Too risky: Army chief Süssli says no to Microsoft Office 365

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• Army chief Thomas Süssli wants to stop the introduction of Microsoft Office 365 in the army.
• Confidential data should not be stored in the US cloud, so the software is hardly usable and too expensive.
• He is calling for a separate, secure IT solution - the Federal Chancellery is sticking with the Microsoft project for the time being.

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Chief of the Armed Forces Thomas Süssli opposes the use of Microsoft Office 365 in the Swiss Armed Forces. In a letter to the Federal Chancellery, he calls for a halt to the introduction and the creation of a separate IT infrastructure for confidential data. As the "Republik" reports, Süssli considers the Microsoft cloud to be unsuitable for military purposes.

The reason: around 90 percent of army documents are classified as "internal" or "secret". According to the federal government's IT guidelines, such data may not be stored in the Microsoft cloud, or only to a limited extent. This means that the software is "largely unusable" for the army, according to the letter.

Süssli also criticizes the high costs. The switch to Microsoft would result in additional license fees of CHF 4.6 million per year, as well as considerable training costs.

Thomas Süssli does not want sensitive army data to be stored in the cloud.

BGÖ/Republik

Süssli calls for an exit strategy

He is therefore calling for an exit strategy from the Microsoft cloud and the development of a private or open source-based solution. This is the only way for the army to retain full control over its data.

The background to his warning is also the US "Cloud Act", which allows American authorities access to data - even if it is located in data centers outside the USA.

Despite the criticism, the Federal Chancellery is sticking to its chosen course. According to the Chancellery, completely removing the army from the federal government's IT architecture would be a "high-risk project". Nevertheless, it is constantly examining alternatives, including the German open source system Open Desk.

Microsoft Office 365 is a cloud-based software package with programs such as Word, Excel and Outlook. Data and communication run via the US company's servers. Alternatives are open source solutions such as LibreOffice or OpenDesk, which can be operated locally or on independent servers.