Microsoft had announced joining the Trusted Cloud Principles with other major cloud providers including Amazon and Google etc. The principles are an industry initiative aimed at protecting customer rights in the cloud.

The act means that Microsoft committed to protecting the privacy and security of their customers’ data in all jurisdictions through policy and technology.

According to the announcement, “Trusted Cloud Principles signatories are committed to protecting the rights of our customers. We have agreed to strong principles that ensure we compete while maintaining consistent human rights standards.”

The course of action take place due to the increasing awareness and tension from various local governments raised request to access customer data resided at the cloud providers, which brought concerns from users around the globe on data privacy issue when using public cloud services.

The five principles are:

·     Governments Should Engage Customers First, with Only Narrow Exceptions. Governments should seek data directly from enterprise customers rather than cloud service providers, other than in exceptional circumstances;

·     Customers Should Have a Right to Notice. Where governments seek to access customer data directly from cloud service providers, customers of those cloud service providers should have a right to advance notice of government access to their data, which only can be delayed in exceptional circumstances;

·    Cloud Providers Should Have a Right to Protect Customers’ Interests. There should be a clear process for cloud service providers to challenge government access requests for customers’ data, including notifying relevant data protection authorities; 

·     Governments Should Address Conflicts of Law. Governments should create mechanisms to raise and resolve conflicts with each other such that cloud service providers’ legal compliance in one country does not amount to a violation of law in another; and

·     Governments Should Support Cross-Border Data Flows. Governments should support the cross-border flow of data as an engine of innovation, efficiency, and security, and avoid data residency requirements.

Superhub being the Microsoft Gold Partner is dedicated to delivery same high standard cloud service to our customers. We are strictly complying with Microsoft Shared Responsibility Model.

Please feel free to reach us and discuss your concern on security and privacy along your cloud journey.

Reference: Trusted Cloud Principles: Principles