The names of the restricted firms have not been provided.
Multiple Chinese firms have been impeded from accessing the Microsoft Active Protections Program, which provides early cybersecurity vulnerability alerts.
According to Reuters following suspected Chinese state-backed attacks against Microsoft SharePoint servers last month - believed to have stemmed from a possible MAPP leak - Microsoft announced that it will no longer provide proof-of-concept code to certain Chinese companies in a bid to prevent their potential use in illicit activity.
Additional details regarding the incident's investigation or the names of the restricted firms have not been provided. "We continuously review participants and suspend or remove them if we find they violated their contract with us which includes a prohibition on participating in offensive attacks," said Microsoft.
Written by
Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with 25 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 17 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.
He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Forum, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and the National Cyber Security Show, and served as editor of SC Media UK, Infosecurity Magazine and IT Security Guru. He was also an analyst with 451 Research and a product marketing lead at Tenable.
