Microsoft has suspended the developer accounts of three widely-used open-source security tools – Windscribe, WireGuard, and VeraCrypt – blocking them from signing and shipping Windows driver updates.
The move appears to stem from a mandatory account verification policy introduced last October, though affected developers say they received no warning, and at least one had already completed the verification process.
What went wrong?
At the heart of the issue is Microsoft’s Windows Hardware Program, which requires developers to hold a certified account in order to sign drivers for Windows 10 and 11 – a process that keeps unsigned code from loading at the kernel level.
VeraCrypt’s Mounir Idrassi found his account terminated with no explanation and no clear appeals path. Jason Donenfeld, the creator of WireGuard, encountered the same problem two weeks ago, discovering his account deactivated mid-certification with only a 60-day appeals process available to him.
Why it matters
Windscribe displayed on a Windows laptop and an Android smartphone (Image credit: Future)
WireGuard is a free, open-source VPN protocol built into the Linux kernel and widely used as the backbone of the best VPN services. It’s known for being fast, lightweight, and more secure than older protocols like OpenVPN.
The implications are significant – without a valid signing account, Donenfeld has no way to push Windows updates, including emergency security patches. As he told PCMag, if a critical vulnerability needed fixing right now, Windows users would be entirely exposed.
Windscribe’s freezing out is impactful, too. As a very popular VPN – which also features on our best free VPNs page – many people around the world rely on it to unblock content and evade censorship.
The VPN company revealed on X that it had spent over a month trying to resolve the issue through official channels with no success. The complaints eventually drew the attention of Scott Hanselman, a VP at Microsoft/GitHub, who responded publicly to say accounts would be fixed.
He pointed to the October 2025 verification policy, which resulted in suspensions for any partner account that failed to complete the process. Donenfeld, however, told PCMag that his account had already passed verification – suggesting that the policy isn’t the whole story. Hanselman addressed the criticism on X: “Not everything is a conspiracy, sometimes it’s literally paperwork.”
We await further news on whether these accounts have been unfrozen.
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