Windows 10 warning: Microsoft fans put on alert about shock scam threat

Windows 10 users have been warned by security experts about a shock Microsoft threat.

Windows 10 is the most popular operating system in the world, after overtaking its ageing sibling Windows 7 at the end of last year.

In December 2018 Windows 10 finally overtook Windows 7 to become the most popular OS around, according to stats from NetMarketShare.

At the end of last year Windows 10 was holding a 39.22 per cent share of the OS marketplace compared to Windows 7’s 36.90 per cent.

Since then Windows 10, at last count, has significantly increased its OS market share to 48.86 per cent compared to Windows 7’s 31.83 per cent.

And now the huge Windows 10 userbase have been put on alert about a shock security threat that was revealed by experts.

It’s been claimed that Microsoft is the brand most targeted by hackers carrying out phishing scams.

According to a study by Vade Secure, Microsoft is the most impersonated brand in phishing attacks for the second quarter of 2019.

This is ahead of other major brands such as PayPal, Netflix and Facebook.

In a post online Vade Secure explained that they detected over 20,000 URLs for Microsoft phishing scams in the second quarter of 2019 alone.

They explained: “Over the course of the quarter, our AI engine detected a staggering 20,217 unique Microsoft phishing URLs, for an average of more than 222 per day!

While the number of URLs actually declined 6.8 per cent from Q1, it still represents a 15.5 per cent increase over Q2 2018, our first Phishers’ Favorites report.

“Moreover, the delta between Microsoft and #2 PayPal was more than 4,300 phishing URLs in Q2.”

Vade Secure pointed towards the popularity of Office 365 as one reason why their research showed Microsoft was in the crosshairs of scammers.

They said: “To understand why Microsoft phishing has achieved a level of sustained dominance, consider the size and growth of Office 365.

“In its latest quarterly earnings, Microsoft reported more than 180million active monthly Office 365 business users.

“Moreover, IDC estimates that Office 365 constitutes almost half (47.6 per cent) of enterprise cloud email implementations worldwide.

“The bigger Office 365 becomes, the more desirable it is for hackers to take aim.”

The news comes as Windows 10 users have also been alerted about a Microsoft update that appears to be causing a problem when installed on some PCs.

Last month Microsoft released update KB4505903 for Windows 10, however once installed it can cause Bluetooth connection issues.

Those running the Windows 10 May 2019 update have reported Bluetooth speakers not being able to connect to their PC or outputting bad quality sound.

Thankfully, Microsoft has offered a fix which you can find out about by clicking here.

• Stay tuned to Express.co.uk for more Windows 10 news

source: express.co.uk