The following image is an example of the Message Bar when macros are in the file.Įnable macros just for the current session The file opens and is a trusted document. On the Message Bar, click Enable Content. If you know the macro, or macros, are from a reliable source, use the following instructions: When you open a file that has macros, the yellow message bar appears with a shield icon and the Enable Content button. Enable macros when the Message Bar appears
#ENABLE AND DISABLE MACROS IN EXCEL INSTALL#
Macros are often used by people with malicious intent to quietly install malware, such as a virus, on your computer or into your organization's network. However, some macros can pose a potential security risk.
#ENABLE AND DISABLE MACROS IN EXCEL SOFTWARE#
Many were created by using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and are written by software developers. Monthly Enterprise Channel (MEC): will begin and complete rollout in mid-December.Macros automate frequently used tasks to save time on keystrokes and mouse actions.Current Channel: will rollout in early November and be complete in mid-November.Insiders-Slow: will rollout in late October and be complete in early November.In an email sent to Microsoft 365 customers, Microsoft has laid out its plan to disable the feature across three stages:
This way, they argued that the companies which rely on it could re-enable it for their employees while everyone else remained protected, in case they received an Excel file boobytrapped with a malicious XLM macro.īut while Microsoft is not disabling the feature for all users, it is taking steps to disable it, by default, for its paying customers, part of the Microsoft 365 service. However, over the summer months, several security researchers have publicly criticized Microsoft for leaving users exposed to attacks and asked more from the OS maker, namely, to disable the feature by default inside Office applications. Microsoft, too, has been aware of this issue, and added XLM macro support to the Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI) for Office 365 in March 2021 as a way to “to help antivirus solutions tackle the increase in attacks that use malicious XLM macros.” Reports from VMWare, ReversingLabs, Lastline, MadLabs, Expel, DeepInstinct, and many others referenced a spike in malware strains and threat actors abusing XLM macros, used in anything from cyber-espionage to banking trojans, and from ransomware to cryptocurrency theft. Excel 4.0 macros have been widely abused over the past two yearsĪs with most Office tools that allow basic scripting-like actions, the feature has been abused over the course of the past decades by both financially motivated groups and state-sponsored threat actors alike.īut the abuse has never been as rampant as it has been since early 2020 when several security researchers noted the sudden and unexplainable increased attention XLM macros had been getting from numerous top-tier threat actors. While XLM macros were replaced with the release of Excel 5.0, which introduced VBA-based macros, support for this feature has remained inside the Office Excel software to this day. Introduced in 1992 with the release of the Excel 4.0 software - from where the feature also gets its name - XLM macros allow users to enter complex formulas inside Excel cells that can execute commands, either inside Excel or the local filesystem. Microsoft plans to disable a legacy feature known as Excel 4.0 macros, also XLM macros, for all Microsoft 365 users by the end of the year, according to an email the company has sent customers this week, also seen by The Record. Microsoft to disable Excel 4.0 macros, one of the most abused Office features
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