Microsoft claims WireGuard and Veracrypt account termination was merely due to not verifying an email: 'Not everything is a conspiracy, sometimes it's literally paperwork'

It can be easy to dunk on Microsoft. It is the creator of the most popular operating system, Windows, yet it's constantly trying to push more AI onto its users, and this is before mentioning the less savoury parts of the company. So when it was revealed that WireGuard and VeraCrypt both had their developer accounts terminated, it was easy to place the blame on the company.

But a representative from Microsoft instead claims that it was merely a mistake on the developers' part by not checking emails. A classic blunder.

VeraCrypt is a free open-source disk encryption software, and it could be seen as an alternative to Microsoft's own BitLocker. That's why, when its developer announced the account had been terminated and claimed "Microsoft did not send me any emails or prior warnings", some on X believed the termination to be a conscious effort from Microsoft to shut down competing developers.

In response, Scott Hanselman, VP and member of technical staff at Microsoft, took to X to say, "Hey I love dumping on my company as much as the next guy, because Microsoft does some dumb stuff, but sometimes it's just check emails and verify your accounts."

Hanselman goes on to say, "Not every 'WTF micro$oft' moment is a slam dunk."

He claims to have emailed VeraCrypt personally and plans on getting them unlocked, and also states that he has talked to Jason at WireGuard. WireGuard is effectively an open-source VPN protocol that lets you set up a private connection for your data across the web. You can create a private tunnel between two spots, and it's commonly used to connect mobile phones and other devices to a NAS.

Hanselman finishes this response saying, "Not everything is a conspiracy, sometimes it's literally paperwork."

It seems like the catalyst for this problem came in the form of an account verification system for the Windows Hardware Program that began in October last year. With this, the partner would have to review and update legal information and verify their account. As such, one must have a work email address and must verify their identity via a government-issued ID.

Microsoft says, "Partners who fail to complete Account Verification by the deadline, or who do not meet the requirements, will have their status set to Rejected and will be suspended from the program."

Though VeraCrypt says it didn't receive any emails from Microsoft, Hanselman does suggest they were sent, so perhaps they were missed in some inbox somewhere. It's certainly happened to me. Unless you're my boss reading this, in which case I diligently comb through my inbox regularly.

Until this verification is sorted, it halts progress for apps affected, as developers cannot publish Windows updates. This means VeraCrypt on Windows lags behind the likes of Linux and macOS, and the company claims "Windows is the platform used by the majority of users and so the inability to deliver Windows releases is a major blow to the project."