A few days ago, on DNAIndia.com, a newspaper published in Mumbai in English, the news that Microsoft routinely shares the financial data of its customers with US intelligence agencies. The author of the piece refers to a report by the Reserve Bank of India, from which it seems that this criticality was well highlighted and known to the Bank in question from the moment it decided to install the e-mail management service Microsoft Office 365 cloud. In fact, in the Bank's risk analysis document, the article says, this possible data sharing was highlighted. The article emphasizes that users may not be informed, but the bank knew everything.
According to the data provided there are more than one hundred million people using the service Microsoft 365 cloud for commercial purposes, therefore, potentially, their financial data may have been shared with US intelligence agencies.
Microsoft has replied stating that under no circumstances provides data to government agencies of any state of the world unless requests made according to legal procedures required by the rules.
Let us now leave the particular case for some general considerations. Firstly, are cloud services secure? And if so, from what point of view? The user point of view could be very different from the point of view of the bank or other operators ...
Microsoft has long embarked on a road to the cloud. This involves "sharing" - pass me the term - of data on spaces managed and maintained by organizations outside the companies and with which there are specific contracts that guarantee a certain level of service and "security". But how much these contracts are respected is an impossible thing to verify, so it is only about trust? In theory, in case of non-compliance with the contract it is possible to sue ... but what is the point and what is the probability of winning an international case against a multinational company?
The question does not need analysis to find the answer.
On the other hand, it must be said that, from a technical point of view, the complexity of today's information systems requires for their management complex structures (organizations) with highly specialized personnel, for which the Data Centers of large organizations are certainly more safe and better managed than small server rooms.
What's better then? Cloud or data stored at home?
I do not have the answer. I can only say that in one case and another there are advantages and risks that must be analyzed (and not all are able to do so) and managed (and once again, not all are able to do so).
To conclude, some personal considerations, on another level:
From how it was presented in the Indian newspaper, it seems that the information war has also reached India.
The moment in which this happens makes us think. In fact, we recall that until a few months ago India and the United States were discussing amicably on how to strengthen their relations in the defense field, how to share military data and information and how to strengthen military cooperation in general. Several meetings have seen the interest of President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mattis on one side and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on the other. An international treaty was signed in September which provided for closer cooperation between the two countries.
But then India signs a contract for the purchase of the Russian anti-missile system S-400 and the thing does not appeal to the Americans who threaten sanctions ...
In the background, remember that India has a formidable computer industry, based on the University and on research, which places it, potentially, on an equal plane with the USA.
So come to think, this Microsoft could be just a skirmish between friends-enemies or ...
To learn more:
- https://www.dnaindia.com/business/report-dna-money-exclusive-microsoft-s...
- http://trak.in/tags/business/2018/11/02/microsoft-shared-financial-data-...
- https://mspoweruser.com/report-microsoft-shares-banking-data-of-indian-c...
- https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3065535/microsoft-shared-india...
- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-india-usa/us-india-seal-military-comm...
- https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/re-shaping-india-us-defense-cooperation-...
- https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/india-signs-deal-for-russian-air-defe...
- https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/05/asia/india-s400-deal-intl/index.html
- https://edition.cnn.com/2018/10/05/asia/india-s400-deal-intl/index.html
