Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Microsoft's Ballmer: We’re staying in China

But the CEO lashes out at China's lack of intellectual property protection

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said the company is staying in China even though rival Google is talking about pulling out following a cyber attack on its systems.

"We have been quite clear we are going to operate in China and we are going to abide by the law," Ballmer told CNBC in an interview after meeting with President Obama and 50 other top CEOs to discuss how technology can help cut government costs. 

"But we are going to continue to make the same content available outside of China no matter what happens inside China as long as we get legitimate requests documented by the Chinese government which we can explain to our customers," he said.

Google has been in China since 2006 operating under an agreement with the government that has the search giant purge banned topics from its Chinese search results. But the recent attack has Google saying it will no longer censor results per Chinese law and the company is threatening to pull out of the country altogether.

In the interview, Ballmer also lashed out at China's lack of intellectual property protection, saying it is so bad that it is nearly unfair for U.S. companies to compete in China.

During the interview, Ballmer also was asked about emerging reports that a vulnerability in Microsoft's Internet Explorer played a central role in the Google attacks. 

While Microsoft has now confirmed those reports are true and issued a security advisory, Ballmer was just digesting the possibility Microsoft software was involved.

"I know the report and I know we have a great team of people who respond real time," he said. "Cyber attacks and occasional vulnerabilities are a way of life, if the issue is with us, of course, we'll work through it with all of the important parties."

The discovery of the vulnerability, which affects Microsoft's newest software – IE 8 running on Windows 7 among other configurations – comes just two days after Microsoft's monthly Patch Tuesday cycle, which included but a single patch.

Follow John on Twitter:www. twitter.com/johnfontana

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: CNBC, Google, Microsoft, NBC
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: ballmer, business, China, Microsoft, security
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Spear Phishing Attacks - Why they are successful and how to stop them
    There's been a rapid shift from broad, scattershot attacks to advanced target attacks that have had serious consequences for victim organisations. The increased use of spear phishing is directly related to the fact that it works, as traditional security defences simply do not stop these types of attacks. This paper provides a detailed look at how spear phishing is used within advanced attacks and the key capabilities organisations need in order to effectively combat these emerging and evolving threats.
    Learn more »
  • Yes. We. Can. Flexible Policy 2.0
    Social media may have changed the way we do business, but the rules of engagement are still the same. Dynamic business environments call for flexibility. Context is everything when it comes to deciding what information needs to be blocked or controlled, and when. Read this whitepaper.
    Learn more »
  • Optimizing Data Quality in the Enterprise - How to Tackle Your Bad Information
    Data quality – the measure of data accuracy, completeness, and consistency across a business – has become the core focus of information management efforts among many of today’s organizations. Problems with data quality continue to plague corporations of all types and sizes. In this paper, we will discuss some techniques companies can implement to enhance data quality across the entire enterprise. We will also highlight data quality management solutions, which provide businesses with the ability to effectively and economically enhance the correctness, completeness, and consistency of information in each and every system within their technology infrastructure.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.
Recent comments