Microsoft revealed on Tuesday that its systems had been hacked by unknown attackers, potentially including intruders who compromised the company’s Windows source code. The company said in a blog post that it was “working hard to protect customers” and to determine what had been accessed.
The case
Microsoft servers were also hacked in the attack, and Microsoft says that the hackers obtained several secret parts of the Windows source code during the attack. Fortunately, the user account that obtained the code had no modification rights. According to Microsoft’s internal investigation, no user data was obtained during the attack.
Did you know?
It is believed that an insider stole the Windows source code at Microsoft. It is not yet clear how hackers got access to this sensitive data, but it appears that they were able to get their hands on the login credentials of one developer who worked on the project in 2013.
Conclusion
Hackers have accessed Microsoft Windows source code. They have not finished analyzing it yet, but they have already found a severe vulnerability that could be used to steal data from the system. The hackers also found malware that could allow them to encrypt files on the system. It is not yet clear if or how this will affect users, but it does mean that you should be wary of opening email attachments from unknown sources.