tartieret

Azure is down for us, we can't even access the azure portal. Are other experiencing this? Our services are located in Canada/Central and US-East 2

https://downdetector.ca/status/windows-azure/

https://azure.status.microsoft/en-gb/status

I am the CTO of a small Canadian company, we build energy management and process optimization platforms for industrial clients. Many of our clients are large US companies, and some of our employees travel to clients' sites for implementation or consulting work. As a result, they have to cross the border with their company phone and laptop.

In recent news, a French researcher traveling to a conference in Texas had his laptop seized by the US authorities, for reasons that are not well explained. It seems that the number of similar cases has increased at the US border.

If a company laptop was ceased by the US customs, this will objectively represent a security breach and threaten the confidentiality of our clients' data. Consultants have to have a local copy of some dataset (like production data, energy related info... ) from facilities to perform analysis on their computer.

I am considering issuing a warning to all our employees about this, but I am wondering if some of you have recommendations regarding this: - technical measures to limit our exposure. We use encrypted disks, can the border officer force you to provide the password / encryption key? - legal measures to protect the confidentiality of data from US-based companies. Can the federal government seized confidential data from US-based companies just because it crosses the border?

Thanks for your help!