In 1999, CERT actually published an advisory about the Melissa virus, which leveraged macros to spread. Voice commands are coming to Word desktop and Word for Mac apps towards the end of the year for Microsoft 365 subscribers.Recently, there has been a resurgence of malware that is spread via Microsoft Word macro capabilities. Dictate with voice commands in Word is available in Word for the web and Office mobile for free when signed into your Microsoft account. Mainstream support ended on October 13, 2020, and most editions have extended. It was released on macOS on July 9, 2015, and on Microsoft Windows on September 22, 2015, for Office 365 subscribers. Microsoft Office 2016 (codenamed Office 16) is a version of the Microsoft Office productivity suite, succeeding both Office 2013 and Office for Mac 2011 and preceding Office 2019 for both platforms.This downloads a ZIP file of your new HTML to your computer.Attackers like to target weaknesses in the design of an application whenever possible. When you see the document, click the File menu, select Download, and choose the Web Page option. Once the upload is complete, right-click the document in drive, select Open with, and then select Google Docs. Exploiting VulnerabilitiesSelect the Word document and click Open to add it to your Drive. Latest Project Blog Posts (blog.qgis.org).Why is everything old new again? Reliability of the exploit is one reason, but the user interface of Microsoft Office is also to blame. Instead, click into the Paragraph settings and change the indentation to First Line, then 0.2 or 0.3.Create, edit, visualise, analyse and publish geospatial information on Windows, Mac, Linux, BSD and mobile.Attackers look for the widest range of compatibility for their exploits. What version of the vulnerable software is being used?In some cases, an exploit for a vulnerability may only work on very specific targets. Save documents, spreadsheets, and presentations online, in OneDrive. Successful and reliable exploitation can rely on a number of variables, such asCollaborate for free with online versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and OneNote.As a proof of concept, I made a simple Word document that launches calc.exe by way of a one-line VBScript macro. Microsoft Office macros can help automate repetitive tasks, but in the end they are equivalent to running native code. Microsoft Office MacrosMalicious Microsoft Office documents that leverage macros are exploiting capabilities that are provided by Microsoft Office by design. This weakness was used by the Stuxnet worm. For example, consider the Microsoft Windows design flaw that caused Windows to automatically execute code that is specified in shortcut files. The benefit of such weaknesses is that they can work universally.
Create A Blog Post Using Word 2016 Mac Apps TowardsDisable Macros - Open the document, but with macros disabled Office 97Microsoft Office 97 was pretty clear that enabling macros can harm your computer: However, both of these aspects of enabling macros have changed over the versions of Office for Windows. ![]() Presumably this was done to avoid the " dialog fatigue" problem that could lead users to give in and make a poor decision.Here, the warning bar isn't very clear about the potential consequences of macros. Office 2007Office 2007 appears to be the first version of Office where the traditional dialogs have been abandoned. Office 2003Office XP has similar dialogs, functionality, and help as Office 2000 and Office XP. Help - Give the user details about the risks of opening a document with macros:Office XP has similar dialogs, functionality, and help as Office 2000. The default is to block macros, but the user is given the option of enabling them on the same screen that clearly indicates the risk. Open the Trust Center - Open a dialog that allows macros to be disabled without prompting the user:The Office 2007 options seem reasonable. Enable this content - Open the document with macros enabled once OK is clicked. Cancel - Close dialog, but leave warning bar at the top Options - Display additional information and options at the same time:From this dialog, there are several options: Office 2013The Office 2013 experience appears identical to that of Office 2010: Office 2016The Office 2013 experience appears identical to that of Office 20: Microsoft Office 2016 for MacMicrosoft Office 2016 for Mac has a macro experience similar to Microsoft Office 97 for Windows:It does not appear to be possible to permanently disable macros in the Mac versions of Microsoft Office. Attackers are using several social engineering techniques to convince users to click the "Enable Content" button as well. The user is not given any information about the consequences of enabling macros, and the user is given only one obvious option: enable macros. Enable Content - Run the macros present in the documentFrom a security perspective, this approach is a step backwards. Users of newer versions of Office (2010 or 2013) are even more likely to enable macros without understanding the consequences of doing so. Do not uncheck this box, as that change would put Office in a very dangerous configuration! Macro ProtectionsUnfortunately, the default Microsoft Office settings for macros are not secure. Unchecking this box will leave macros enabled, but there will be no warning before they are executed. There is no option to disable macros. While there is a Macro Security option in the preferences:The only setting is Warn before opening a file that contains macros. Who in my enterprise has a business need for macros? In such situations, questions that must be answered include Option 4 above is the most secure, as it will eliminate the chance of a user inadvertently executing a malicious macro.Some enterprises may have legitimate uses for Office macros, however. Disable all macros without notificationOption 2 above is the less-secure default option for Microsoft Office. Disable all macros except those digitally signed These changes can be rolled out via Group Policy, which should aid in enterprises being able to configure Office in a secure manner. When Excel opens a malicious file with an unsigned macro, the macros will be silently blocked. And for Excel itself, the more-secure setting would be "Disable all macros except those digitally signed." This way, the organization can sign the approved macros. In this case, macros should be disabled without notification for all Microsoft Office components except Excel (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, Project). In the example above, let's say that the 10 people in finance only use macros in an Excel spreadsheet that they use. It makes no sense to give everybody the ability to execute macros.The second question also helps protect the systems that need some sort of Office macro capabilities. For example, let's say that my 10,000-person organization has 10 people in finance that need macro capabilities, but the other 9,990 people do not. If the user does click on that phrase, a dialog is presented that explains the risks of enabling macros:This information is hidden far enough away from the "Enable Content" button that I suspect not many people would even see it. Only in the late stages of preparing this blog entry did I realize that "Macros have been disabled" is clickable. This doesn't seem obvious to me, and I suspect other users may not realize it as well. In the following exampleThe phrase "Macros have been disabled" is actually clickable. If you are using Office 2016 or Office 365, the simplest option is to enable the feature that blocks macros in documents that originate from the internet.For all other Office versions, it is important to disable macros without notification for all Microsoft Office applications by default for all systems. SolutionsDisable Microsoft Office macros for as much of your organization as is practical. Regardless of the level of information provided to an end-user, don't always rely on that user to make the right choice. LinkedIn information used to spread banking malware in the NetherlandsThe default behavior of Microsoft Office has usually allowed for inadvertent execution of malicious macros, but recent versions of Microsoft Office make it much easier for the user to make the wrong decision.If you wish to protect your systems, restrict access to macros. PowerSniff Malware Used in Macro-based Attacks Macro Malware Strides in New Direction, Uses Forms to Store its Code Remote access for mac serverOnly allowing signed macros can reduce the fraction of attacks that could be successful. For example, if you have a business need for Excel macros, only allow macros in Microsoft Excel, and be sure that they are disabled for the other Office applications. For those users or groups that need macro functionality, only enable macros for applications that need them. Only enable macros for certain users or groups.
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