Well, then, those being paid handsomely for corporate communications for the richest tech companies in the world could have been more precise by using the world ‘vulnerable’ to indicate the potential for attack. Of course, since their first instinct is to protect their reputations, they are loose with the facts.
‘Affected’ means, well, affected. As in it’s happened already. If it hasn’t then they should say so.
I tend to see it as poor writing skills in this case.
Heck, the people being paid handsomely at The Washington Post or New York Times still put out content that makes you roll your eyes with respect to sentence construction and clarity.
I know what you mean, but I see this as simple incompetence in public affairs, not weaselness, though I don’t rule that out either.