Microsoft Disables Services for Unit 8200 of the Israeli Military Intelligence

SadaNews - Microsoft announced that it has disabled a set of cloud computing and artificial intelligence services used by Unit 8200 of the Israeli military intelligence, under the Ministry of Security, after an internal review concluded that there was preliminary evidence supporting media reports about a large-scale monitoring system and mass spying on the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing war, as well as the occupied West Bank. Microsoft informed Unit 8200 this week that it would terminate its access to its technologies, after it became clear that the unit had violated the terms of use by storing vast amounts of Palestinian surveillance data on the Azure cloud platform, according to a report published by The Guardian. According to the report, Unit 8200 used the Azure platform for three years to store and analyze daily calls made by Palestinians, noting that the system was so expansive that an internal slogan within the unit emerged, saying: "One million calls per hour." Brad Smith, the President of Microsoft, stated that the company began the review after The Guardian published an article regarding allegations against a unit of the Israeli army. A joint investigation published by The Guardian, the 927+ magazine, and the Hebrew site Local Call in early August reported that an Israeli military surveillance agency used Microsoft’s Azure system to store large quantities of phone call recordings from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. The Guardian's investigation indicated that Israel relied on Microsoft's cloud computing services for extensive monitoring of Palestinians. While the review continues, Microsoft stated that it has found evidence supporting elements of the newspaper’s report, including details about the Israeli Ministry of Security's consumption of Azure cloud storage capacity in the Netherlands and its use of artificial intelligence services. In a blog post, Smith said, "We do not provide technology to facilitate the mass surveillance of civilians." Microsoft informed the Israeli Ministry of Security of its "decision to suspend and disable specific subscriptions for the Israeli Ministry of Security, including its use of specific cloud storage services and technologies, and services and technologies based on artificial intelligence." Smith noted that this action does not affect the cybersecurity services provided by Microsoft to Israel and other countries in the Middle East. Israeli Sources: No security damage or impact on the operational capabilities of Unit 8200 In contrast, Israeli security sources reported that despite Microsoft's action, "no damage was inflicted on the Israeli army," according to Israeli media reports on Thursday. Israeli Channel 12 described in a report that Microsoft's action is "considered a dramatic event, as Israel does not possess cloud services and is thus forced to rely on the services of technology companies like Microsoft." Israeli security sources stated that "Microsoft's action does not cause operational damage; we had assumed this was the direction, and that Microsoft was preparing for such a step, hence we prepared in advance by providing backups." The same sources mentioned that "there is no damage to the operational capability of Unit 8200." Israeli army radio quoted a security source saying, "We prepared for this event in recent weeks, but Microsoft acted unilaterally." Army radio reported that "in Unit 8200 of military intelligence, precautions were taken in recent weeks to make additional backups of all security materials that were uploaded to Microsoft's cloud, preventing any security breach due to Microsoft's action, and no materials from Unit 8200 were lost." Security sources added that "Microsoft expressed its dissatisfaction with the cooperation of Unit 8200 about two months ago, and this could be a precursor to a communication cutoff scenario." According to sources familiar with the details, "the company's announcement was unilateral towards Unit 8200, without dialogue on the matter, and without any prior coordination or reaching conclusions on it." In late August, Microsoft fired four employees who participated in protests at the company's headquarters over its relations with Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza, including two who participated in a sit-in at the CEO's office. Microsoft stated that the termination of the employees was due to serious violations of company policies, and that the on-site protests "raised significant safety concerns."