Microsoft has officially banned crypto mining within its Azure cloud services in a rather low-key way.
An update (opens in a new tab) to its Universal License Terms for Online Services, which apply primarily to its cloud platform, states that “mining of cryptocurrency is prohibited without prior approval from Microsoft.”
The post goes on to explain that written approval is needed for those looking to use the company’s services for crypto mining, clarifying that “neither the client, nor those who access an online service through the client” can take advantage of them for this. purpose.
dangers of mining
The policy change was also aware (opens in a new tab) in the Azure Solutions Area of the Microsoft Partner Community web page under the heading “Important steps partners need to take to protect the partner ecosystem.”
Here, it was included among the changes to “minimize the potential damage of fraud to your customers’ subscriptions.” Again, he stressed the need for “prior written approval… granted by Microsoft” to sanction the use of its servers to obtain digital tokens.
Microsoft is concerned about the dangers that such activities present to its infrastructure. When responding to a query from Register (opens in a new tab)The tech giant commented that cryptocurrency mining can “cause disruptions or even deterioration of online services and their users,” adding that cryptocurrency mining “can often be linked to cyber fraud and abuse attacks, such as unauthorized access and use of customer resources”.
However, they added the caveat that crypto mining “may be considered for testing and research for security detections.”
Microsoft is not the only one restricting crypto mining on its cloud platforms. Google Cloud, Oracle, and OHVcloud have banned it from their services, and Amazon Web Services only allows it within their paid subscription tiers.
Microsoft has banned mining for a while on its free tier, but only now has it escalated its policy to its paid options as well.
