Security News
Microsoft released the July 2021 non-security Microsoft Office updates with improvements and fixes for crashes and issues affecting Windows Installer editions of Office 2016 products. One week ago, Microsoft resolved issues and updated features for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, Microsoft 365 Apps for business, and the subscription versions of the desktop apps for Project and Visio.
Four security vulnerabilities discovered in the Microsoft Office suite, including Excel and Office online, could be potentially abused by bad actors to deliver attack code via Word and Excel documents. "Rooted from legacy code, the vulnerabilities could have granted an attacker the ability to execute code on targets via malicious Office documents, such as Word, Excel and Outlook," researchers from Check Point research said in a report published today.
Microsoft today will release a patch for a vulnerability affecting the Microsoft Office MSGraph component, responsible for displaying graphics and charts, that could be exploited to execute code on a target machine. According to the researchers, the issue is in a MSGraph file parsing function, which "Is commonly used across multiple different Microsoft Office products, such as Excel, Office Online Server and Excel for OSX.".
SharePoint servers are being picked at with high-risk, legitimate-looking, branded phish messages and preyed on by a ransomware gang using an old bug. The phish is targeting Office 365 users with a legitimate-looking SharePoint document that claims to urgently need an email signature.
Cracked copies of Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop are stealing browser session cookies and Monero cryptocurrency wallets from tightwads who install the pirated software, Bitdefender has warned. As many Reg readers will no doubt be aware, cracked software is a legitimate application that has had its registration or licensing features removed.
A recent phishing campaign used a clever trick to deliver the fraudulent web page that collects Microsoft Office 365 credentials by building it from chunks of HTML code stored locally and remotely. The method consists of gluing together multiple pieces of HTML hidden in JavaScript files to obtain the fake login interface and prompt the potential victim to type in the sensitive information.
Most of the recent credential phishing attacks seen by Menlo Security served phony Outlook and Office 365 login pages. In its report, the Menlo Tabs team said it discovered a rise in credential phishing attacks over the past month.
A former IT consultant hacked a company in Carlsbad, California, and deleted almost all its Microsoft Office 365 accounts in an act of revenge that has brought him two years of prison time. More than 1,200 user accounts were removed in this act of sabotage, causing a complete shutdown of the company's operations for two days.
A quick shift toward Microsoft Office 365 and Azure AD in the cloud has expanded the attack surface for many organizations, says Vectra AI. The coronavirus pandemic has forced many organizations to transition their applications and other assets to the cloud. This increased reliance on Office 365 has naturally caught the eye of cybercriminals who have been ramping up their attacks against Microsoft's cloud-based Office environment for many customers.
Microsoft has added XLM macro protection for Microsoft 365 customers by expanding the runtime defense provided by Office 365's integration with Antimalware Scan Interface to include Excel 4.0 macro scanning. Microsoft first extended support for its Antimalware Scan Interface to Office 365 client applications in 2018 to defend customers against attacks using VBA macros.