14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier today it has emerged that China has recommended authorities in the Jiangsu province to cancel orders for computers running Windows 8 because Microsoft's new operating system could pose a risk to the national security, as it allows US agencies and the Redmond-based firm itself to remotely access data stored on these machines.
In an interview aired on China's CCTV television channel, local IT experts explained that Windows 8 could indeed be a major threat for the country because it hides backdoors which can later be used by US intelligence agencies and Microsoft to steal state secrets and other locally stored files.
At the same time, Redmond was accused of not allowing the central government to access Windows 8 source code and thus detect whether it indeed hides any malicious software or not.
“Microsoft would no longer open its Windows 8 source code to the Chinese government, however the security scheme of the Windows 8 operating system is designed to provide better access for Microsoft to users' database. For China it's a big challenge for our cybersecurity,” Yang Min, a professor at China's Fudan University, was quoted as saying by The Register.
The Chinese IT experts are claiming that Windows 8 can obviously be used to access all kinds of records, including contacts, phone numbers, and users' identities.
“Your identity, account, contact book, phone numbers, all this data can be put together for big data analysis,” another expert called Ni Guangnam added. “The US has a law that requires anyone that has this data to report to the government. The data might be a good way for the US to monitor other countries.”
Microsoft has already issued a comment on this, explaining that just like it's the case with all its other operating systems, Windows 8 can be deeply analyzed by the Chinese government. Local IT experts are free to review the Windows 8 source code, Microsoft said, and no backdoor is hiding in the software.
“Our Government Security Program allows governments to review our source code to confirm there are no back doors,” Kathy Roeder, a Microsoft spokeswoman, said. “Customers around the world have evaluated and embraced Windows 8 as our most secure operating system.”
Windows 8 last month was banned on government computers, so Chinese authorities are no longer allowed to use this particular operating system. Instead, the company is developing its own Linux-based operating system that would be easy to control and would include many more security features than Windows 8.