Short Bytes: Following the footsteps of Google, Twitter, Facebook and others, Microsoft has announced that it will start notifying the users if their accounts are attacked by some government. Labeling the state-sponsored attacks as more sophisticated, Microsoft said that such attacks need extra defense layers.
“We will now notify you if we believe your account has been targeted or compromised by an individual or group working on behalf of a nation state,” Microsoft writes in a blog post. At many occasions, the “state-sponsored” attacks are more sophisticated. Hence, to sustain these attacks, such extra steps need to be taken.
If Redmond believes that your Microsoft accounts are attacked, it will send you a notification. However, this notification doesn’t necessarily mean that Microsoft’s systems have been compromised. So, if you receive such notifications by Microsoft, you need to take extra caution and make sure that your devices are clean.
In the past, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and other companies have already taken such initiatives.
Microsoft Tells How To Keep Your Accounts Safe
Along with this announcement, Redmond also listed some precautionary methods that one should take to sustain hacking attacks. These methods are:
- Use two-step verification login
- Use a strong password and keep updating it
- Keep looking for suspicious activities on your account
- Be careful of suspicious websites and emails
- Use an updated anti-virus program
- Keep updating your OS and software on your computer
Continuing its blog post about the increased state-sponsored threats, Microsoft writes: “The evidence we collect in any active investigation may be sensitive, so we do not plan on providing detailed or specific information about the attackers or their methods But when the evidence reasonably suggests the attacker is ’state sponsored,’ we will say so.”
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