A major security vulnerability on Windows has been revealed by the National Security Agency (NSA) to Microsoft. This Tuesday, the company released a system update for all Windows 10, Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 users. Microsoft customers are encouraged to update their devices as soon as possible, reports Le Monde .
A change in NSA policy?
"The vulnerability is so severe that […], if exploited, it would make platforms fundamentally vulnerable," said the NSA, which claims that no hacker has yet exploited this vulnerability. It is rare for the American intelligence agency to communicate on the flaws it uncovers. She usually keeps them for herself and uses them for spying, as whistleblower Edward Snowden had revealed.
The reasons why the NSA changed its policy are unknown. But that should brighten up her coat of arms a bit. In 2017, we learned that a security hole on Windows had been exploited by North Korean and then Russian hackers in the WannaCry and NotPetya attacks, which had affected tens of thousands of people. However, the NSA had known about this flaw for a long time, but had never informed either the public or Microsoft.
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