Report: IDF blocked from some Microsoft services after storing surveillance data on cloud platform

Microsoft has terminated the Israeli military’s main signals intelligence unit’s access to some of its services, after it had allegedly used the Azure cloud platform for expansive surveillance of Palestinians, the Guardian reports.

According to the British newspaper, Microsoft told Israeli officials last week that the IDF’s Unit 8200 had “violated the company’s terms of service by storing the vast trove of surveillance data” on Azure.

A report last month conducted by the Guardian and the far-left activist outlet +972 Magazine said Microsoft’s Azure software was used by Unit 8200 to store countless recordings of mobile phone calls made by Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

In response to that report, Microsoft ordered an external review of its relationship with Unit 8200. According to the Guardian, the findings have led Microsoft to cancel the unit’s access to “some of its cloud storage and AI services.”

The Guardian adds that the decision to cut some of the Azure services to Unit 8200 has not affected Microsoft’s wider relationship with the IDF, and the Israeli military will retain access to other services.

There is no official comment from Microsoft or the IDF in response to the report.

Military officials say that Unit 8200 had prepared ahead of time and backed up its data before Microsoft terminated its access to the cloud services, and therefore, no information was lost.