If you happen to receive a ton of notifications today from Microsoft Defender indicating that it has detected a virus threat, there’s a likelihood that this isn’t the case. Today morning, several users have lodged reports indicating that they have received several notifications from the tool indicating that it has detected malware.
However, this isn’t the case. These are legitimate URL links that the service has mistakenly marked as malicious.
We're investigating an issue where legitimate URL links are being incorrectly marked as malicious by the Microsoft Defender service. Additionally, some of the alerts are not showing content as expected. Further details can be found under DZ534539 within the admin center.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) March 29, 2023
Microsoft has already acknowledged the issue via its Microsoft 365 Status account on Twitter and has further indicated that it’s investigating the matter. Some users have also reported that they are unable to launch the alerts and incidents page.
You might also want to investigate why Defender is not letting me investigate my own incidents: pic.twitter.com/HH8AGyuxsg
— Adrian Amos (@ahamos) March 29, 2023
We’ll keep tabs on this, and equally keep you posted on any new developments. Or even once a fix is available.