Researchers at Israeli cybersecurity company Voltiro have reported that they are exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Word and using it to illicitly mine the cryptocurrency market . The team said the practice can not only damage a computer 's CPU , but leave the computer vulnerable to other malicious activities . Voltiro said it privately contacted Microsoft about the issue but the company seemed unconcerned . Due to insufficient sanitisation, threat actors have been using this new feature to insert cryptojacking scripts that silently exhaust a victim's CPU and mine Monero coins in the background while the video plays. A Microsoft spokesperson said : " We encourage our users to practice good computing habits online , including exercising caution when clicking on links to web pages , opening unknown files , or accepting file transfers " .
Researchers at Israeli cybersecurity company Voltiro have reported that they are exploiting a vulnerability in Microsoft Word and using it to illicitly mine the cryptocurrency market . The team said the practice can not only damage a computer 's CPU , but leave the computer vulnerable to other malicious activities . Voltiro said it privately contacted Microsoft about the issue but the company seemed unconcerned . A Microsoft spokesperson said : " We encourage our users to practice good computing habits online , including exercising caution when clicking on links to web pages , opening unknown files , or accepting file transfers " .