14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has shared the financial data of a number of Indian customers with intelligence agencies in the United States, according to a report from India.com.
As the email provider for banks who have migrated to Office 365, Microsoft obtained access to data belonging to Indian customers which was then shared US law enforcement based on warrants.
While Microsoft providing authorities with information on customers isn’t a new thing when a court order is issued, the cited source says “customers weren’t aware that their personal details were compromised,” while Indian banks operating their information knew this was happening.
The problem resides in the migration to Microsoft’s cloud-based platform without customers being informed of the new terms, which basically require the software giant to share their data stored in the US to local authorities.
Microsoft: Data only shared based on warrants
The report adds that Microsoft provided information based on 3,036 out of 4,000 government requests.
“All the mailboxes had been migrated to office 365 Microsoft cloud environment. It was gathered from the Microsoft transparency hub that Microsoft is bound to share customers’ data under US Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and US national security letters as and when required by the US authorities,” the cited source quotes a document belonging to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as reading.
Microsoft, on the other hand, reiterated its focus on user privacy, explaining that no information is provided to the government unless a warrant is issued.
“No government has direct access to any of our users’ data. Data privacy is a top priority for us. We never provide customer data unless we receive a legally valid warrant, order or subpoena about specific accounts or individual identifiers that we have reviewed and considered legally appropriate and consistent with the rule of law and our Microsoft principles,” a company spokesperson was quoted as saying.