The Russian-Ukraine conflict continues to go on, and this has meant more and more major corporations are voicing their concern over the issue. We’ve already seen plenty of big tech companies take action against Russia, such as Apple, Facebook, Twitter and Google. The latest of the Big Tech giants to join them is Microsoft, who have announced that they’ll be suspending sales of their products and services in Russia.
In a new blog post by Microsoft president Brad Smith, Microsoft not only revealed that they’re not only suspending sales in Russia but also working together with the governments of the United States, the United Kingdom as well as the European Union. Microsoft will also be stopping many other aspects of their business in Russia, in accordance with the various government sanctions placed on them. Smith notes that they believe these actions will help Ukraine in the current conflict by coordinating with these governments.
Furthermore, Microsoft has been helping out Ukraine by protecting the country’s cybersecurity. Smith says that they’re proactively helping the Ukrainian government defend its cybersecurity against Russian attacks, and cites a recent cyberattack against a major Ukrainian broadcaster as an example. Microsoft has also actually been doing so for some time now, even before the conflict started; back in January this year, Microsoft’s corporate vice president for customer security and trust had published a blog post revealing that they found destructive malware in systems of Ukrainian government agencies.
“Since the war began, we have acted against Russian positioning, destructive or disruptive measures against more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT and financial sector organizations. We have also acted against cyberattacks targeting several additional civilian sites.
We have publicly raised our concerns that these attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention,” – Brad Smith, Microsoft President and Vice Chair
In addition to this, the Microsoft Philanthropies team is working with the International Committee of the Red Cross to help refugees leaving the conflict areas by giving technological and financial support to the NGOs as well as defending them from cyberattacks. Smith concludes by stating their support for Ukraine, and calls for the restoration of peace and respect for Ukraine’s sovereignty and its people.
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