The IAMCP European Summit is the annual event that brings together members of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners from all across Europe.

As online meanness and cruelty continue to garner global attention, parents, educators, and school officials grow hungrier for new information and guidance.  All are looking to formulate and implement strategies and policies that will help protect young people both online and off.  A recent report from more than a dozen leading academics from 11 countries offers additional considerations...

It’s no surprise that kids today are growing up online.  They use mobile devices to do their homework, play games, connect with friends, and access the wealth of information available on the Web.  Technology gives children access to a host of positive, educational and growth experiences; yet, parents face challenges when they look to monitor what children see online, the people they meet and...

It’s an important time for privacy in Europe and globally, and I want to share few of my insights from recent events in Brussels we organized around Privacy and the revision of the EU Data Protection Directive.

The children of today are citizens of a digital era. Children now have the opportunity to learn in both fun and interactive ways. They can explore and develop their passions in a manner that not long ago would have been either unaffordable or simply unavailable.

I have written about the threat landscape in the European Union (EU) before, focused on the first and second half of 2011.

The Net Neutrality discussion has always been emotive on both sides (Internet providers & users, and Telecoms). However, the discussion has now matured.

Recently I wrote a three part series of articles (part 1, part 2, part 3) on the evolving threat landscape in the European Union. 

In the first two parts of this three part series I focused on the locations in the European Union (EU) that had the highest malware infection rates and/or saw the highest increases in malware infection rates in the second half of 2011.  

In part 1 of this series on the threat landscape in the European Union in the second half of 2011, I examined the threats in the location with the highest malware infection rate, Romania.

Recently I spoke at the Microsoft EU Cybersecurity & Digital Crimes Forum 2012 in Brussels.  I provided an in-depth briefing on some of the significant shifts in threat landscape in the EU during the second half of 2011.  I will be sharing some of the key findings of this analysis in a short series of articles.

It’s often said that knowledge is power, and in the face of a societal problem like the spread of malicious software, sharing knowledge empowers people to act in their own defense.

At last year’s Online Tracking Protection & Browsers workshop in Brussels, Vice President Kroes said  “we should collectively pay more attention to the emerging 'do-not-track' technologies – or DNT for short.” 

Where Europe succeeds, we succeed Europe matters to us. For the past thirty years, it’s been our aim to help fuel the European economy with the programs, partnerships, products and services we deliver, through ourselves and others. Our investment has reaped significant return for thousands of new and existing businesses across the continent.

Check the full agenda of the event here. The EU Cybersecurity and Digital Crimes Forum was a full day conference on cyber and internet security addressing European policy makers and national security and digital crime specialists.

Where Europe succeeds, we succeed Europe matters to us. For the past thirty years, it’s been our aim to help fuel the European economy with the programs, partnerships, products and services we deliver, through ourselves and others. Our investment has reaped significant return for thousands of new and existing businesses across the continent.

On March 27, I had the pleasure of attending the third annual Summit of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP) in Brussels. I was greeted by over 100 IAMCP partners who had come together to position innovative SMEs at the centre of Europe's economic recovery.

Some months back I wrote an article on cyber-threats in the European Union. This article was based on data from the 11th volume of the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report.

The use of the Internet, PCs, smart phones and tablets have become an indispensable part of how we study, work and interact with friends, and family. Unfortunately, technology has become an indispensable tool for criminals as well.

More protection for EU citizens, but organizational costs for enterprises, with sanctions determined at the EU level – that, in a nutshell, is the EU Commission’s proposal for General Data Protection Regulation.

As efforts continue worldwide to improve digital inclusion, online safety has never been more important.

In the last ten years Microsoft has invested heavily in user privacy. Just like security, privacy considerations are baked into every Microsoft product.

In November 2008, the French magazine Le Tigre published "Marc L.," a portrait of a 29-year-old who worked for an architecture firm near Bordeaux. The author had never met his subject but needed only a few minutes of Web searching to discover a large number of personal details, right down to his girlfriend’s name, her parents’ address, and what he did on his last vacation.

Earlier this year, the European Commission adopted a wide-ranging strategy on IPRs. This strategy sets out a blueprint for a number of initiatives the Commission intends to launch between now and 2012 in various areas, including patents, trade marks, geographical indications, copyright licensing and digital libraries.

Microsoft’s innovation’s magazine FUTURES released an interview with ROBERT MADELIN, Director-general for Information Society and Media at the European Commission.

I recently visited Brussels, where the European Union has its main base of operations.  I had the opportunity to talk to numerous people there about the latest Microsoft Security Intelligence Report containing data and insights on the cyber-threats Microsoft has observed specifically in the EU.

This week in Luxembourg, the European Commission is hosting its 7th annual Safer Internet Forum, bringing together representatives of industry, law enforcement, child welfare organizations, and policymakers to discuss the most pressing issues involved in ensuring digital safety for European citizens.

There is a lot going on right now in the area of ‘cybersecurity’ – improving the security of the internet and dealing with cyberattacks on computers. The US has recently published its cybersecurity strategy, and European Commission Vice President Neelie Kroes just reinforced the EU’s commitments in this area at the opening session of the Internet Governance Forum in...

More than 100 million people in Western Europe will buy a smartphone this year. Within minutes of opening the package they will be setting up connections to mail servers, downloading third-party applications and synchronising music and games with their existing online life.

Cloud computing is the crest of the wave of new and better computing possibilities – giving more efficient and cost-effective ways to run small and large organizations, and providing new applications and flexibility for individual and corporate users.  As you may have seen our CEO Steve Ballmer say, “Microsoft is ‘all in’ for the Cloud”. 

Scammers are getting more clever. But software companies and policymakers are becoming smarter too.

As those of you following policy issues in Europe are aware, data protection and online privacy are hot topics in Brussels at the moment.  In fact, these are getting a lot of attention from governments, companies and consumers all over the EU.  At the forefront of the discussion is the upcoming publication of the Commission’s proposal to update EU data protection rules, which should appear...

While the web, blogs and social networks have given users more freedom to express themselves, a substantial amount of political or otherwise motivated discourse has moved into the digital realm. Where controversial or contested content is at stake, companies in the ICT sector and policymakers face increasing challenges to respond. We all agree on the right to free expression in principle, and recognize that...

The Centre for eGovernance Development in Ljubljana and the Austrian Computer Society in Vienna have co-organised the 9th Eastern European eGov Days on "eGovernment in Times of Economic Challenges”.

Spurred by pressing questions about Internet security and fundamental rights, our second digital values event “Securely Connected” brought together key stakeholders from EU institutions, industry and NGOs to discuss the security challenges consumers face in an increasingly connected world

You might imagine that counterfeiting and piracy were a thing of the past, particularly in the EU, but sadly this is not the case for most industries, including the technology and software sectors.  For business software alone, the software piracy rate in western Europe stands at about 34%, one in three copies of business software in use in Europe is counterfeit or pirated. 

Healthcare is one of the top priorities for Europe surpassing such segments as education, household. But it is also one of the most complex areas of development due to the variety of interests involved. To share best practices in implementation of eHealth projects as well as to address issues preventing their success, Microsoft in cooperation with Center of eGovernment Development South...

New technologies become interwoven with our everyday lives and our relationship with gadgets is constantly evolving. Do the current terms and concepts of consumer protection remain valid in the digital age? What are the new vulnerabilities and do we need to re-learn consumer protection?

On the topic of cloud computing, Neelie Kroes, Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda, put a stake in the ground recently at the World Economic Forum, saying that she wanted Europe not simply to be cloud-friendly but also to be cloud-active. I was pleased to see her emphasis on several legal, technical and commercial issues that are most relevant to a...

Over the last couple of decades, computing and the array of human interactions it facilitates have played a massive role in changing the way we live. Wikileaks and the civilian revolution in Egypt are two globally visible examples, but computing, now interwoven with almost every aspect of our lives, also affects us on very private levels. Companies across the ICT sector are increasingly intermediary to our...

The online world allows for people to be more connected than ever before. On the other hand, increasing connectivity intensifies the security risks.

Just how strong is trust in a modern society? The more we depend on technologies to carry out or mediate our everyday activities, the more we need to make sure that we trust them to do so. How do you inspire user trust without any face-to-face contact? Do we need trustmarks or rather trust user experience?

One of the Commission’s long-time dreams, according to the recent Communication to the European Parliament, the Council, the Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions, has been an EU “single market” where people can trade without barriers between all of its Member States. The digital revolution that launched buying, selling and services online is helping this...

Microsoft’s announcement this week of new privacy-enhancing technologies in our upcoming Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) browser is our latest move towards giving users simple, clear options for controlling how their information is used on the internet.

Cybercrime is a serious matter. The ability to protect and secure citizens and enable them to trust the Internet are however critical elements for economic development. In striving to reach this aim we must ask many tough questions; what should government and industry be doing to secure the IT infrastructure? How much should we invest and how? And should any investment be in technology, infrastructure or...

I had the pleasure of opening the first European Summit of Microsoft’s Health Users Group this week in Brussels. The focus of the summit was on using cloud computing to create a “win-win” in the provisioning of wellbeing, that is, reducing costs while increasing the satisfaction of patients and health care providers.

Cloud computing may indeed become one of the backbones of our digital future”, stated Vice-President Kroes in a speech on "Cloud computing and data protection". While discussing the potential opportunity that cloud computing represents, and that “the free movement of personal data within the EU is another way to help to complete the Digital Single Market in Europe”, she emphasized...

For some, the talk of cloud computing produces more haze than light, and there is no doubt: we all need to see the deeper analysis of the economics of the cloud in order to make decisions about information technology strategies.  I work with public administrations across Europe, and see that the interest level in cloud computing is high, but there is also widespread desire for better understanding of...

Consumers are at the heart of the EU Digital Agenda, and for very good reason. It is the consumerization of ICT that plays an icreasing role in incentivizing innovation in the ICT sector. We will see measure and initiatives that aim at improving transparency of online rights and increasing trust over the next years. Technology can play an important part in supporting these goals.

In a packed auditorium at the European Parliament, the Commissioner for the EU Internal Market (DG Markt) Michel Barnier and European Parliament members Edit Herczog, Bill Newton Dunn and Andreas Schwab hosted a prize giving for the “Real Fake” schools competitions, followed by an exhibition.

Chances are you already have a reputation online, even if you don't want one. On Web sites across the Internet, people can find information about you.

Microsoft welcomes the “Digital Agenda for Europe” as a bold roadmap for action. We share the European Commission’s view that technology is an enabler for economic growth, job creation, sustainability and social inclusion. As a company, we are fully committed to working with the European Commission and governments to realize the potential of Europe's digital future.

In the past few weeks, a set of remarkable documents have been released, all addressing the fight against cybercrime. They all miss one important thing though: Love. 

One aspect of government we thoroughly dislike here in the UK is useless and inefficient bureaucracy. 

Microsoft strongly supports the efforts of the European Commission and governments across Europe to build smart, sustainable and inclusive growth outlined in the Europe 2020 strategy.

The age of ‘cloud computing’ is dawning, which will allow our data, software and computing power to be on our desktop and extended online as and when needed. This will provide many new opportunities for businesses and other organisations to manage large amounts of data and activities securely, efficiently and cost-effectively.

This is an advertorial that we have produced recently with the European Commission in support of the European e-Skills Week (1-5 March 2010).

Roger Halbheer is one of the leading online security experts in Europe. We’re delighted to have him in our ranks – he is Chief Security Advisor of Microsoft EMEA – and to point you to his blog, Roger's Security Blog, which he updates at least once a week.

  On Thursday 4th February in Abuja, Nigeria, a gathering of pop and rap musicians, led by producer and world renowned song writer Cobhams Emmanuel Asuquo released “Maga No Need Pay” an amazing song which discourages the youth from engaging in cybercrime. Associate General Counsel Tim Cranton, head of the Digital Crimes Unit at Microsoft Corp, blogged on this launch -  read his post.

Safer Internet Day, organised by Insafe, will be celebrated on 9 February 2010 in more than 50 countries across the world and will this year focus on the theme “Think before you post!”

To celebrate Safer Internet Day 2010 and for the second year in a row, Microsoft subsidiaries across Europe are organizing employee volunteering activities to educate children, teachers and parents on how to make the best of the internet, and avoid the risks. Through local partnerships with NGOs, schools, customers and partners, around 650 Microsoft employees in 24 subsidiaries throughout Europe will train...

Microsoft, in partnership with European Voice and its sister publications in Washington DC, Roll Call and Congressional Quarterly, is hosting a high-level transatlantic dialogue on how technology can enable innovation and transformation in the field of health.

Last month we organized an event at the European Parliament hosted by Bill Newton-Dunn MEP on the occasion of a Microsoft worldwide campaign against counterfeit software with the real victim of counterfeits at its center - the end-consumer.

Views and commentaries from Europe’s ICT & eHealth thought leaders. Filmed during the Friends of Europe Summit in Brussels - December 2009.

When we think of fakes and copies, our minds each produce different thoughts and images, depending on our cultural references. Many of us would think of cheap and obvious items sold in situations far from those where we buy originals.

Interoperability and building trust in the privacy and security of eHealth systems is the route to patient-centric healthcare

The internet can act as a platform for Europe’s innovation and imagination, but only if public confidence is maintained and cybercrime tackled effectively. We are helping to establish a trusted community across the internet, embracing people, data, software and hardware.  Also, partnering with other leading technology companies, we have founded the ‘Trust in Digital Life’ partnership...

eHealth is key to better patient care. Here are the basics, as described by a series of experts. Filmed at an event hosted by Microsoft Europe - Interoperability and eHealth - in September 2009.

The Internet and other modern information and communication technologies are transforming Europe's economy and society on a scale never seen before, offering opportunities for new forms of social interaction and innovative personalised services, and providing huge potential for economic growth. But can we trust them?

Innovation in the ICT sector has transformed how a large segment of the world's population works, communicates, learns, shops and plays. Today's online consumer benefits from unprecedented access to information and services - and most of it for free.