Microsoft overturns decision to block Office macros by default; says it's only temporary

VBA Macros are useful for Microsoft Office applications in automating processes, but they can also be a handy tool for hackers to inject malware into your system using email attachments. With this, Microsoft decided to block VBA macros from the internet from running automatically. The change happened last June, but by the end of the said month, the website Bleeping Computer noticed that the decision was reversed.

The primary objective of Microsoft’s decision to block them is to “prevent users from inadvertently opening files from the internet that contain macros.” That was good news to the public in general. However, the unexpected turn of Microsoft’s action put the company in hot water as the cybersecurity community expresses its disappointment.

Microsoft, nonetheless, urgently posted an update after the discovery to ease the situation, saying things are just “temporary.”

“Following user feedback, we have rolled back this change temporarily while we make some additional changes to enhance usability,” writes Kellie Eickmeyer, principal product manager at Microsoft. “This is a temporary change, and we are fully committed to making the default change for all users. Regardless of the default setting, customers can block internet macros through the Group Policy settings described in this article. We will provide additional details on timeline in the upcoming weeks.”