For example, the Cerber Ransomware was a macro attack against Office 365 that put millions of users at risk. In fact, malicious macros are often used in ransomware, and other high-profile breaches. The impact of such attacks should not be underestimated. It's that people have been falling for this trick for decades! The saddest part isn't how lame the attack is, since you are basically begging the victim to run your malware. A typical attack usually involves embedding malicious macro code in an Office document, sending it to the victim, and asking him or her very nicely to enable that code. Macro attacks are nothing new or unusual. What kind of code? Well, pretty much whatever you want, even a Meterpreter session! This is used to enhance user experience, increase productivity, or automate otherwise manual tasks. Unfortunately, high popularity for software also means more high-value targets in the eyes of an attacker, and malware-infested Office macros are like an irritating rash that doesn't go away for IT professionals.Ī macro is a feature that allows users to create automated processes inside of a document used by software like Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. This software is so important to businesses that, even in developing countries, workers that are proficient in an Office suite can make a decent living based on this skill alone. We use them for writing papers, making slides for presentations, analyzing sales or financial data, and more. It is fair to say that Microsoft Office and OpenOffice are some of the most popular applications in the world.

Openoffice excel space engineers