Microsoft Shores Up Security For Outlook, Office 365, Azure ExpressRoute and OneDrive

This week, Microsoft announced enhancements to its encryption offerings for Outlook.com, Office 365, Azure and OneDrive. Specifically, Outlook.com is now protected by Transport Layer Security that delivers encryption support for inbound and outbound email. In addition, Microsoft has shored up its encryption capabilities in Office 365 with reference to its cloud-based platform for encrypted email messaging. Moreover, Microsoft noted that it had strengthened its encryption functionality for Azure ExpressRoute, the infrastructure that provides a direct connection to the Azure platform that bypasses the public internet. In other news, OneDrive now supports Perfect Forward Secrecy (PFS) which uses a different encryption key for each connection, rendering it more difficult for cyberattackers to decrypt connections to OneDrive. Finally, Microsoft also announced the opening of a Microsoft Transparency Center on its Redmond, WA campus that allows governments to examine the source code for its key products in order to confirm the security capabilities of Microsoft’s portfolio, particularly in the wake of international concerns about cybersecurity and espionage in the post-Snowden era.