration, as Defense Minister Beit Higseth insisted on Friday that foreign engineers are “any country … it should never be preserved or access to DOD systems.” He added that the Ministry of Defense will consider this as soon as possible. “
After HegSeth indicates that the Pentagon will look at it, Fox News Digital continues with Microsoft, who answered that he would stop using it for computer engineers residing in China who provide assistance to the Sensitive Ministry of Defense Cloud services “and relevant services.
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Higrseth house eaten Microsoft safety fears. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft; Philip Fong/AFP via Getty Images; Omar Havana/Getty Images)
“In response to the concerns that were raised earlier this week about foreign engineers supervised in the United States, Microsoft has changed our support for US government agents to ensure that no Chinese engineering teams are provided for technical assistance to the Ministry of Defense and Related Services Government.”
“We are still committed to providing the most possible safety services to the American government, including working with our national security partners to assess and control our safety protocols as needed.”
The PROPUBLICA report was martyred earlier this week, which motivated Microsoft’s procedures, current, former employees and government contractors who worked on a cloud computing program published by Microsoft in 2016. The program, which aims to meet federal contract regulations, use a system of “digital accompaniment” for those responsible for global cybersecurity, such as those depends on China , Which means to create a security store, they can work in the field of computing. DOD instructions require that people who deal with sensitive data are American or permanent residents.
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The flags of the United States and China are fluttering at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on April 25, 2024, in Shanghai, China. (Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images)
According to the sources that spoke to ProPublica, including some who have an intimate knowledge of the employment process for “digital accompaniment” with a value of $ 18 per hour, technology staff who are appointed to supervise lacks sufficient technical experience to prevent the rogue Chinese employee from penetrating the system or converting the information classified into CCP.
The sources pointed out that the escorts often for former military personnel have been appointed because of their security permits more than their technical capabilities and often lack the skills necessary to evaluate the code used by the engineers who were supervising it.
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Microsoft has used its accompanying system to deal with sensitive government information less than “classification”, and the PROPUBLICA report indicated. This includes “data that involves protecting life and financial ruin.” In the Ministry of Defense, the data is classified as the “level of influence” four and five, which was mentioned by ProPublica that includes direct support materials Military operations.
People in China rule comprehensive laws of government cooperation with data collection efforts.
Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. (Employees/AFP via Getty Images)
Before Microsoft announced on Friday that it would stop using its engineers in China for the Sensitive Ministry of Defense programs, the company defended its “digital accompaniment” program, noting that all employees and contractors who have distinguished access must pass federal rear rear checks. The company also referred to a response from the Defense Information Systems Agency, which said that “digital escorts” is used “in specific unknown environments.”
A spokesman for the company told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. “In these cases, global support staff does not have direct access to customer or customer systems.”
The spokesperson at that time added that Microsoft adheres to the federal security requirements set by the Ministry of Defense and the Risk Management and Federal Licensing Program in 2011 to address the risks associated with the transition from the government -controlled servers to the cloud -based computing.
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The spokesman said: “We create layers of mitigation at the level of the statute with safety control and monitoring tools to discover and prevent threats. This includes the progress of approval of the system changes and the automatic programming instructions reviews to discover and prevent weaknesses quickly.” “This production system support model has been approved and reviewed regularly by the US government.”
Fox News Digital communicated with the Pentagon to inquire about whether Microsoft changed his planned achievement, but he did not receive a response by publishing time.