14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is the latest tech giant, after Google and Yahoo, which decides to encrypt Internet traffic amid suspicion that the NSA might be monitoring its global communications systems and collect user data.
Reports on a potential breach in Microsoft services emerged last month when documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed a new secret program called MUSCULAR that was being used by US intelligence agencies to intercept data from several companies.
The Washington Post is reporting that Microsoft believes that the NSA indeed breached into its servers, so it’s now trying to implement new encryption systems to block any further hacks.
Top company executives are said to be meeting this week to discuss the new strategy, even though Microsoft is yet to release a statement on such a plan.
Google has already implemented a 2,048-bit encryption system, while Yahoo and Facebook announced similar plans for the next few months.
Microsoft, on the other hand, hasn’t disclosed any plans to enhance encryption of its servers, but the company recently revealed that message encryption for Office 365 will be rolled out in the first months of the next year.
The leaked documents that were part of the MUSCULAR surveillance project included references to a number of Microsoft services, including Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, and Passport.
While Redmond has only said that such a surveillance plan would be very disturbing and a violation of the constitutional rights, it turns out that the company wants to make sure that all its data is secure from any further attempts.
Microsoft has until now denied every single report pointing to a potential involvement in NSA surveillance programs, claiming that it only shares user data based on federal requests.
At the same time, Microsoft has asked for permission to provide more details on the requests it received for user account information and even sued the NSA in order to be allowed to share more its collaboration with US services.