SAP’s chief executive Bill McDermott has denied that the software vendor built backdoors into its products to aid NSA spies.
His rebuttal follows reports by the German broadcaster MDR that claimed SAP’s American subsidiary National Security Services (NS2) had enabled the NSA to collect masses amount of data.
In a statement released online, McDermott said: "The subsidiaries we have created to work with governmental organisations in the US and elsewhere are independently managed and are reviewed by independent external auditors. Claims that this setup allows access to customer data are false.
"In addition, there are no so-called ‘backdoors’ built into SAP software and customer data cannot be retrieved externally. No company is more committed to data privacy and security than SAP."
According to the media reports, acquisitions and contracts made by SAP since 2007 had made their database management system Hana more suitable for spies to use.
Since NS2 is an American company it is also subject to the US Patriot Act, a 2001 bill signed into law following the attacks on the World Trade Center that has enabled a great deal of subsequent surveillance.
"When we talk about business challenges, few are as significant as public service and public safety," McDermott added.
"It is unquestionably within our interest to offer software to public agencies as they look to improve outcomes through innovation."
