Senators Want Answers About Pentagon's 'Heavy Reliance' on Microsoft

Lawmakers are demanding that Pentagon officials report within six months about how the military's increasing reliance on a single software vendor, Microsoft, will affect the nation's cybersecurity and competition between IT companies for defense contracts.

The Senate version of the annual defense authorization bill instructs Department of Defense (DOD) Chief Information Officer John Sherman to give lawmakers a written report about the "risks and benefits" of buying cybersecurity tools from Microsoft. This follows concerns from some experts that using so much software from a single vendor makes the DOD more vulnerable to enemy hackers and...