Microsoft Defender is falsely flagging Google links as malicious
Even though Microsoft Defender is more than enough security on its own, its reputation has taken a bit of a hit this year. Over the last few months, vulnerabilities like RedSun and RoguePlanet were discovered (and later patched), while just last month Defender was showing false warnings that it was disabled even when it wasn’t.
The latest Defender issue to crop up is that it’s now incorrectly classifying Google links as malicious, reports Neowin. Specifically affecting Microsoft Defender for Office 365, and confirmed by Microsoft, this bug shows an “Opening this website might not be safe” warning when trying to open legitimate Google links.
Microsoft says it has identified the cause of the issue, clarifying that it isn’t an actual security threat with Google links:
Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Safe Links may block the opening of Google search links (URLs), identifying them as malicious. In addition, admins may receive related alerts and incidents in the Microsoft Defender portal and Microsoft Sentinel as a result of these detections. We’ve determined that an inaccurate security classification is causing legitimate Google search URLs to be incorrectly identified as malicious, resulting in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Safe Links blocking access to affected links. We’re working to correct the misclassification to remediate impact.
Microsoft says it’s working on a fix, but hasn’t given a specific timeline regarding when the fix will be released.
