On Microsoft's Lousy Cloud Security - Schneier on Security
US government cybersecurity evaluators flagged Microsoft's GCC High cloud service for inadequate security documentation
Summary
ProPublica revealed that federal cybersecurity reviewers determined Microsoft's Government Community Cloud High (GCC High) lacked proper security documentation, leaving evaluators unable to confidently assess its overall security posture. Despite these critical findings, FedRAMP authorized the product anyway in late 2024, with only a cautionary notice to federal agencies. The authorization allowed Microsoft to expand its multibillion-dollar government cloud business despite unresolved security verification concerns.
Full text
On Microsoft’s Lousy Cloud Security ProPublica has a scoop: In late 2024, the federal government’s cybersecurity evaluators rendered a troubling verdict on one of Microsoft’s biggest cloud computing offerings. The tech giant’s “lack of proper detailed security documentation” left reviewers with a “lack of confidence in assessing the system’s overall security posture,” according to an internal government report reviewed by ProPublica. Or, as one member of the team put it: “The package is a pile of shit.” For years, reviewers said, Microsoft had tried and failed to fully explain how it protects sensitive information in the cloud as it hops from server to server across the digital terrain. Given that and other unknowns, government experts couldn’t vouch for the technology’s security. […] The federal government could be further exposed if it couldn’t verify the cybersecurity of Microsoft’s Government Community Cloud High, a suite of cloud-based services intended to safeguard some of the nation’s most sensitive information. Yet, in a highly unusual move that still reverberates across Washington, the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, or FedRAMP, authorized the product anyway, bestowing what amounts to the federal government’s cybersecurity seal of approval. FedRAMP’s ruling—which included a kind of “buyer beware” notice to any federal agency considering GCC High—helped Microsoft expand a government business empire worth billions of dollars. Tags: cloud computing, cybersecurity, Microsoft, national security policy, security theater Posted on April 9, 2026 at 6:51 AM • 0 Comments