The provided information concerns the announced end of life (EOL) for Microsoft Office 2016 and 2019 versions. End of life means that Microsoft will cease providing security updates, patches, and technical support for these Office versions after a specified date, which is implied to be in 2025. While this is not a direct vulnerability or exploit, the cessation of security updates creates a security risk environment. Without ongoing patches, any newly discovered vulnerabilities in these Office versions will remain unpatched, potentially allowing attackers to exploit them. Microsoft Office is widely used in enterprise and government environments, and Office documents are a common vector for malware delivery, including macro-based attacks, exploits of document parsing vulnerabilities, and phishing campaigns. The lack of updates increases the risk that attackers can leverage unpatched vulnerabilities to compromise confidentiality, integrity, or availability of systems. The threat is indirect but significant, as organizations continuing to use these unsupported versions will be exposed to increasing risk over time. The source is a Reddit post linking to a Lansweeper blog post about the EOL announcement, indicating this is informational security news rather than a newly discovered exploit or vulnerability. No known exploits in the wild are reported at this time. The severity is medium, reflecting the potential future risk rather than an immediate active threat. Organizations should plan migration strategies to supported Office versions or alternative productivity suites to maintain security posture.

For European organizations, the impact of continuing to use Microsoft Office 2016/2019 after EOL can be significant. These organizations often handle sensitive personal data protected under GDPR, intellectual property, and critical business information. Unpatched vulnerabilities in Office could be exploited to execute malicious code, steal data, or disrupt operations. Given the widespread use of Office in Europe across public sector, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, the risk of targeted attacks exploiting unpatched Office vulnerabilities is elevated. Additionally, attackers may increase phishing campaigns leveraging Office documents as attack vectors. The lack of security updates also increases the risk of ransomware infections initiated via malicious Office files. This could lead to data breaches, operational downtime, regulatory fines, and reputational damage. Organizations that fail to upgrade or implement compensating controls may face compliance challenges and increased exposure to cyber threats.

European organizations should proactively plan and execute migration from Office 2016/2019 to supported Microsoft Office versions or Microsoft 365 subscriptions that receive continuous security updates. Where immediate migration is not feasible, organizations should implement compensating controls such as disabling macros by default, employing advanced email filtering and sandboxing to detect malicious Office documents, and enforcing strict endpoint protection with behavior-based detection. Regular user awareness training on phishing and malicious document risks is essential. Network segmentation and application whitelisting can limit the impact of potential Office-based exploits. Organizations should also monitor threat intelligence sources for emerging Office vulnerabilities and exploits and apply any available mitigations promptly. Maintaining up-to-date backups and incident response plans will help mitigate the impact of potential attacks exploiting unsupported Office versions.