A Single Point of Failure?

Last year the Defense Department made a big bet on Microsoft to safeguard data. Some experts worry that means putting too many eggs in one basket

- By Shaun Waterman

The increasing reliance of the federal government on Microsoft software, and in particular the exclusive use of its security tools, is causing heartburn among cyber experts, former officials and some on Capitol Hill, who worry that reliance on a single IT vendor will make the nation more vulnerable to foreign hackers, enemy cyberwarriors and online spies.

Microsoft, by some estimates, already provides 85 percent of the office software (think email, word processing and meetings/collaboration) in the federal government. Now the federal government is moving to use its security tools, too.

Last year, despite internal opposition and criticism from experts, the Department of Defense abandoned one of its longest-running stand-alone cybersecurity program, which multiple vendors competed for, opting instead for Microsoft security tools that the company bundles with its other software-all purchased in a massive, multiyear blanket contract, where the competition, according to government watchdogs, boiled down to a contest between Microsoft resellers.