Microsoft Allowed the NSA Access to Skype, Skydrive and Outlook

Microsoft colluded with the NSA by handing over access to encrypted messages, files seen by the Guardian reveal. The company helped the agency circumvent encryption and gain access to web chats, email and cloud storage.

The documents show that Microsoft has allowed the NSA access to all of the company's flagship services, including Hotmail, Outlook.com, SkyDrive and Skype. In the case of Outlook.com, the files reveal that the NSA expressed concerns about intercepting encrypted chats during the testing of the new platform last year. Microsoft worked with the FBI to find a solution that would allow the NSA to unlock the encryption.

FBI collusion also allowed the agency access to SkyDrive, Microsoft's cloud storage system with 250 million users worldwide. Following Microsoft's purchase of Skype last June, the NSA managed to triple the number of video calls being recorded, it has said. [...]