Why Microsoft is a hot target for cyber criminals

NEW DELHI: Hackers can use an unpatched exploit in the Internet Explorer to both spy on Windows users and steal their local data, and the vulnerability affects Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 10 and Windows Server 2012 R2, a researcher John Page revealed on Monday.

Email accounts across Microsoft’s Outlook, Hotmail and MSN services were left vulnerable for almost three months (1 January to 28 March) after it emerged that hackers had targeted them. However, according to Microsoft, only a “limited” number of people had their accounts compromised in the breach. In a 15 April article in the Verge, Microsoft also admitted that its Outlook.com security breach was worse than the company initially revealed, even as it made efforts to address the issue.