14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft is getting ready to reinstate the policy that automatically blocks Microsoft Office macros by default for all users.
The company originally introduced the change earlier this year but silently disabled it due to what it later confirmed to be the feedback it received from users.
While the company promised to reinstate the change at a later time, no ETA has ever been offered as to when it could happen. But as spotted by Neowin, Microsoft has recently updated the documentation on the blocking of Office macros, therefore suggesting that the block will come into effect sooner rather than later.
“VBA macros are a common way for malicious actors to gain access to deploy malware and ransomware. Therefore, to help improve security in Office, we’re changing the default behavior of Office applications to block macros in files from the internet. With this change, when users open a file that came from the internet, such as an email attachment, and that file contains macros, the following message will be displayed,” the software giant explained, adding that users will see a message reading “Microsoft has blocked macros from running because the source of this file is untrusted.”
A Learn More button will also be displayed to let users read more information on the warning and better understand the risks of opening Office documents with macros configured to run by default.
“The Learn More button goes to an article for end users and information workers that contains information about the security risk of bad actors using macros, safe practices to prevent phishing and malware, and instructions on how to enable these macros (if absolutely needed). In some cases, users will also see the message if the file is from a location within your intranet that’s not identified as being trusted. For example, if users are accessing files on a network share by using the share's IP address,” the company concluded.