• MS-DEFCON 2: Closing out the year

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    ISSUE 21.49.1 • 2024-12-05

    MS-DEFCON 2

    By Susan Bradley

    As we close the year of patching, I’m surprised to see that our vendors are facing many of the same issues they faced years ago — governments looking over their actions.

    But this time, instead of scrutinizing monopolies for on-premises software, they are looking at how Microsoft is making monopolizing cloud services as well as coercing governments to use more of their services. Recently, a ProPublica investigation questioned how much Microsoft’s free government outreach to enhance the security of its products was designed to lock government customers into these subscription services.

    Then the Department of Justice asked a judge to break up Google and force it to sell off the Chrome browser and restrict their use of artificial intelligence and the Android mobile operating system. I still remember the lengthy monopoly trials against Microsoft. It seems like the more things change, the more things in technology stay the same. We constantly have a push-pull relationship with our vendors.

    Anyone can read the full MS-DEFCON Alert (21.49.1, 2024-12-05).