Microsoft reveals how it is responding to the 'tragic, unlawful and unjustified invasion of Ukraine'

Elon Musk has taken steps to help ensure that the people of Ukraine have internet access while their country is under attack from Russia, but he is far from being the only member of the tech community reaching out to assist.

Microsoft is also doing its part to help those in need during the crisis, including fighting off cyberattacks carried out by Russia. The company's president and vice chair, Brad Smith, has penned a blog post outlining just what it is that Microsoft is doing to help with humanitarian appeals, blocking state-sponsored disinformation, as well as keeping its own employees safe.

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Unsurprisingly, much of the support offered by Microsoft has been technological in nature, and Smith introduced his blog post by saying: "All of us who work at Microsoft are following closely the tragic, unlawful and unjustified invasion of Ukraine. This has become both a kinetic and digital war, with horrifying images from across Ukraine as well as less visible cyberattacks on computer networks and internet-based disinformation campaigns. We are fielding a growing number of inquiries about these aspects and our work, and therefore we are putting in one place a short summary about them in this blog. This includes four areas: protecting Ukraine from cyberattacks; protection from state-sponsored disinformation campaigns; support for humanitarian assistance; and the protection of our employees".

He continues:

At the outset, it's important to note that we are a company and not a government or a country. In times like this, it’s especially important for us to work in consultation with those in government and, in this instance, our efforts have involved constant and close coordination with the Ukrainian government, as well as with the European Union, European nations, the U.S. government, NATO and the United Nations.

He goes on to outline the company's efforts to help thwart cyberattacks, saying: "We remain especially concerned about recent cyberattacks on Ukrainian civilian digital targets, including the financial sector, agriculture sector, emergency response services, humanitarian aid efforts, and energy sector organizations and enterprises. These attacks on civilian targets raise serious concerns under the Geneva Convention, and we have shared information with the Ukrainian government about each of them. We have also advised the Ukrainian government about recent cyber efforts to steal a wide range of data, including health, insurance, and transportation-related personally identifiable information (PII), as well as other government data sets".

Microsoft has joined others in no longer providing a platform for information from state-sponsored RT (Russia Today) as well as working with the International Red Cross and other organizations to provide help on the ground.

The full post is available over on the Microsoft on the Issues blog.

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