In a blog post on the Trustworthy Computing blog, Microsoft details how they are making Microsoft Azure more secure. The latest improvements help keep their customer’s data safe from attackers. Specifically, Microsoft is implementing the latest TLS/SSL protocols to keep data in transmission more secure. By adding Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) connections to Azure, it will have more secure keys to encrypted data.
The data security is a never ending battle with hackers. To combat this, Microsoft says it is dedicated to evolving its cloud products to stay ahead of the curve. Azure’s security will continue to receive the latest and greatest in data security. To do this Microsoft not only enables new technologies like SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.2, they also disable out of date technology such as SSL 2.0 from being used. This highlights the clouds advantage to be continually upgraded to provide existing customers consistent security in a rapidly changing world.
Specifically, these encryption improvements are for Azure Guest OS. Azure Guest OS allows customers to run their own cloud services on Azure. Having these services more secure is a part in Microsoft plan to protect’s customers data, safe from government snooping. In the wake of the NSA leaks, Microsoft made a commitment to keeping customer data out of government hands. To do this Microsoft specifically stated they were dedicated to three areas:
- We are expanding encryption across our services.
- We are reinforcing legal protections for our customers’ data.
- We are enhancing the transparency of our software code, making it easier for customers to reassure themselves that our products do not contain back doors.
So far Microsoft has been doing a good job of communicating how they are improving their services. Hopefully this keeps customers from dropping Microsoft due to fears of government snooping.
What do you think? Can Microsoft do better? Do you think this is enough to reassure customers?
Further reading: Azure, Encryption, Microsoft, Security
