• by Jess Nelson , December 31, 2015

Microsoft will now warn email users about suspected government hacking, the technology giant announced Wednesday.

Microsoft customers, including Outlook.com email users, will now be alerted when Microsoft suspects that a government or government-backed group has attempted to hack into their email inbox.

"We will now notify you if we believe your account has been targeted or compromised by an individual or group working on behalf of a nation state," stated Scott Charney, corporate vice president of trustworthy computing at Microsoft, in a blog post on the company’s site. 

Previously, Microsoft offered email alerts about potential security breaches without identifying the likely suspect.

The policy change is likely inspired by news first reported by Reuters that Microsoft did not alert Hotmail (now Outlook.com) users of a China-backed hacking attempt in 2011.

The cyber attack largely targeted China’s Tibetan and Uighar minority groups, and included diplomats, media workers and human rights lawyers. Microsoft alerted the victims that they should reset their passwords, but never warned them they had been hacked or where the attack originated. 

Microsoft’s decision follows recent policy changes at Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo and Google, which first introduced a similar feature for alerting Gmail users in 2012.

38% of Americans are concerned about their email privacy, according to a Pew Research Center study on how Americans have changed their digital practices since Edward Snowden’s 2013 revelations about global surveillance.

ProtonMail, an encrypted email service which earlier this year experienced its own hacking attempt, stated at the time that many of its users were dissident groups looking for a secure email server that was safe from prying eyes.