Microsoft restricts access to IDF cyber unit following media accusation of espionage

Despite the move, Israel’s military relationship with Microsoft remains largely intact.

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

Microsoft has partially suspended services to Israel’s Unit 8200, the IDF’s premier signals intelligence branch following claims by activist-linked media outlets that the unit used the company’s Azure platform to store data on Palestinian communications.

The Guardian, together with +972 Magazine and Local Call, published a report last month alleging that Unit 8200 built a program capable of recording and analyzing millions of calls daily in Gaza and Judea and Samaria.

Microsoft responded by conducting an external review of its cooperation with the unit.

Sources told The Guardian that the decision followed a 2021 meeting between Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella and Unit 8200 Commander Yossi Sariel.

Leveraging Azure’s storage capacity and computing power, the unit reportedly developed a system designed to intercept calls.

The scale of the program was reflected in what officers described internally as “a million calls an hour.”

According to the report, up to 8,000 terabytes of intercepted calls were initially held in a Microsoft data center in the Netherlands.

After the Guardian published its findings, the intelligence data was swiftly relocated in August, apparently to Amazon Web Services.

In a letter to employees, Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith stated that the company had “ceased and disabled a set of services to a unit within the Israeli Ministry of Defense,” including cloud storage and AI services.

He stressed that Microsoft “does not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.”

Despite the move, Israel’s military relationship with Microsoft remains largely intact.

Military officials noted that Unit 8200 had prepared in advance and secured its data before Microsoft’s restrictions were imposed. No information was lost, and the IDF continues to access other Microsoft technologies.

Neither Amazon nor the IDF has commented publicly on the reports. The episode reflects growing pressure campaigns targeting Israel’s security cooperation with global technology companies, even as Unit 8200 remains central to defending the country from terrorism and external threats.