Tech big Google fired a shot Thursday at chief rival Microsoft, claiming the federal government’s reliance on its methods was leaving it susceptible to future cyberattacks.
Jeanette Manfra, Google’s director of threat and compliance for its cloud division, mentioned in a weblog submit that the federal authorities’s reliance on Microsoft is extreme and warned of an overreliance on legacy options. By placing an excessive amount of religion in a single supplier, Manfra argues that it leaves too many methods uncovered to extra cyber dangers from subtle cyber actors.
“As governments work to meet the demands and preferences of their constituents — and their employees — it’s clear that there’s an overreliance on legacy solutions, despite a track record of cybersecurity vulnerabilities and poor user perception,” mentioned Manfra, who beforehand served as head of the cybersecurity division on the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
Manfra referred to survey information commissioned by Google that discovered practically 85% of presidency employees who had been questioned mentioned that they relied on Microsoft merchandise at work. For years, authorities companies have relied extensively on Microsoft software program for fundamental infrastructure all the way in which as much as options utilized by the Pentagon.
However, Google’s survey discovered that years of partnering with a single vendor has led authorities companies into adopting “legacy” mindsets that weren’t rapidly adaptable to rising cybersecurity challenges. Respondents famous a degree of dissatisfaction with their present instruments with greater than 50% saying they believed higher choices had been accessible for work. However, they are saying company leaders are cussed on the subject of adopting newer options.
Microsoft didn’t take kindly to Google singling it out and questioning its merchandise. In a press release to NBC News, the corporate mentioned the critiques had been “unhelpful” for creating division at a time when the federal government is on heightened alert about cyber threats from state and felony actors alike.
“It is also unhelpful to create divisions in the security community at a time when we should all be working together on heightened alert,” mentioned Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s company vp of communications, including that Google’s expenses had been “disappointing however not shocking.”
Microsoft has seen its merchandise abused for numerous prolific cyber assaults lately, together with the December 2020 SolarWinds hack of a number of federal companies by Russian intelligence. More not too long ago, a beforehand unknown flaw in Microsoft’s Exchange program was utilized in a breach by Chinese hackers.
At the identical time, the U.S. authorities has been warning non-public firms, in addition to state and native governments, to be ready for doable cyberattacks from Russia throughout its struggle in Ukraine. Days after the struggle started on Feb. 24, Microsoft and Google detailed how they had been working to assist Ukraine and NATO companions shield themselves from hacks or Russian disinformation.