According to the CNN, Microsoft is offering free cybersecurity tools to some government and commercial customers following criticism of the tech giant’s handling of a major alleged Chinese hack that compromised US government email accounts.
"Starting in September, Microsoft cloud computing customers won’t have to pay extra money to get access to critical data to help them spot cyberattacks," Microsoft said Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Microsoft’s policy change.
The move comes after cybersecurity officials privately expressed frustration that Microsoft had not done enough to detect the alleged Chinese cyber-espionage campaign, according to US officials. The campaign hit two-dozen organizations and became public last week. The State Department says it detected the cyber activity in June and reported it to Microsoft.
Olabanji Soledayo, the ESET Nigeria and Ghana cybersecurity evangelist commented that “This latest development of the story highlights once more the importance of properly configured Detection and Response tools within an organization. Especially in critical environments or with people of interest, cybersecurity budgets cannot be an afterthought. It is also worth considering to choose a security solution independent of the platform and OS vendor to mitigate potential "blind spots". This also might be a good reminder to thoroughly evaluate Detection and Response solutions and what features they actually include.”
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