‘Must guard against all…': Microsoft's alleged use of Chinese engineers to maintain military cloud computing systems questioned by US senator
Chinese engineers
to maintain military cloud computing systems. This inquiry follows a ProPublica report from earlier this week that accused
Microsoft
of employing Chinese engineers to work on US military computing systems.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
In a letter sent to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth,
Senator Tom Cotton
(R-AR), who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, has requested additional information from the Pentagon about the tech giant's reported use of Chinese engineers for US military systems as it raises concerns about potential
national security risks
, a report by the news agency Reuters claims.
The report claimed that these engineers operated under the supervision of US "digital escorts' who were hired through subcontractors.
These subcontractors possessed security clearances but often lacked the technical skills to assess whether the Chinese engineers' work posed a
cybersecurity threat
, the report added.
What US senator said about Microsoft allegedly employing Chinese engineers for US military systems
In the letter sent to Hegseth (seen by Reuters), Cotton wrote:
'The US government recognises 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.
The US military must guard against all potential threats within its supply chain, including those from subcontractors."
Senetor Cotton also requested the US military to provide a list of all contractors employing Chinese personnel, along with details on the training of US 'digital escorts' who are tasked with identifying suspicious activity, the Reuters report added.
Microsoft has reportedly used a "digital escort" system that lets Chinese engineers indirectly access highly sensitive US military data for nearly a decade now.
Tired of too many ads? go ad free now
Despite Pentagon rules barring foreign access, these engineers guide low-paid American escorts, often with minimal coding skills, to input commands into
Defense Department
cloud systems that has now raised national security concerns, the original report claims.
Meanwhile, Microsoft, a key contractor for the US government and previously targeted by both Chinese and Russian hackers, has said that it had informed the government about its practices during the authorisation process.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Moscow airports temporarily shut amid Ukraine's drone attack on Russia
Ukraine's sustained drone attack on Russia led to airports in Moscow to be temporarily shut which caused at least 140 flights to be canceled, authorities said. The Russian defence ministry stated that more than 230 Ukrainian drones were destroyed in the country since Saturday morning, including 27 over the capital Moscow. Russia's aviation watchdog stated that more than 130 flights had to be diverted as flight operations at four major airports serving the capital were disrupted. However, the airports have since resumed normal operations. Meanwhile, regional officials said that at least three people were killed in Ukraine during Russian air strikes on Kyiv overnight. According to Russia's Association of Tour Operators (Ator), the airports in the country had to be shut at least 10 times in 24 hours due to the strikes. The Ukrainian drone attacks also affected Russia's Kaluga region, situated southwest of Moscow as the Russian defence ministry stated that they intercepted 45 Ukrainian drones since Saturday morning, which led to Kaluga International Airport being temporarily shut. The defence ministry added that drones were shot down in the region near Ukrainian borders including Rostov, Bryansk and over Black Sea. The authorities said that no fatalities were reported in the attacks. Meanwhile, Ukraine's air force said it shot down 18 of 57 Russian drones overnight on Sunday and seven other drones were lost after their radars got jammed. The retaliation by Russia led to attacks in Sumy, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia. Amid the latest round of attacks, Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready for a peace settlement with Ukraine but Moscow's priority lies in achieving its goals. 'President Putin has repeatedly spoken of his desire to bring the Ukrainian settlement to a peaceful conclusion as soon as possible. This is a long process, it requires effort, and it is not easy,' Peskov said in an interview, reported BBC. (with inputs from BBC)
Economic Times
27 minutes ago
- Economic Times
Asian shares, yen weather Japan uncertainty as earnings loom
Investors were also hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick still confident a deal could be reached with the European Union. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads SYDNEY: Asian shares and the yen held their ground on Monday as Japanese elections proved bad for the government but no worse than already priced in, while Wall Street futures braced for earnings from the first of the tech were also hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick still confident a deal could be reached with the European were reports Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were closer to arranging a meeting, though likely not until October at the Japan, the ruling coalition lost control of the upper house in an election on Sunday, further weakening Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power as a tariff deadline expressed his intention to stay in the position, which along with a market holiday, limited the reaction and the yen was 0.4% firmer at 148.29 to the dollar."Ishiba will try to govern with support from some within the opposition, but this likely means a looser fiscal policy and is not good news for bond yields," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB."History also suggests that domestic political uncertainty tends to keep the BOJ on the side-lines, so the prospect of rate hikes is now set to be delayed for a little bit longer."The Bank of Japan still has a bias to raise rates further but markets are pricing little chance of a move until the end of the Nikkei was shut, futures traded up at 39,875 and just above the cash close of 39, broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while South Korean stocks added 0.4%.MEGA CAPS KICK OFFS&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both edged up 0.1%, and are already at record highs in anticipation of more solid earnings reports.A host of companies reporting this week include Alphabet and Tesla, along with also expect upbeat news for defence groups RTX , Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Ramped up government spending across the globe has seen the S&P 500 aerospace and defence sector rise 30% this bond markets, U.S. Treasury futures held steady having dipped late last week after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller repeated his call for a rate cut this of his colleagues, including Chair Jerome Powell, have argued a pause is warranted to judge the true inflationary impact of tariffs and markets imply almost no chance of a move in July. A September cut is put at 61%, rising to 80% for reticence on rates has drawn the ire of Trump who threatened to fire the Fed chief, before backing down. The spectre of a potential political appointee who would seek to ease policy sharply has investors on European Central Bank meets this week and is expected to hold its rates steady at 2.0% following a string of cuts."The press conference will likely keep highlighting uncertainty and need to wait for tariff negotiations to conclude before deciding the next step," said analysts at TD Securities in a note. "Similarly, its 'meeting-by-meeting' language would be retained in the release."The euro was unchanged at $1.1630 in early trading, having dipped 0.5% last week and away from its recent near-four-year top of $1.1830. The dollar index was a fraction lower at commodity markets, gold was little changed at $3,348 an ounce with all the recent action in platinum which last week hit its highest since August 2014. Oil prices were caught between the prospect of increased supply from OPEC+ and the risk European Union sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine could curb its edged up 0.1% to $69.36 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 0.1% to $67.39 per barrel.
Time of India
39 minutes ago
- Time of India
Asian shares, yen weather Japan uncertainty as earnings loom
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel SYDNEY: Asian shares and the yen held their ground on Monday as Japanese elections proved bad for the government but no worse than already priced in, while Wall Street futures braced for earnings from the first of the tech were also hoping for some progress in trade talks ahead of President Donald Trump's August 1 tariff deadline, with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick still confident a deal could be reached with the European were reports Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping were closer to arranging a meeting, though likely not until October at the Japan, the ruling coalition lost control of the upper house in an election on Sunday, further weakening Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's grip on power as a tariff deadline expressed his intention to stay in the position, which along with a market holiday, limited the reaction and the yen was 0.4% firmer at 148.29 to the dollar."Ishiba will try to govern with support from some within the opposition, but this likely means a looser fiscal policy and is not good news for bond yields," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior FX strategist at NAB."History also suggests that domestic political uncertainty tends to keep the BOJ on the side-lines, so the prospect of rate hikes is now set to be delayed for a little bit longer."The Bank of Japan still has a bias to raise rates further but markets are pricing little chance of a move until the end of the Nikkei was shut, futures traded up at 39,875 and just above the cash close of 39, broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was flat, while South Korean stocks added 0.4%.MEGA CAPS KICK OFFS&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both edged up 0.1%, and are already at record highs in anticipation of more solid earnings reports.A host of companies reporting this week include Alphabet and Tesla, along with also expect upbeat news for defence groups RTX , Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics. Ramped up government spending across the globe has seen the S&P 500 aerospace and defence sector rise 30% this bond markets, U.S. Treasury futures held steady having dipped late last week after Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller repeated his call for a rate cut this of his colleagues, including Chair Jerome Powell, have argued a pause is warranted to judge the true inflationary impact of tariffs and markets imply almost no chance of a move in July. A September cut is put at 61%, rising to 80% for reticence on rates has drawn the ire of Trump who threatened to fire the Fed chief, before backing down. The spectre of a potential political appointee who would seek to ease policy sharply has investors on European Central Bank meets this week and is expected to hold its rates steady at 2.0% following a string of cuts."The press conference will likely keep highlighting uncertainty and need to wait for tariff negotiations to conclude before deciding the next step," said analysts at TD Securities in a note. "Similarly, its 'meeting-by-meeting' language would be retained in the release."The euro was unchanged at $1.1630 in early trading, having dipped 0.5% last week and away from its recent near-four-year top of $1.1830. The dollar index was a fraction lower at commodity markets, gold was little changed at $3,348 an ounce with all the recent action in platinum which last week hit its highest since August 2014. Oil prices were caught between the prospect of increased supply from OPEC+ and the risk European Union sanctions against Russia for its war in Ukraine could curb its edged up 0.1% to $69.36 a barrel, while U.S. crude added 0.1% to $67.39 per barrel.
