The next wave of multicloud security with Microsoft Defender for Cloud, a Cloud-Native Application Protection Platform (CNAPP)

With digital transformation in the face of macroeconomic pressures, strategies to optimize both cloud environments and cloud security are increasingly appealing to enterprises. Organizations worry about vulnerabilities in code getting deployed, critical misconfigurations, overprivileged access to...

Microsoft named a Leader in 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Access Management for the 6th year

We are honored to announce that Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic QuadrantTM for Access Management for Microsoft Azure Active Directory Azure AD, part of Microsoft Entra. We thank our customers who guide our strategy and product innovation, engage with us deeply in...

Do more with less—Discover the latest Microsoft Entra innovations

It has certainly been another intense year. From the ongoing pandemic to the Great Reshuffle to economic uncertainty, it’s truly felt like the only constant is change.1 In this economy, many organizations are looking for efficiencies. This is putting pressure on security teams, along with everyon...

Introducing new Microsoft Defender for Cloud innovations to strengthen cloud-native protections

Security teams face an expanding attack surface as organizations increasingly use cloud-native services to develop, deploy, and manage applications across their multicloud and hybrid environments. Their challenge is compounded by incomplete visibility, siloed processes, and a lack of prioritized...

Secure your endpoints with Transparity and Microsoft

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. Endpoint protection platforms EPPs are dead and no longer sufficient to protect your organization, right? Wrong. When it comes to cybersecurity, the ability to normalize and correlat...

The art and science behind Microsoft threat hunting: Part 1

At Microsoft, we define threat hunting as the practice of actively looking for cyberthreats that have covertly or not so covertly penetrated an environment. This involves looking beyond the known alerts or malicious threats to discover new potential threats and vulnerabilities. Why do incident...

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 receives highest award in SE Labs Enterprise Email Security Services test

In today’s evolving threat landscape, email represents the primary attack vector for cybercrime, making effective email protection a key component of any security strategy.1 In Q1 2022, Microsoft participated in an evaluation of email security solutions, carried out by SE labs—a testing lab focus...

Using Python to unearth a goldmine of threat intelligence from leaked chat logs

Dealing with a great amount of data can be time consuming, thus using Python can be very powerful to help analysts sort information and extract the most relevant data for their investigation. The open-source tools library, MSTICPy, for example, is a Python tool dedicated to threat intelligence. I...

Building a safer world together with our partners—introducing Microsoft Security Experts

More threats—not enough defenders The security landscape has become increasingly challenging and complex for our customers. Threats have grown at an alarming rate over the last year, and cybercrime is now expected to cost the world USD10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from USD3 trillion a decade...

This World Password Day consider ditching passwords altogether

Did you know that May 5, 2022, is World Password Day?1 Created by cybersecurity professionals in 2013 and designated as the first Thursday every May, World Password Day is meant to foster good password habits that help keep our online lives secure. It might seem strange to have a day set aside to...

A clearer lens on Zero Trust security strategy: Part 1

Todays world is flooded with definitions and perspectives on Zero Trust, so we are kicking off a blog series to bring clarity to what Zero Trust is and what it means. This first blog will draw on the past, present, and future to bring a clear vision while keeping our feet planted firmly on the...

Microsoft 365 Defender demonstrates industry-leading protection in the 2022 MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations

For the fourth consecutive year, Microsoft 365 Defender demonstrated its industry-leading protection in MITRE Engenuity’s independent ATT&CK® Enterprise Evaluations, showcasing the value of an integrated XDR-based defense that unifies device and identity protection with a Zero Trust approach:...

New Secured-core servers are now available from the Microsoft ecosystem to help secure your infrastructure

In the current pandemic-driven remote work environments, security has become increasingly important. Earlier this year, Colonial Pipeline, one of the leading suppliers of fuel on the East Coast of the United States, was hit by a ransomware attack.1 This caused a massive disruption of the fuel...

3 steps to prevent and recover from ransomware

On July 14, 2021, the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence1 NCCoE at the National Institute of Standards and Technology2 NIST hosted a virtual workshop3 to seek feedback from government and industry experts on practical approaches to preventing and recovering from ransomware and other...

Afternoon Cyber Tea: Microsoft’s cybersecurity response to COVID-19

On February 25, 2020, Microsoft Chief Information Security Officer CISO Bret Arsenault was attending the RSA Conference in San Francisco when the city declared a state of emergency because of COVID-19. Shortly after flying back to Seattle, Bret learned of the first death from the coronavirus in...

CRSP: The emergency team fighting cyber attacks beside customers

What is CRSP? Microsoft Global Compromise Recovery Security Practice. Who is CRSP? We are a worldwide team of cybersecurity experts operating in most countries, across all organizations public and private, with deep expertise to secure an environment post-security breach and to help you prevent a...

Optimize security with Azure Firewall solution for Azure Sentinel

Security is a constant balance between proactive and reactive defenses. They are both equally important, and neither can be neglected. Effectively protecting your organization means constantly optimizing both prevention and detection. That’s why we’re excited to announce a seamless integration...

How to disrupt attacks caused by social engineering

This post is authored by Milad Aslaner, Senior Program Manager, Windows & Devices Group. A decade ago, most cyber-attacks started with a piece of malware or a complex method to directly attack the infrastructure of a company. But this picture has changed and today all it takes is a sophisticated...

Microsoft teams up with law enforcement and other partners to disrupt Gamarue (Andromeda)

Today, with help from Microsoft security researchers, law enforcement agencies around the globe, in cooperation with Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit DCU, announced the disruption of Gamarue, a widely distributed malware that has been used in networks of infected computers collectively called the...

Understanding the true size of “Fireball”

Keeping tabs on the movement of cybersecurity threats, understanding the size and scope of attacks, and disrupting cybercriminal campaigns through next-gen technologies are fundamental parts of our day-to-day work at Microsoft Windows Defender Research. So when recent reports of the "Fireball"...

Nemucod dot dot..WSF

The latest Nemucod campaign shows the malware distributing a spam email attachment with a .wsf extension, specifically ..wsf with a double dot extension. It is a variation of what has been observed since last year 2015 – the TrojanDownloader:JS/Nemucod malware downloader using JScript. It still...

Insights from Microsoft Security Copilot early adopters

To understand why customers are adopting generative AI solutions like Microsoft Security Copilot, we have to go back to the cyberthreat landscape—which continues to get more challenging. Organizations are facing a surge in cyberattacks while also dealing with a global shortage of security talent...

Top insights and best practices from the new Microsoft Data Security Index report

A whopping 74 percent of organizations recently surveyed experienced at least one data security incident with their business data exposed in the previous year. That’s just one of our interesting insights from Microsoft’s new Data Security Index: Trends, insights, and strategies to secure data...

Cloud storage security: What’s new in the threat matrix

Today, we announce the release of a second version of the threat matrix for storage services, a structured tool that assists in identifying and analyzing potential security threats on data stored in cloud storage services. The matrix, first released in April 2021 as detailed in the blog post Thre...

Microsoft Defender for Office 365 gets highest rating in SE Labs Enterprise Email Security Services test for Q1 2023

In the ever-evolving world of cybersecurity, email remains a primary attack vector for cybercriminals, making effective email protection a foundational piece of any organization’s security strategy. In Q1 2023, Microsoft was once again part of an evaluation of email security platforms conducted b...

11 best practices for securing data in cloud services

In todays digital age, cloud computing has become an essential part of businesses, enabling them to store and access their data from anywhere. However, with convenience comes the risk of data breaches and cyberattacks. Therefore, it is crucial to implement best practices to secure data in cloud...

Microsoft Security highlights from RSA Conference 2023

The RSA Conference RSAC gave us an incredible opportunity to meet with security professionals from around the world, learn about exciting advances in the world of cybersecurity, and share our own security innovations. Defenders everywhere serve an important mission of protecting our world, and RS...

Solving one of NOBELIUM’s most novel attacks: Cyberattack Series

Our story begins with eight Microsoft Detection and Response Team DART analysts gathered around a customer’s conference room to solve a cybersecurity mystery. Joined by members of the customer’s cybersecurity team, they were there to figure out how a Russia-based nation-state hacking group known ...

4 things to look for in a multicloud data protection solution

What does it mean to be a multicloud organization? As the name implies, the term describes a model of cloud computing where an organization uses multiple clouds—two or more public clouds, private clouds, or a combination of public, private, and edge clouds—to distribute applications and services...

Do more with less—Discover the latest Microsoft Entra innovations

It has certainly been another intense year. From the ongoing pandemic to the Great Reshuffle to economic uncertainty, it’s truly felt like the only constant is change.1 In this economy, many organizations are looking for efficiencies. This is putting pressure on security teams, along with everyon...

One Microsoft manager’s entrepreneurial vision for multicloud identity and access

In July 2021, Microsoft acquired CloudKnox, a leader in cloud infrastructure entitlement management CIEM. Over the past two years, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know the founder and chief executive officer CEO, Balaji Parimi, who is now the Partner General Manager of Permissions Management ...

Data governance: 5 tips for holistic data protection

Your data is a strategic asset. To benefit your business, data requires strict controls around structure, access, and lifecycle. However, most security leaders have doubts about data security—nearly 70 percent of chief information security officers CISOs expect to have their data compromised in a...

Microsoft recognized as a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Unified Endpoint Management Tools

This month, Microsoft has been recognized by Gartner® as a Leader in the 2022 Magic Quadrant for Unified Endpoint Management UEM Tools. This blog post outlines the “so what” for IT leaders, and why we believe this Gartner analysis deserves your focus right now. As you see in the Magic Quadrant in...

Secure access for a connected world—meet Microsoft Entra

What could the world achieve if we had trust in every digital experience and interaction? This question has inspired us to think differently about identity and access, and today, we’re announcing our expanded vision for how we will help provide secure access for our connected world. Microsoft Ent...

Streamlining employee onboarding: Microsoft’s response to the Great Reshuffle

In 2021, workers everywhere reevaluated their professional and personal choices, leading to what became known as the Great Resignation. In 2022, a new trend that many are calling the Great Reshuffle has emerged, with 43 percent of the workforce saying they’re very likely to consider changing jobs...

Microsoft best practices for managing IoT security concerns

The Internet of Things, or IoT, has expanded beyond the mere concept that it was when first introduced. IoT is now part of most individuals’ daily activities, from smart speakers and thermostats to smartwatches and vehicles. IoT devices and systems bring massive convenience and functionality. IoT...

3 strategies to launch an effective data governance plan

Aware of the potential risks of sensitive data if not managed properly, you’ve undertaken a data discovery process to learn where it’s all stored. You’ve classified this sensitive data—confidential information like credit card numbers and home addresses collected from customers, prospects,...

How Microsoft can help reduce insider risk during the Great Reshuffle

These are exciting and demanding days for organizations adapting to hybrid work realities, including a wider distributed workforce and more rapid change in employee roles. Organizations are becoming more agile as they refocus on employee onboarding and empowerment, opportunities with third-party...

How Red Canary and Microsoft can help reduce your alert fatigue

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. Security alert fatigue Organizations often feel overwhelmed by the number of security alerts they receive. Frustrated by alert fatigue, these organizations want a deeper understandin...

Microsoft is a 5-time Leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Access Management

We are honored that Gartner recognized Microsoft as a Leader in Gartner® Magic QuadrantTM for Access Management in Microsoft Azure Active Directory Azure AD. In addition, Microsoft has placed the farthest right on the “Completeness of Vision” axis. None of this is possible without you, our...

Microsoft announces recipients of academic grants for AI research on combating phishing

Every day in the ever-changing technology landscape, we see boundaries shift as new ideas challenge the old status quo. This constant shift is observed in the increasingly sophisticated and connected tools, products, and services people and organizations use on a daily basis, but also in the...

Windows 10: protection, detection, and response against recent Depriz malware attacks

A few weeks ago, multiple organizations in the Middle East fell victim to targeted and destructive attacks that wiped data from computers, and in many cases rendering them unstable and unbootable. Destructive attacks like these have been observed repeatedly over the years and the Windows Defender...

New Microsoft security tools to protect families and businesses

Today marks an exciting milestone in Microsoft’s AI journey. This morning, at an event in New York City, we made several major announcements to empower people across work and life—you can read more about Microsoft Bing and Edge with Copilot, what’s new from Microsoft 365 Copilot and Bing Chat...

How the Microsoft Incident Response team helps customers remediate threats

Each year, organizations face tens of billions of malware, phishing, and credential threats—with real-world impacts. When an attack succeeds, it can result in grave impacts on any industry. For example, it could delay a police or fire department’s response to an emergency, prevent a hospital from...

Microsoft AI Red Team building future of safer AI

An essential part of shipping software securely is red teaming. It broadly refers to the practice of emulating real-world adversaries and their tools, tactics, and procedures to identify risks, uncover blind spots, validate assumptions, and improve the overall security posture of systems. Microso...

Cyber Signals: Sporting events and venues draw cyberthreats at increasing rates

Today we released the fifth edition of Cyber Signals, spotlighting threats to large venues, and sporting and entertainment events, based on our learnings and telemetry from delivering cybersecurity support to critical infrastructure facilities during the State of Qatar’s hosting of the FIFA World...

International Women’s Day: The power of diversity to build stronger cybersecurity teams

Women’s History Month is a special time for me as I reflect on all the great innovations women have made over the years. Women have driven technology forward throughout history. Notable women in cybersecurity like cryptologists Agnes Meyer Driscoll and Genevieve Grotjan Feinstein worked behind th...

How to build a secure foundation for identity and access

The security community is continuously changing, growing, and learning from each other to better position the world against cyberthreats. In the latest post of our Community Voices blog series, Microsoft Security Senior Product Marketing Manager Brooke Lynn Weenig talks with Christina Richmond, a...

Microsoft threat intelligence presented at CyberWarCon 2022

At CyberWarCon 2022, Microsoft and LinkedIn analysts presented several sessions detailing analysis across multiple sets of actors and related activity. This blog is intended to summarize the content of the research covered in these presentations and demonstrates Microsoft Threat Intelligence...

Secure your endpoints with Transparity and Microsoft

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. Endpoint protection platforms EPPs are dead and no longer sufficient to protect your organization, right? Wrong. When it comes to cybersecurity, the ability to normalize and correlat...