“Although Microsoft Corp. has denied that the hacker who
penetrated its network in October gained access to any of the
company’s source code, a recent report by a Washington-based think
tank is warning that the compromise may hold grave national
security implications.”
“In a report released this month titled “Cyber Threats and
Information Security: Meeting the 21st Century Challenge,” the
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) concluded
that the government and the private sector should be concerned
about the “trustworthiness” of future Microsoft products in the
aftermath of the hack into the company’s network. Former Deputy
Secretary of Defense John Hamre, a longtime cybersecurity proponent
in the defense and intelligence communities, heads the CSIS.”
“It is doubtful that the millions (sometimes billions) of lines
of code required to power Microsoft’s products could readily be
sanitized,” the CSIS report states. “With most military and
government systems powered by Microsoft software and more generally
reliant on [commercial, off-the-shelf systems], this recent
development can pose grave national-security-related concerns,” the
73-page report concludes.”
“Microsoft, however, strongly disagrees with the analysis.”