New protection measures for business and public sector customers
Microsoft's new privacy commitments meet EDPB guidelines
Following the launch of the latest guidelines set by the European Data Protection Board (EDPB), new privacy commitments from Microsoft have been introduced. These measures will protect both business and public sector customers who want to move their data within the European Union. They are in addition to the measures put in place by the company for GDPR compliance.
The new terms are being introduced to customers through a Data Processing Agreement (DPA) addendum. They mainly define the following guidelines:
- A commitment to refuse requests for customer data from companies or the public sector when there is a legal basis for doing so. In other words, data will not be shared without a legal imperative from the relevant institutions.
- Microsoft commits to provide financial compensation to the users of these customers in case of disclosure of their data in response to a government request, as it is a violation of the GDPR. This measure goes beyond the new guidelines contemplated in the EDPB.
Defending your data
All these new protections come under the umbrella of the Defending your data initiative, along with the other previously established guidelines. User confidence in privacy and security is fundamental to Microsoft, as users must trust a technology in order to use it. For this reason, Microsoft has established itself as a leader in the field of data protection for users and their customers. Some of the guidelines already established are as follows:
- Encryption of data both in transit and at rest. No government knows the keys to this encryption.
- Protecting consumers' rights by not giving access to data to any government. If a government requests access to the data, it must follow an applicable legal process.
- Transparency. For example, all government demands for data are published.
