WASHINGTON: Microsoft stands to receive nearly a quarter of Covid relief funds destined for U.S. cybersecurity defenders, sources told media, angering some lawmakers who don’t want to increase funding for a company whose software was recently at the heart of two big hacks.
Congress allocated the funds at issue in the COVID relief bill signed on Thursday after two enormous cyberattacks leveraged weaknesses in Microsoft products to reach into computer networks at federal and local agencies and tens of thousands of companies. One breach attributed to Russia in December grabbed emails from the Justice Department, Commerce Department and Treasury Department.
The hacks pose a significant national security threat, frustrating lawmakers who say Microsoft’s faulty software is making it more profitable.
“If the only solution to a major breach in which hackers exploited a design flaw long ignored by Microsoft is to give Microsoft more money, the government needs to reevaluate its dependence on Microsoft,” said Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, a leading Democrat on the intelligence committee.
“The government should not be rewarding a company that sold it insecure software with even bigger government contracts.”
Microsoft previously said it prioritizes fixing attacks that it sees in wide use.
A draft spending plan by the Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency allocates more than $150 million of their new $650 million funding for a “secure cloud platform,” according to documents seen by media and people familiar with the matter.
More precisely, the money has been budgeted for Microsoft, according to four people briefed on the choice, largely to help other federal agencies upgrade their existing Microsoft deals to improve security of their cloud systems.
