Recently, it was reported that the fiber optic lines running between data centers of Microsoft and Google had allegedly been compromised. Now that this appears to be true, the companies affected by the revelation are scrambling to not only recover their reputations but to tighten up security surrounding their fiber lines to prevent further NSA spying.
In order to make the fiber lines more secure, Microsoft is reportedly going to be introducing a form of encryption to the data that is passing between data centers. Right now, these fiber lines are carrying unencrypted data meaning that no matter how sensitive a piece of information may be, the NSA can quite easily intercept it and examine it.
People close to Microsoft have told technology publications that executives at the tech giant will be meeting sometime between this week and early December to figure out what form of encryption will be most effective. By encrypting this traffic, it would suddenly become very difficult for the NSA and its British counterpart, the GCHQ, to intercept data and use it for anything.
Microsoft has told journalists that it has yet to attain any sort of independent verification stating that the NSA targeted the fiber lines in this way. However, if the company is looking to encrypt its traffic, it likely has some sort of suspicion regarding the NSA, and is taking every precaution possible to prevent the NSA from getting its hands...