Microsoft reportedly bans cryptomining in Azure as the tech company is worried about the damage o its online services and fraudulent activities.
Microsoft Reportedly Bans Cryptomining in Azure
Tech Company Microsoft has officially banned the mining of crypto within its azure cloud services in a rather inconspicuous manner.
An update to Microsoft’s universal license terms for online services, which applies mainly to its cloud platform, states that “mining cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.”
The post further went on to explain that written approval is needed for those that are looking to make use of the services of the company for cryptominning, clarifying that “neither customer, nor those that access an online service through customer” are permitted to leverage them for this very purpose.
Dangers of Cryptomining
The recent change in policy was also spotted in the Azure Solution Area of Microsoft’s Partner Community webpage, under the heading “Important actions partners need to take to secure the partner ecosystem”.
It was listed here as among the changes to “minimize potential fraud damage to your customers’ subscriptions”. It yet again stressed the need for “written pre-approval… granted by Microsoft” to sanction the use of its servers for the sourcing of digital tokens.
Microsoft is however concerned about the real dangers such activities present to their infrastructure. And in responding to a query from The Register, the tech giant commented that mining for cryptocurrencies can “cause disruption or even impairment to online services and its users”, and also added that cryptomining “can often be linked to cyber fraud and abuse attacks such as unauthorized access to and use of customer resources.”
They however added the caveat that cryptomining “may be considered for testing and research for security detections.”
Other Companies to Ban Cryptomining on Their Platforms
Microsoft is not the only tech company that has restricted crptomining on its cloud platforms. Google Cloud, OHVcloud, and Oracle have all restricted and banned it from their services and platforms, and Amazon Web Services on the other hand only allows it on its platform within its paid subscription plans and tiers.
Microsoft has only restricted mining for a while on its free plan, but at the moment has now expanded the policy to its paid-for options as well.
