Anti-virus company McAfee has warned that a new malware has recently been able to infiltrate Microsoft Office and it's quite dangerous. The security flaws in the MS Office have made it vulnerable to this new threat.
Cyber-criminals are using the flaw in the Microsoft's Object, Linking and Embedding (OLE) technology to hack the systems, informed McAfee in a blog post. Moreover, "the exploit works on all Microsoft Office versions, including the latest Office 2016 running on Windows 10", reads the post.
As soon as the file is opened, the PC downloads a file with HTML application, which enables the hackers to take over the victim's system entirely and access all its data.
McAfee says that it has already contacted Microsoft regarding this dangerous malware and they are expected to roll out an update to its apps that fixes the flaw this week for its habitual Patch Tuesday bug release, reported Express.
However, McAfee has provided with some precautions to avoid any contact with this malware:
Users should not open any Office files obtained from "untrusted locations".
Everyone should ensure that Office Protected View is enabled, as according to McAfee's tests this active attack cannot bypass the Office Protected View. To enable Office Protected View in your application, launch Microsoft Word. Then go to File > Options > Trust Centre, then click on Trust Centre Options. Now click on Protected View, and then check all of the tick boxes listed beneath this option. Finally, Hit OK and you should be protected against the latest malware attack.
