Microsoft Links Executive Compensation to Cybersecurity

In a move that Tech Radar characterizes as Microsoft “getting super-serious about security” after a series of recent hacks, the company has linked executive compensation to cybersecurity performance. Specific details are lacking, but apparently, there is a plan to directly link at least part of executives’ pay to cybersecurity performance.

In a blog post, Charlie Bell, Executive Vice President of Microsoft Security, wrote: “We will instill accountability by basing part of the compensation of the company’s Senior Leadership Team on our progress in meeting our security plans and milestones.”

The announcement was made days after an earlier report by Tech Radar in which Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed that the company’s renewed commitment would mean, “putting security above all else.”

Nadella’s announcement came during Microsoft’s most recent earnings call. It marks a major departure from the company’s predominant focus on AI-driven growth. Microsoft’s cloud division accounts for more than half of the company’s entire revenue, as of last quarter.

Nadella highlighted the company’s efforts to enhance protection and strengthen threat monitoring and response capabilities. Tech Radar says Microsoft could take lessons from its own AI tool, Copilot for Security, which is designed to deliver actionable cybersecurity insights.

The change in strategy follows a series of high-profile attacks affecting the company by China’s Storm-0558 and Russia’s Midnight Blizzard gangs and a highly critical report by the Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB).

According to the CSRB’s investigation of a summer 2023 attack, Microsoft made a series of “avoidable errors,” including failing to detect several compromises. It called for an immediate overhaul and demanded that Nadella and the Board of Directors take responsibility for overseeing cybersecurity procedures.