Microsoft’s new counter cyber-attack facility provides security solutions around the clock
Yesterday, Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) laid out plans for its new cyber security initiative, aptly named the “Cyber Defense Operations Center.” Located at the tech giant’s headquarters in Redmond, WA, the facility will house a highly-trained security response team which will detect, respond to, and protect against real-time online attacks against Microsoft’s internal systems and/or consumer products. The move is designed to appease enterprise customers who seek operational security, as processes move more towards mobile and cloud-based technologies.
The center will function in a fashion similar to the US President’s Situation Room, which is used for wartime feeds, live analysis, and immediate communication with advisors across the world. Apart from being staffed by in-house employees 24 hours a day, the center will also connect security experts, engineers, data analysts, and program managers from across the company to a global network. This network ultimately communicates with all external stakeholders, including enterprise customers, security collaborators, and the government itself.
Yesterday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke at the tech giant’s cloud conference in Washington, D.C. He discussed the major cyber attacks seen in 2015, and spoke about the $3 trillion costs incurred this year on a global scale, as a direct result of loopholes in cyber security. He said: “It’s a perimeter-less world, it’s a world that is constantly evolving, it’s dynamic, and you’re under constant attack. That’s the environment that we have to deal with.” Mr. Nadella hopes this new project will help bring together security experts from different organizations to protect businesses from malware, phishing, distributed denial of service (DDoS), and other online attacks.
While financial and economic repercussions for lax cybersecurity are huge, the present environment also puts people under a potentially deadly peril. Encryption security is no longer considered safe, as rumors suggest terrorists could have used encrypted smartphones and Play station gaming networks to communicate and hide detection, while planning the recent Paris attacks.
Over the years, Microsoft has struggled to keep up with the changing security environment. The development of such robust measures might boost the company’s overall business performance as well. First, it will generate a larger enterprise user base by providing better and high-security products. Second, local and foreign governments can utilize these services to combat global cyber terrorism, thereby enhancing their consumer base. These services are likely to give a tough time to other tech players such as Alphabet Inc and Apple Inc., as they offer more secure solutions to consumers, enterprises, and governments.
Another similar project, “The Microsoft Enterprise Cybersecurity Group,” was also launched on Tuesday. This group will pool a global team of experts to conduct chief information security officers (CISOs) and chief information officers (CIOs) security assessments, threat detection, and monitoring. Together, the two projects are expected to investigate data from emails, Windows updates, and from almost half-a-million monthly business and consumer authentications submitted to its platforms.
Microsoft believes securing cyberspace has become an utmost necessity, and it seeks to invest over $1 billion every year into the research and development of online security. This strategy will also help the company push new products, such as the blockchain enterprise solution platform for bitcoin that uses it’s cloud platform Azure to maintain and secure bitcoin trading, foreign transactions, and accounting records for all kinds of companies. The tech giant aims to work on all kinds of measures, including biometrics and machine learning to design more robust hardware and software systems. If successful, Microsoft will ultimately make the global business environment safer for everyone.
Source: Bidness Etc