New Delhi: Microsoft has disabled a series of commands in Excel 4.0 to protect customers against security threats especially ransomeware. In July 2021, Microsoft has released a new Excel Trust Center setting option to restrict the usage of Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros (a series of commands). Microsoft Reportedly Adding Support for Hyperlinks Feature to Excel.
“As planned, we have now made this setting the default when opening Excel 4.0 (XLM) macros. This will help our customers protect themselves against related security threats,” the tech giant said in a blog post.
“State-sponsored and cybercriminal attackers started experimenting with legacy Excel 4.0 macros in response to Microsoft in 2018 cracking down on macro scripts written in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA),” reports ZDNet.
Te aim is to safeguard customers from ransomware and other malware groups using Excel 4.0 macros. Administrators can also use the existing Microsoft 365 applications policy control to configure this setting. Administrators also have the option to completely block all XLM macro usage (including in new user-created files) by enabling the Group Policy, “Prevent Excel from running XLM macros”, which is configurable via Group Policy Editor or registry key.
(The above story first appeared on Morning Tidings on Jan 25, 2022 08:48 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website morningtidings.com).
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