Adrian Johnson
TL;DR
US government continues to pay Microsoft despite repeated security breaches, with no financial consequences for the tech giant. Microsoft’s lax security practices have allowed Chinese, Russian, and other cyber spies to compromise government secrets, but the government still depends heavily on Microsoft for its products.
Article Summary
In a recent report by Washington’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB), Microsoft was excoriated for a series of security errors that allowed Chinese cyber spies to compromise tens of thousands of email accounts belonging to government officials. Despite these failures, there have been no sanctions or recommendations for government agencies to seek alternatives. The US government’s dependence on Microsoft poses a serious national security threat, but Microsoft continues to receive millions of dollars in payments from government contracts.
US senator Ron Wyden has called for stricter cybersecurity standards for technology vendors and wants contractors to be held accountable if they violate these standards. While Microsoft has promised to improve its security measures, concerns about its repeated security breaches persist. Even with pressure to do better, Microsoft’s federal contracts are unlikely to dry up due to its status as a major vendor for the US government.
Despite criticisms, Microsoft remains a key player in government contracts, earning a significant portion of its revenue from non-competitive procurement processes. While calls for improved security measures are growing, Microsoft’s dominance in the market and its crucial role in government operations make it difficult for federal agencies to seek alternatives.
