Over the years, I have been somewhat critical of Microsoft and their past channel policies. While these policies have given way to changes in how the channel behaves towards Microsoft, it is important to applaud the company when they do things right.
In a recent blog post, Microsoft's vice president for the Office 365 team, Rajesh Jha, took a rather fundamental and clear cut stance towards his company's views on privacy and security related to Office 365. The new "Customer Lockbox for Office 365" will offer customers greater control over their data while it is in the hands of Microsoft and their online messaging and collaboration application.
Among some of the really avant garde steps taken by Microsoft are the following:
- Enhanced encryption for files and content beyond just email
- Customer approval before any Microsoft employee has access to corporate email on Office 365
- Greater security and compliance reporting
One of the more significant clues from the blog came in the form of this statement.
"In 2016, we expect to enable customers to generate and control their own keys for encrypting content in Office 365."
These steps all are a slap in the face to Google, a company who is currently being chased out of Europe on antitrust grounds. As obscure as Google is to data security and privacy, Microsoft is taken the exact opposite approach and given its customers near complete control over their data and how it is accessed.
I for one applaud Microsoft for these enhancements. Not only is it good business for Microsoft, it shows the world that cloud security isn't just a marketing phrase, at least for some companies.
Keep up the good work Microsoft. Now, if we can only bring back Small Business Server...
