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In this special edition of the Cloud Wars Minute, I unpack the critical response from CEO Satya Nadella and EVP Charlie Bell to the Cyber Safety Review Board’s scathing report on Microsoft’s cybersecurity deficiencies.
Highlights
00:51 — The Cyber Safety Review Board issued a devastating report severely criticizing Microsoft for its cybersecurity shortcomings across its technology and its culture. It could have a terrible ripple effect for Microsoft among its customers if they felt that Microsoft is not living up to its responsibilities around cybersecurity.
01:08 — On the April 25, Microsoft earnings call for Q3, Satya Nadella did not say a single word about this crisis or the report. On Thursday, May 2, I released a Cloud Wars Minute about his silence.
02:21 — This may all be a coincidence but the following day, two high-level pieces of communication came out of Microsoft about not only this cybersecurity disaster in China but also about how important cybersecurity is and how it’s the most important thing we do above all else.
Ask AI Ecosystem Copilot about this analysis
03:05 — One was a memo sent by CEO Satya Nadella to all employees. The second was a blog post by Charlie Bell, executive vice president and head of Microsoft’s security business. Both pieces acknowledged the cybersecurity disaster in China in the context of larger initiatives that the entire company is undertaking to try to reestablish any doubt that customers might have heading that off.
04:49 — Later this week, we’ll go into more detail about what Nadella said in his memo and what Charlie Bell said in his blog post. It is a very challenging time. Microsoft, which is on its way in calendar 2024, to having a cloud revenue of $150 billion will never reach that goal if they don’t address these security issues.
05:27 — I hope Microsoft, led by Nadella, will very publicly and openly be sharing in a broad way all the steps they’re taking. Bell said that for senior-level executives at Microsoft, part of their compensation will be based on the company’s cybersecurity capability. So, again, we’ll get into more detail later this week but good for Microsoft for doing this. Although, they still have a long way to go.
