Microsoft employees based in China are reportedly being required to ditch Androids for iPhones as part of the company’s cybersecurity measures.
Bloomberg, citing an internal memo, reports that starting in September, staff in China will be required to use Apple products for identity verification on work computers and phones. The requirement is to ensure hundreds of China-based staff use the Microsoft Authenticator password manager and Identity Pass app, Bloomberg reports. It’s part of the tech giant’s global Secure Future Initiative.
Google Play, an app store for Androids, is not available in China, and homegrown smartphone makers including Huawei and Xiaomi have their own platforms. Microsoft reportedly said it will block Android devices from accessing its corporate platform because Google’s mobile services are not available in China. Employees using Androids will receive an iPhone 15, and the Apple devices will be available across the country, including in Hong Kong, according to the memo.
“Microsoft Authenticator and Identity Pass apps are officially available on the Apple and Google Play stores,” a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement shared with Quartz. “Due to the lack of availability of Google Mobile Services in this region, we look to offer employees a means of accessing these required apps, such as an iOS device.”
Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Charlie Bell, executive vice president of security at Microsoft, said in April that the company is “ground zero” for foreign state-sponsored hackers. The Secure Future Initiative was launched in November after multiple cybersecurity failures, including at the hands of China- and Russia-based government-backed hackers. In January, Microsoft’s corporate email systems were attacked by Midnight Blizzard, a Russian state-sponsored actor.
In June, Microsoft president Brad Smith told U.S. lawmakers the company “accepts responsibility for each and every one” of its cybersecurity failures cited in a overnment-backed report. In April, the U.S. Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB) found that Chinese hackers known as Storm-558 compromised the Microsoft Exchange Online emails of 22 organizations and more than 500 people around the world, including senior U.S. government officials working on national security. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and R. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. ambassador to China, were among the hacked government officials.