Microsoft on Friday said it will stop using China-based engineers to provide technical assistance to the U.S. military after a report in investigative journalism outlet ProPublica sparked questions from a U.S. senator and prompted Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to order a two-week review of Pentagon cloud deals, Reuters reported.
The report detailed Microsoft’s use of Chinese engineers to work on US military cloud computing systems under the supervision of U.S. “digital escorts” hired through subcontractors who have security clearances but often lack the technical skills to assess whether the work of the Chinese engineers posed a cybersecurity threat.
Microsoft, a major contractor to the U.S. government, has had its systems breached by Chinese and Russian hackers. It told ProPublica it disclosed its practices to the U.S. government during an authorization process.
On Friday, Microsoft spokesperson Frank Shaw said on social media website X the company changed how it supports U.S. government customers “in response to concerns raised earlier this week … to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance” for services used by the Pentagon.
CNBC reported: Microsoft on Friday revised its practices to ensure that engineers in China no longer provide technical support to U.S. defense clients using the company’s cloud services.
The company implemented the change in an effort to reduce national security and cybersecurity risks stemming from its cloud work with a major customer. The announcement came days after ProPublica published an extensive report describing the Defense Department’s dependence on Microsoft software engineers in China.
“In response to concerns raised earlier this week about US-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support for US Government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DoD Government cloud and related services,” Frank Shaw, the Microsoft’s chief communications office, wrote in a Friday X post.
The change impacts the work of Microsoft’s Azure cloud services division, which analysts estimate now generates more than 25% of the company’s revenue. That makes Azure bigger than Google Cloud, but smaller than Amazon Web Services. Microsoft receives “substantial revenue from government contracts.” according to its most recent quarterly earnings statement, and more than half of the company’s $70 billion in first-quarter revenger came from customers based in the U.S.
ProPublica reported: Microsoft says it has stopped using China-based engineers to support the Defense Department cloud computing systems after ProPublica revealed the practice in an investigation this week.
“In response to concerns raised earlier this week about US-supervised foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support for US Government customers to assure that no China-based engineering teams are providing technical assistance for DoD Government cloud and related services,” the company’s chief communications officer, Frank Shaw, announced on X Friday afternoon.
Microsoft’s announcement came hours after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said his agency would look into Microsoft’s use of foreign-based engineers to maintain the highly sensitive cloud systems.