Government issues warning for users of Microsoft products

The Indian government issued a high-severity cybersecurity warning for users of Microsoft products, especially those running Windows on laptops and desktops. The alert warns users of multiple vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to gain system access, steal data, or crash systems. But besides Windows, the issue also extends to other laptops and desktops running operating systems other than Windows and supports Office, Azure and other apps and services from Microsoft.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), a government agency under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India focusing on matters of cybersecurity has issued a warning for all enterprise users relying on the Microsoft ecosystem for carrying out their business affairs. A dangerous vulnerability puts millions of users and their data at risk.

Based on a published report from CERT on dated 15 May, 2025, it is said that the multiple vulnerabilities can give cybercriminals easy access to Microsoft ecosystem devices and allow data theft as well as crashes. What’s even more dangerous is that the issue extends beyond the world of Windows laptops and PCs. Anyone using any of the vulnerable Microsoft services on other platforms is equally prone to cyber attack risks.

The vulnerabilities discovered by CERT affect the following services -

·         Microsoft Windows

·         Extended Security Updates (ESU) for legacy Microsoft products

·         Microsoft Office

·         Microsoft Azure

·         Microsoft Developer Tools

·         Microsoft Apps

·         Microsoft System Center

·         Microsoft Dynamics