| USA TODAY | - |
SAN
FRANCISCO -- Microsoft plans to encrypt more of its Internet traffic as
the world's largest software company responds to revelations about
online spying by the National Security Agency.
Top Microsoft executives are meeting this week to decide what encryption initiatives to deploy and how quickly
Top Microsoft executives are meeting this week to decide what encryption initiatives to deploy and how quickly, a spokeswoman for the company said Wednesday.
Microsoft has become more suspicious of the NSA after reports in October suggested that the agency may have intercepted traffic inside the private networks of Google and Yahoo.
The Washington Post released two new documents that describe operations against Google and Yahoo and also include references to Microsoft's Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger services.
A separate NSA e-mail obtained by the newspaper mentions Microsoft Passport, a Web-based service formerly offered by Microsoft, as a possible target of that same surveillance project, called MUSCULAR, which was first disclosed by The Washington Post last month.
"These allegations are very disturbing," said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith. "If they are true these actions amount to hacking and seizure of private data and in our view are a breach of the protection guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution."
Microsoft officials told the Washington Post that they had no independent verification of the NSA targeting the company like this. However, the company is increasing encryption efforts to be sure.
"We're focused on engineering improvements that will further strengthen security, including strengthening security against snooping by governments," Smith said during Microsoft's annual shareholder meeting Nov. 19.
Google and Yahoo have already announced plans to use more encryption to secure data traveling between their data centers.
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