Microsoft is moving toward a major new effort to encrypt Internet traffic after concluding that the National Security Agency can break into its global communications systems, people familiar with the emerging plans said.
Suspicions at Microsoft, while already present for several months, became more intense in October when it was reported that the NSA was monitoring traffic inside the private networks of Google and Yahoo, two competitors with similar global infrastructures. So according to internal sources, top Microsoft executives will meet to decide what encryption to use and when.
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden suggest—but do not prove—that the company should be concerned. Two previously unreleased documents describing operations against Google and Yahoo include references to Microsoft's Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger. A separate NSA email lists Microsoft Passport, a Web-based service previously offered by Microsoft, as a possible target of the same surveillance scheme, dubbed MUSCULAR, first described by The Washington Post last month.
