- Chinese engineers have apparently worked with sensitive DOD systems
- Microsoft has since stopped this practice
- Many in the department are not familiar with the system
Some of the most sensitive data the United States have to offer are currently maintained by engineers from China, often considered, especially in the tech area, its biggest opponent.
A report from Propublica has claimed that Microsoft uses these engineers to maintain the Department of Defense’s computer system with ‘minimal supervision of US staff’.
This scheme has changed right now, says Microsoft, as the company has revised its practice to ensure that Chinese engineers no longer provide technical support to services in an attempt to mitigate the risk of national security.
Digital escorts
“In response to concerns raised earlier this week about the US monitored foreign engineers, Microsoft has made changes to our support to US government customers to ensure that no China-based engineering team provides technical assistance to Dod-Government Sky and related services,” said Microsoft’s Chief Communication Officer, Frank Shaw, in a X-Post.
The workers were monitored by ‘digital escort’, barely over-minimum wage workers, often less skilled than the engineers, they supervise-many are former military staff with very little coding experience.
One of these escorts told Propublica; “We trust that what they are doing is not malicious, but we really can’t tell.”
While this system has been in place for almost ten years, many former government officials told the publication that they were not aware of practice.
“Literally, it seems that no one knows anything about this, so I don’t know where to go from here,” said Deven King, spokesman for Defense Information Systems Agency.
The ongoing tech and trade war has seen the two states introduce strict rules and national security policies, limiting access to markets and opportunities on both sides. Chinese hackers have even targeted local US governments in malware campaigns and highlighted the security risk that state-sponsored actors pose.
