We have been made aware of a zero-day attack that is infecting users of the Microsoft Office suite of applications (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) with a malware variant. The malware infects the computer after opening the infected Word document attached to an email.
A zero-day attack means that there are currently no fixes, or patches, released that can be installed on your computer to prevent against being infected by this malware.
At this time, the malware is known to be attached to Word documents, but it’s very possible it could be included in Excel or other Office programs as well. While Microsoft works on getting a patch released to protect your systems, please take the following steps to ensure that you do not become a victim of this attack:
Be mindful of any Word/Excel/PowerPoint/Access/etc. email attachments you receive, and do not open them unless you are 100% sure that you know who the message came from.
- Immediately report any suspicious emails that you receive, to ACE or your on-site IT coordinator, and have one of our technicians connect with you to look into the message.
- If you are a ShareSync user: please consider sharing documents within ShareSync, instead of Outlook, until this malware has been patched.
If you think you are infected or have any other questions, please contact the ACE support desk (current customers) or an ACE account representative to get started with aceGuardian IT Support.