Hi
An old topic new actual: Microsoft Office Malware
The Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) has recently seen an increasing number of threats using macros to spread their malicious code. This technique uses spam emails and social engineering to infect a system.
Using macros in Microsoft Office can help increase productivity by automating some processes. However, malware authors have also exploited these capabilities. Since Microsoft set the default setting to "Disable all macros with notification", the number of macro-related malware threat has declined. More recently we have seen new threats emerging that include some form of social engineering to convince users to manually enable macros and allow the malicious code to run.
Two recent macro downloaders that we have seen spreading through spam email campaigns are TrojanDownloader:W97M/Adnel and TrojanDownloader:O97M/Tarbir. These recent campaigns are one example of an increasing trend of macro malware targeting home users and enterprise customers.
Here the full article: http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmpc/archive/2015/01/02/before-you-enable-those-macros.aspx
Now how to stop such Malware (Trojans) which infect through Office in an easy way?
Most logical way: Do never open any documents you receive from some body you do not know or trust. If you are not sure about who can you trust, then here the next step:
Open a "Word" document,
then open the "Word options",
here you open "Trust Center",
then you open "Trust Center settings"
here you open "Macro Settings"
and here you choose "Disable all Macros with notification".
Then you press "OK" and "OK" and that's it so far. You can do that with any documents you use with M'Office.
As a third step you can check your system with "Malicious software removal tool" from Microsoft which you find here https://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/mmpc/products/default.aspx or you do it with "Malwarebits" you find here http://www.malwarebytes.org
Now as a final step: If you want to get rid of Microsoft Office as you think it is not safe, then you can download the following software, which is an open source software and for free https://www.libreoffice.org What ever you can do with Microsoft Office you more or less can all do with this software. No malware so far was ever found in it.
Have a nice day / Dan
An old topic new actual: Microsoft Office Malware
The Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) has recently seen an increasing number of threats using macros to spread their malicious code. This technique uses spam emails and social engineering to infect a system.
Using macros in Microsoft Office can help increase productivity by automating some processes. However, malware authors have also exploited these capabilities. Since Microsoft set the default setting to "Disable all macros with notification", the number of macro-related malware threat has declined. More recently we have seen new threats emerging that include some form of social engineering to convince users to manually enable macros and allow the malicious code to run.
Two recent macro downloaders that we have seen spreading through spam email campaigns are TrojanDownloader:W97M/Adnel and TrojanDownloader:O97M/Tarbir. These recent campaigns are one example of an increasing trend of macro malware targeting home users and enterprise customers.
Here the full article: http://blogs.technet.com/b/mmpc/archive/2015/01/02/before-you-enable-those-macros.aspx
Now how to stop such Malware (Trojans) which infect through Office in an easy way?
Most logical way: Do never open any documents you receive from some body you do not know or trust. If you are not sure about who can you trust, then here the next step:
Open a "Word" document,
then open the "Word options",
here you open "Trust Center",
then you open "Trust Center settings"
here you open "Macro Settings"
and here you choose "Disable all Macros with notification".
Then you press "OK" and "OK" and that's it so far. You can do that with any documents you use with M'Office.
As a third step you can check your system with "Malicious software removal tool" from Microsoft which you find here https://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/mmpc/products/default.aspx or you do it with "Malwarebits" you find here http://www.malwarebytes.org
Now as a final step: If you want to get rid of Microsoft Office as you think it is not safe, then you can download the following software, which is an open source software and for free https://www.libreoffice.org What ever you can do with Microsoft Office you more or less can all do with this software. No malware so far was ever found in it.
Have a nice day / Dan