Moving to the cloud is inevitable for some enterprises. Therefore, selecting the right cloud provider is crucial to the process. With the protection of Personally Identifiable Information being a number one concern these days, it is best to go with tried-and-true professionals to get the best results.
Software mega-giant Microsoft does not disappoint when it comes to the protection of your privacy in the cloud. Microsoft’s recent On the Issues blog post provides the following details regarding Microsoft’s strategy to take the lead in cloud privacy:
Microsoft is the first major cloud provider to adopt the world’s first international standard for cloud privacy. It’s another reason customers can move with confidence to the Microsoft Cloud.
The British Standards Institute (BSI) has now independently verified that in addition to Microsoft Azure, both Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online are aligned with the ISO/IEC 27018 standard’s code of practice for the protection of Personally Identifiable Information in the public cloud.
Why does this matter? The reasons are multiple. Adherence to ISO 27018 assures enterprise customers that privacy will be protected in several distinct ways:
- You are in control of your data. Microsoft’s adherence to the standard ensures that Microsoft only processes personally identifiable information according to the instructions that you provide to us as the customer.
- You know what’s happening with your data. Adherence to the standard ensures transparency about Microsoft’s policies regarding the return, transfer, and deletion of personal information you store in Microsoft’s data centers.
- Microsoft provides strong security protection for your data. Adherence to ISO 27018 ensures that there are defined restrictions on how Microsoft handles personally identifiable information, including restrictions on its transmission over public networks, storage on transportable media, and proper processes for data recovery and restoration efforts.
- Your data won’t be used for advertising. Enterprise customers are increasingly expressing concerns about cloud service providers using their data for advertising purposes without consent. The adoption of this standard reaffirms Microsoft’s longstanding commitment not to do so.
For more information regarding Microsoft and ISO 27018, see the full blog post.
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