Microsoft Transparency Center opens in Brussels

Governments around the world are under increased and increasing pressure to protect their citizens and critical assets from cyber-attack. Ensuring the defense of national infrastructure from online threats calls for a high level of openness and cooperation between public and private sectors. Throughout our history, Microsoft has helped governments build and deploy more secure IT infrastructure and services to protect their citizens and national economies.

As part of this investment, I’m excited to announce the opening of the Microsoft Transparency Center in Brussels, the latest step in the commitment we made to enhance the transparency of our software code and continue building trust with governments around the world.

The Transparency Center initiative is a cornerstone of our long-standing Government Security Program (GSP), which offers participating governmental agencies the opportunity to review the source code of Microsoft products, access information on cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities, and benefit from the expertise and insight of Microsoft security professionals. This extends to important security documentation about our Azure and Office365 cloud services.

Our global GSP community now encompasses 42 different agencies, from 23 national governments and international organizations worldwide. Today we are welcoming the European Commission as the latest participant in the program.

We opened our first Transparency Center in Redmond almost a year ago, and have already hosted several governments there. Today’s opening in Brussels will give governments in Europe, the Middle East and Africa a convenient location to experience our commitment to transparency and delivering products and services that are secure by principle and by design.

As noted by the European Commission’s Vice-President for the Digital Single Market, Andrus Ansip, trust is the essential ingredient for enabling the completion of the Digital Single Market, Europe’s ambitious plan to drive growth and competitiveness in the region through the use of digital technologies.

Only by increasing confidence in the digital solutions which have the potential to catalyze whole economies can Europe ensure that every citizen, business and government feels the benefits of the digital revolution – and we hope today’s announcement can help bring us one step further towards achieving this goal.

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