Tech giant Microsoft quietly bans cryptocurrency mining from its online cloud services in order to safeguard all of its users.
Microsoft Azure cloud computing network is a part of Microsoft’s online services, which offers cryptocurrency mining for a few subscription types.
The Summary of Changes section of the Universal License Terms for Online Services states, “Updated Acceptable Use Policy to clarify that mining cryptocurrencies is prohibited without prior Microsoft approval.” This modification took effect on December 1, 2022.
The “Acceptable Use Policy” notes, “Neither Customer, nor those that access an Online Service through Customer, may use an Online Service: to mine cryptocurrency without Microsoft’s prior written approval.”
Microsoft informs its partners in an advisory that “the Acceptable Use Policy has been updated to explicitly prohibit mining for cryptocurrencies across all Microsoft Online Services unless written pre-approval is granted by Microsoft.”
It also adds, “We suggest seeking written pre-approval from Microsoft before using Microsoft Online Services for mining cryptocurrencies, regardless of the term of a subscription.”
According to reports, Microsoft implemented the change as a result of the fact that crypto mining can cause disruption or even impairment to online services and its customers and can often be linked to cyber fraud and abuse assaults such as unauthorized access and use of customer resources.
Microsoft stated, “We made this change to further protect our customers and mitigate the risk of disrupting or impairing services in the Microsoft Cloud. Permission to mine crypto may be considered for Testing and Research for security detections.”
Microsoft joins Google, which also forbids users from crypto mining without first receiving written permission from the company. Cloud mining is absolutely prohibited on Oracle, while Digital Ocean also demands explicit authorization.
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