A few days ago, the University of Liège announced to its staff that the content of its professional mailboxes would be transferred to Microsoft servers. A news that does not delight everyone and this for several reasons which were mentioned in a letter sent to the rector of the Alma Mater.
In this sending… by e-mail (and which reached our editorial office), the members of the scientific and academic staff of the university are particularly concerned about the protection of their data and the “sensitive” content of some of their research. They fear, moreover, that confidential information as well as “knowledge generated by the university” will be made “available to Microsoft, the US government and their algorithms”.
ULiège’s response
Finally, the relocation of mailbox content to remote servers raises an environmental issue.
Indeed, the University of Liège, for several years, has been committed to reducing its ecological footprint. Staff are therefore concerned about the carbon footprint generated by a suite like Microsoft, which makes use of international networks.
The university, in a letter, did not hesitate to respond to the concerns, while insisting on the in-depth study carried out by the protection delegate as well as by the security experts of the institution’s IT department (SEGI). , who analyzed the risks of such a change.
Regarding the carbon footprint generated by the Microsoft suite, the university reassures its staff: “The use of bandwidth for Microsoft’s remote services appears to be marginal compared to the consumption of bandwidth to the Internet that the university is currently using,” the letter read.
With regard to the protection of private and sensitive data, ULiège warns. Although a contract, which provides that the stored data is secure, has been signed between the institution and Microsoft, the university’s regulations already invite its staff to “differentiate their private data from data relating to their professional activities”.
The institution also specifies that, “if sensitive, confidential or valuable data must be transmitted, it is wise to use tools with better guarantees in terms of security”.
Indeed, the university makes secure file transfer and data storage software available to its members.
In summary, the transfer of mailboxes to the Microsoft server will be effective and the university gives one last piece of advice: “All it takes is one click to encrypt a message and thus protect its data.”