Microsoft: More Excitement from the Outfit Which Ships Wonky Windows 10 Updates
February 24, 2020
China is worrisome, because the country keeps quiet and is quick to cover up anything that projects a negative light. Other facts about China include that it loves foreign money and advanced technology. The technology bit becomes worrisome, especially with a recent report from Tom’s Hardware: “Report: Microsoft Shared Cortana, Skype Recordings In China With Few Protections.” Like every large company, Microsoft wants Chinese dollars, so the company shared recordings from digital assistants to train the speech recognition with contractors. The Guardian reported that Microsoft shared these recordings with China minus security safeguards.
The source came from a former Microsoft contractor who listened to the recordings on his personal laptop. Microsoft apparently emailed URLs, emails, and passwords to contractors to access Cortana and Skype recordings. If they are only recordings used to train speech recognition, why is this alarming? All of China’s Internet traffic is filtered through a government blockade. So all of Microsoft’s Skype and Cortana recordings were inadvertently accessed by the Chinese government. But…
“But it gets worse. The Guardian reported that Microsoft generated the usernames and passwords used to access this system. The usernames were said to follow “a simple schema,” which suggests they would have been fairly easy to guess, and the password was “the same for every employee who joined in any given year.” Contractors were allowed to work from home, too, without direct supervision.”
Some people can figure out how to abuse brilliantly crafted systems, but wonky stuff. Hasta la vista, data. Microsoft released a press release that stated the recordings were fewer than ten words, no one had access to longer conversations, they always observe the highest privacy standards, and they have updated their privacy standards. In other words, Microsoft failed and Chinese contractors outsmarted their system.
Microsoft and other companies working with Chinese contractors and other foreign entities can do better to protect sensitive material. Now about those Windows 10 updates.
Whitney Grace, February 24, 2020
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