Why does MS Word open files in “Protected Mode”? Like is there really any threat for a “Protected Mode” to be needed?

Question

Why does MS Word open files in “Protected Mode”? Like is there really any threat for a “Protected Mode” to be needed?

In: 24

Answer 1

2 main things that MS office is donig by enforcing protected mode by default.

1: it prevented unwanted alteration: this is important if the files are meant ot be shared but not edited.

2:Office docments can contain embedded programs in the form of Macros and VBscript. This can be a problem because these 2 types of programs are executable and some instances of malware exploit this. protected mode doesnt allow these scripts/macros to execute