The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has issued a security warning for Windows 11/10/Server users and suggested users update their Windows systems. CERT-In is a government body that comes under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. It is a nodal agency that deals with cyber security threats, like hacking, fishing, etc.
Indian Government issues security warning to Windows 11 users
According to the experts of CERT-In and Microsoft, the current situation is among the high-level security emergencies issued in a long time. According to the security warning, vulnerabilities are found in Windows Defender, the built-in antivirus software that is responsible for protecting users’ computers from viruses, malware, and other potential security threats.
It has been noticed by the experts of CERT-In and Microsoft that there is a bug in Windows Defender Credential Guard that allows a locally authenticated attacker to bypass the Windows security measures and take control of the user’s system.
Due to the bug in Windows Defender, the hacker can also have control over the entire domain. Hence, it is a serious matter of concern for organizations that use domains to control the computers on their network.
List of Windows versions affected by the vulnerability
According to the CERT-In, the computers running on both Windows 11 and Windows 10 operating systems are affected by this vulnerability. Here is a list of Windows versions in which Windows Defender vulnerability is detected.
- Windows 11 for ARM64-based systems
- Windows 11 for x64-based systems
- 64-bit and 32-bit Windows 10 systems
- Windows 10 Version 1607 for x64-based systems
- Windows 10 version 1607 for 32-bit systems
- Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2 for ARM64-based systems and 32-bit systems
- Windows 10 versions 21H1 and 21H2 for x64-based systems
- Windows 10 version 20H2 for x64-based systems and 32-bit systems
- Windows 10 versions 1809 and 21H2 for ARM64-based systems and 32-bit systems
- Windows 10 versions 1809 and 21H2 for x64-based systems
- Windows Server 2022 and Windows Server 2022 (Server Core installation)
- Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2019 (Server Core installation)
- Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2016 (Server Core installation)
- Windows Server 20H2 (Server Core installation)
What can users do to protect their Windows systems?
In addition to releasing this security warning, the Government of India has also suggested users install the latest updates on their systems released by Microsoft. To install a Windows Update, open WIndows 11/10 Settings and go to the Windows Update page.