Microsoft Employees in China Forced to Switch From Android to iPhones

Microsoft is asking all its China-based employees to stop using Android phones for work purposes and switch to Apple iPhones due to cybersecurity concerns.

Microsoft staff in China will also need to use Microsoft’s Authenticator password manager and the Identity Pass app on their iPhones to verify their identities to log in to work devices, and Android access will not be available.

According to Bloomberg, Microsoft has informed the hundreds of employees affected by the virus via an internal memo. The employees will each be given an iPhone 15, which they can pick up at specific locations in mainland China or Hong Kong. This means that mobile phones from the likes of Xiaomi, Huawei, Redmi, OnePlus, and Oppo will no longer be allowed.

In a statement to PCMag, Microsoft explains that this change is necessary because the now required apps are only available through the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. “The Microsoft Authenticator and Identity Pass apps are officially available on the Apple and Google Play stores. Due to the lack of availability of Google Mobile Services in this region, we are looking to provide employees with a way to access these required apps, such as through an iOS device,” the representative explains.

The move to secure apps for employees in the region is part of Microsoft’s Secure Future initiative, which the company launched in November 2023 to overhaul its cybersecurity standards. Despite this policy, Russian hackers were still able to breach Microsoft’s corporate email systems earlier this year. A third-party cybersecurity firm also accessed Microsoft’s internal data on an Azure cloud server that had no password in February.

After a seven-month review, U.S. federal regulators said in April that Microsoft needed to make “fundamental” reforms to its cybersecurity policies. The review panel blamed Microsoft’s corporate culture for the hack of a China-backed email, in which Chinese hackers forged Microsoft authentication tokens to hijack U.S. government Outlook accounts.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include comments from Microsoft.

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