Americans have been fixated on domestic politics over the last month, and rightly so. However, it should be recognized that our adversaries during this time have stood idly by. In just the last few weeks — the war in the Middle East has significantly expanded and may devolve into a wider war, a children’s hospital in Ukraine — a hospital that treats children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases — was bombed by Russia. The People’s Republic of China continues antagonizing U.S. ally the Philippines in the South China Sea.
While Washington is distracted, America’s adversaries continue to use the nonstop election cycle to exploit U.S. weaknesses.
What has not been widely reported during this time, and is one of our most significant weaknesses, is America’s continued over-dependence on tech giants. While steps have been taken to develop a national strategy on cybersecurity, outpacing our adversaries’ ability to make incursions into our nation’s digital architecture has been woefully wanting. If anyone needs convincing, look at what is happening in France during the Olympics, with cyberattack after cyberattack.
In the United States, it was reported in May that Microsoft had offered nearly a thousand employees working in China a transfer to work in another country. It was assumed at the time that the employees, all part of Microsoft’s AI and quantum technology teams, that Microsoft had finally taken heed of official guidance to safeguard U.S. company employees working in China.
Just a month later — on the day of the first presidential debate — Bloomberg reported that Microsoft had been targeted by Russia. Dubbed “Midnight Blizzard,” the hackers gained access to high-level exchanges between the company’s leadership and U.S. government employees. This incident followed another devastating incursion that resulted in a Department of Homeland Security Cyber Security Board Report — sponsored by China — which allowed hackers access to high-level U.S. government emails last year including the inbox of the U.S. ambassador to China. Microsoft has not publicly discussed the full extent of either incursion. Still, its public moves indicate the hacks were more intrusive and well-known to executives than disclosed, as reported by ProPublica.
These revelations come on the heels of continued allegations that Microsoft and its products have been used by the Chinese Communist Party in its persecution of the Uyghur community, which the United States declared a genocide in 2021. From Microsoft’s Bing search engine censorship to the use of facial recognition software powered by Microsoft in Xinjiang, the company’s technology is increasingly being deployed by Beijing.
Further, China’s National Security Law, extended to Hong Kong and its citizens in 2020 and netted high-profile publisher and British citizen Jimmy Lai, is now reaching into America’s boardrooms. More than seven U.S. firms operating in China have seen the recent detention of employees, including Boston-based Bain & Co. Sadly, too many of these companies acquiesce to the Chinese Communist Party to keep profits flowing while ignoring the growing national security concerns that are becoming increasingly apparent to Capitol Hill.
The public may never know the full extent of the recent Microsoft cybersecurity breaches, but the tech giant’s recent moves — from its employee transfer “opportunity” to the recent policy change that all Microsoft employees in China must use iPhone devices instead of Android — suggest the problem may be continuing despite protestations to the contrary.
Bill Gates’ vision in founding Microsoft was to have “a computer on every desk.” Gates’s goal became a reality. More so for today’s 2.87 million U.S. federal employees who rely on Microsoft products daily and who are now unwittingly at the mercy of the Chinese Communist Party — a clear and present danger to U.S. national security.
