Microsoft now has 142 cloud services certified with high provisional authorization to operate under the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program, which aims to standardize the security of cloud products used in the federal government. The company said in a blog post published Thursday its offerings under the Azure Government cloud work to boost the security and compliance of federal agencies.

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, said the U.S. needs to improve its cyber defenses and come up with a “robust menu” of responses to cyber attacks like the SolarWinds breach, C4ISRNET reported Tuesday. “We need to strengthen the nation’s digital infrastructure and digital defenses, and that touches every part of the public sector, and every part of the private sector as well,” Smith told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday.

Eric Brown, vice president of Azure global mission platform engineering at Microsoft, said the company works to help Department of Defense customers and partners meet evolving compliance requirements through its Azure Government cloud platform. One of the compliance requirements that defense contractors should meet is DOD’s Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification program and Brown wrote in a blog post published Tuesday how Azure Government and Microsoft 365 Government (GCC High) could help contractors achieve CMMC Level 3 and above.

Microsoft has teamed up with Hewlett Packard Enterprise to connect its Azure cloud to the International Space Station through HPE’s Spaceborne Computer-2. SBC-2 is set to fly aboard Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft as part of Northrop’s 15th commercial resupply mission to the orbiting laboratory on Feb. 20, and will bring artificial intelligence, cloud connectivity and edge computing capabilities to the ISS.

Microsoft has collaborated with Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, to create a tool for tracking the distribution of COVID-19 vaccines around the world and progress in vaccination efforts throughout the U.S.

Microsoft has teamed up with 11 companies to develop a technology platform that could help ensure the security of microelectronics design and manufacturing using the Azure cloud service.

Microsoft has transitioned a public cloud ecosystem for quantum computing platforms and services to public preview. Azure Quantum in public preview will provide developers, systems integrators, researchers and other users access to a diverse set of quantum hardware, software and related tools to learn and build quantum applications.

Jeremy Goldberg, a member of the worldwide public sector organization at Microsoft, wrote in a guest piece published Tuesday on Nextgov that government agencies looking to build a resilient technology infrastructure in support of digital government initiatives should push for long-term, sustained investments. “To succeed, governments must create long-term integrated plans that encompass enterprise architecture, funding and policy support for scaling infrastructure, shared services, automation and workforce development/skills building,” he suggested.

Microsoft has modified the requirements needed by members of the defense industrial base applying for access to the company's U.S. government cloud offerings to help them adapt to the Department of Defense's new Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification standards.

Microsoft and the Healthcare Information Trust Alliance have launched a matrix intended to assist customers of the company’s Azure cloud offering in efforts to implement HITRUST controls and comply with global cybersecurity standards.

A coalition of technology and health companies has launched an initiative that intends to enable individuals to obtain digital access to their COVID-19 vaccination records based on interoperable, open standards. Coalition members that are advancing the Vaccination Credential Initiative include Cerner, CARIN Alliance, Change Healthcare, Evernorth, Epic, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, Mitre, Safe Health, Oracle, Salesforce and The Commons Project Foundation.

John Kahan, vice president and chief data analytics officer at Microsoft, has said the Federal Communications Commission must build on a recently passed internet access visualization law to fund areas in need of broadband services.

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, has urged the U.S. public sector and technology industry to work together on coordinating a multipronged cybersecurity strategy in the wake of a SolarWinds network management software breach that hit several federal departments, private companies and non-governmental organizations.

Anchore has named Carahsoft, Red Hat, Microsoft and other companies to its new partner program that aims to mitigate cybersecurity risks and accelerate businesses' digital transformation efforts.

Toni Townes-Whitley, president of U.S. regulated industries at Microsoft, has described how the company helped agencies increasingly pursue digital transformation efforts as the COVID-19 pandemic tested the government's mission resiliency. She wrote in a blog entry posted Monday that the departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense implemented Microsoft offerings, such as Bing Maps Platform and Azure Government, to support continued operations.