Microsoft Curtails Chinese Firms’ Early Access To Notifications About Cybersecurity Flaws: Report

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) on Wednesday reportedly restricted early access to notifications about cybersecurity flaws in its technology products and services to Chinese firms.

According to a Bloomberg report, this comes after the Windows maker investigated whether a leak resulted in several hacks that exploited flaws in its SharePoint software.

Microsoft’s shares were down 0.7% during Wednesday morning’s trade. Retail sentiment on Stocktwits around the company was in the ‘bearish’ territory.

According to the company’s new guidelines for the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP), the access limitations will apply to program participants in countries where they are required to report security vulnerabilities to the government. This includes China, according to Microsoft spokesperson David Cuddy, the report said. Several big Chinese companies, including units of Alibaba Group Holding and Baidu Inc., are a part of MAPP.

“We’re aware of the potential for this to be abused, which is why we take steps – both known and confidential – to prevent misuse. We continuously review participants and suspend or remove them if we find they violated their contract with us, which includes a prohibition on participating in offensive attacks,” Cuddy explained, according to the report.

Microsoft’s decision to restrict early access to notifications for Chinese firms comes after the company was hit by a spate of cyberattacks that it said were undertaken by state-sponsored hackers in China. 

Microsoft has previously accused or suspected at least three Chinese companies, which were a part of MAPP, of disclosing and leaking information about vulnerabilities, the report added.

MSFT stock is up 20% year-to-date and 19% over the past 12 months.

Also See: OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar Clarifies Sam Altman’s ‘AI Bubble’ Remarks: ‘The AI Era Is Upon Us, And We’re Leading The Path’

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