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The Next Web · startups· 2 min

Microsoft threatened a security researcher with criminal prosecution. The cybersecurity community is furious.

Microsoft has criticized a security researcher for publicly disclosing unpatched vulnerabilities in Windows Defender and BitLocker. The company published a blog post on Wednesday, and then invoked its Digital Crimes Unit, which handles criminal referrals and law enforcement coordination, essentially threatening the researcher with criminal prosecution. The vulnerabilities, which include a series of bugs, were discovered by a researcher known as Nightmare Eclipse. The researcher had made the information public, which led to Microsoft's response. The company's decision to invoke its Digital Crimes Unit has been met with outrage from the cybersecurity community. The cybersecurity community is furious with Microsoft's response, feeling that the company is trying to silence the researcher rather than addressing the vulnerabilities. The community believes that publicly disclosing vulnerabilities is an important part of the process of getting them fixed, and that Microsoft's response is unfair and potentially harmful. The incident highlights the tension between companies and security researchers, who often have different priorities and approaches to dealing with vulnerabilities. While companies may prefer to keep vulnerabilities private until they can be patched, researchers believe that public disclosure is necessary to put pressure on companies to fix the issues quickly. The researcher's discovery of the vulnerabilities, including those named BlueHammer and RedSun, has sparked a wider debate about the role of security researchers and the responsibility of companies to address vulnerabilities. The incident is likely to continue to be a topic of discussion in the cybersecurity community, with many calling for Microsoft to reconsider its approach to working with security researchers.

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