United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has reportedly asked Microsoft to review involvement of Chinese coders in managing cloud services for the Pentagon and US military. According to a report by TechCrunch, Hegseth has also directed the Department of Defense to conduct a separate investigation into the digital escort program and the role of Chinese Microsoft employees in it. In a declaration, Hegseth said “For nearly a decade, Microsoft has used Chinese coders, remotely supervised by US contractors to support sensitive Department of Defense cloud systems - and if you’re thinking America First and common sense, this doesn’t pass either of those tests”.
“The program was designed to comply with contracting rules, but it exposed the department to unacceptable risk,” he stated, adding “These investigations will help us determine the impact of this digital escort workaround. Did they put anything in the code that we don’t know about? We’re going to find out.”
“It blows my mind that I’m even saying these things, that we allowed it to happen - that’s why we’re attacking it so hard,” Hegseth continued.
Microsoft found using ‘digital escorts’ for DoD systems
The statement comes after a ProPublica report said Microsoft was relying on Chinese engineers to maintain Department of Defense computer systems with little oversight from US staff, calling it a security risk. These workers, as per the report, were supervised by ‘digital escorts’ – a term used for low-skilled and low-paid workers with very little coding experience.
One such digital escort told ProPublica: “We’re trusting that what they’re doing isn’t malicious, but we really can’t tell.’
“The use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments, it’s over,” Hegseth went on. “We’re requiring a third-party audit of Microsoft’s digital escort program, including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals.”
Microsoft, on its part, said it will soon stop using China-based engineers for US military technology support. From now on, all software vendors working with the DoD will be required to find and remove any Chinese involvement in its systems.
“The program was designed to comply with contracting rules, but it exposed the department to unacceptable risk,” he stated, adding “These investigations will help us determine the impact of this digital escort workaround. Did they put anything in the code that we don’t know about? We’re going to find out.”
“It blows my mind that I’m even saying these things, that we allowed it to happen - that’s why we’re attacking it so hard,” Hegseth continued.
Microsoft found using ‘digital escorts’ for DoD systems
The statement comes after a ProPublica report said Microsoft was relying on Chinese engineers to maintain Department of Defense computer systems with little oversight from US staff, calling it a security risk. These workers, as per the report, were supervised by ‘digital escorts’ – a term used for low-skilled and low-paid workers with very little coding experience.
One such digital escort told ProPublica: “We’re trusting that what they’re doing isn’t malicious, but we really can’t tell.’
“The use of Chinese nationals to service Department of Defense cloud environments, it’s over,” Hegseth went on. “We’re requiring a third-party audit of Microsoft’s digital escort program, including the code and the submissions by Chinese nationals.”
Microsoft, on its part, said it will soon stop using China-based engineers for US military technology support. From now on, all software vendors working with the DoD will be required to find and remove any Chinese involvement in its systems.
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