US lawmakers grill Microsoft president over China ties, hacks

Microsoft President Brad Smith fielded questions about the tech giant’s security practices and ties to China at a House homeland security panel on Thursday, a year after alleged China-linked hackers spied on federal emails by hacking the firm.

Microsoft President Brad Smith fielded questions about the tech giant's security practices and ties to China at a House homeland security panel on Thursday, a year after alleged China-linked hackers spied on federal emails by hacking the firm.

The hackers accessed 60,000 U.S. State Department emails by breaking into Microsoft's systems last summer, while Russia-linked cybercriminals separately spied on Microsoft's senior staff emails this year, according to the company's disclosures.

The congressional hearing comes amid increasing federal scrutiny over Microsoft, the world's biggest software-maker, which is also a key vendor to the U.S. government and national security establishment. Microsoft's business accounts for around 3% of the U.S. federal IT budget, Smith said at the hearing.

Lawmakers grilled Microsoft for its inability to prevent both the Russian and Chinese hacks, which they said put federal networks at risk despite not using sophisticated means.

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The company emails Russian hackers accessed also "included correspondence with government officials," Democrat Bennie Thompson said.

"Microsoft is one of the federal government's most important technology and security partners, but we cannot afford to allow the importance of that relationship to enable complacency or interfere with our oversight," he added.