Microsoft said on July 18 that it will no longer depend on engineers based in China to provide technical support for maintaining the Department of Defense’s cloud system.
The move came as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a two-week review of the Pentagon’s computing system to ensure that foreign engineers from China and other nations are not involved in the maintenance of any of its cloud systems.
Frank Shaw, chief communications officer at Microsoft, said the company has changed its support structure for U.S. government clients to ensure that “no China-based engineering teams” are involved in maintaining the Pentagon’s cloud system.
“We remain committed to providing the most secure services possible to the U.S. government, including working with our national security partners to evaluate and adjust our security protocols as needed,” Shaw
stated on X.
On July 17, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a
letter to Hegseth raising concerns about Microsoft hiring Chinese engineers to work on the Defense Department’s cloud system. The engineers were allegedly supervised by U.S. citizens acting as “digital escorts” to oversee their activities on Pentagon systems, according to the letter.
Cotton requested that the Pentagon provide a list of all contractors that hire Chinese personnel to work on maintenance or other services on department systems, a list of subcontractors that hire digital escorts for Microsoft, and details on the training those supervisors receive to detect suspicious activity on the cloud system.
“The U.S. government recognizes that China’s cyber capabilities pose one of the most aggressive and dangerous threats to the United States, as evidenced by infiltration of our critical infrastructure, telecommunications networks, and supply chains,” he stated in the letter.
The senator called on the U.S. military to “guard against all potential threats within its supply chain,” including those from subcontractors.
Hegseth concurred and
said that foreign engineers from China and other countries “should never be allowed to maintain or access DoD systems.” The Pentagon chief stated that his team is “already looking into this ASAP.”
In a video on X on July 18, Hegseth said he had been alerted to a “potential vulnerability” in the Pentagon’s computing system and has since launched an assessment into the matter.
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The Pentagon chief said that some tech companies were found to have been using Chinese engineers to assist with maintaining the department’s cloud services. He did not explicitly name Microsoft in the video.
“This is obviously unacceptable, especially in today’s digital threat environment,” Hegseth said.
“I’m announcing that China will no longer have any involvement whatsoever in our cloud services, effective immediately,” he stated.
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Hegseth added that the department would continue to monitor and counter any potential threats to the U.S. military infrastructure and online networks.
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Microsoft is a major contractor to the U.S. government. In its annual digital threats report published last year, the tech giant warned that adversaries such as Russia, China, and Iran are increasingly relying on hackers who face no “meaningful consequences” for their violations.
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The company stated that its customers faced more than 600 million of cybercriminal and nation-state attacks every day between July 2023 and June 2024. Analyzing those attacks, Microsoft stated that it is seeing “increasingly blurred lines” between actions directed by Moscow or Beijing and those of cybercrime gangs.
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While these criminal groups usually focus on financial gains, they’re now more involved in advancing the goals of nation-states, aiding in espionage and destabilization efforts aimed at geopolitical rivals, according to the report.
Bill Pan contributed to this report.
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