14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has recently signed a partnership with security firm FireEye to integrate the company’s iSIGHT Intelligence software into Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection and thus improve the security capabilities available on Windows 10 devices.
In addition to the obvious security benefits for Microsoft, it turns out that the Redmond-based software giant agreed to share Windows 10 telemetry data with FireEye, but information in this regard remains quite vague.
Australian website ARN writes that “terms of the deal will see FireEye gain access to telemetry from every device running Windows 10,” as Microsoft collects crash information and other statistics from computers powered by its latest operating system.
Telemetry sharing with third parties
While sharing telemetry data with a third-party company is definitely worrying for users, the official press release that FireEye posted today says nothing about Microsoft providing them with access to information collected from Windows 10 systems, but only brags about the security technology that’s being adopted by the Redmond-based software giant.
“FireEye has invested in nation-state grade intelligence and we are strategically partnering with industry leaders to operationalize this high-quality intel,” said Ken Gonzalez, senior vice president of corporate development at FireEye in a typical press release comment.
“By working with Microsoft we're able to offer differentiated intelligence within WDATP and together help make organizations more secure.”
Telemetry data collection in Windows 10 has always been a controversial topic for both Microsoft and users, but Redmond has always claimed that no personal information is transferred to its servers and the only thing the firm does is look into crash information and other usage patterns to improve the operating system.
On the other hand, giving third parties access to this data could help Microsoft improve security tools in Windows 10, although it goes without saying that many users would actually prefer this not to happen.
We’ve reached out to Microsoft for more information on what telemetry sharing with FireEye actually means and will update the article when a statement is received.
UPDATE, November 26: Microsoft told us that it's not sharing telemetry data with FireEye and the deal does not include such a thing.