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...

Addressing cybersecurity at the board level with Difenda and Microsoft

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. Cybersecurity is no longer simply a lone silo or regulatory process; it is a business issue that affects every aspect of an organization. From financial losses to reputational damage...

2022 holiday DDoS protection guide

The holiday season is an exciting time for many people as they get to relax, connect with friends and family, and celebrate traditions. Organizations also have much to rejoice about during the holidays for example, more sales for retailers and more players for gaming companies. Unfortunately, cyb...

Making the world a safer place with Microsoft Defender for individuals

Today’s sophisticated cyber threats require a modern approach to security. And this doesn’t apply only to enterprises or government entities—in recent years we’ve seen attacks increase exponentially against individuals. There are 921 password attacks every second.1 We’ve seen ransomware threats...

3 steps to secure your multicloud and hybrid infrastructure with Azure Arc

As businesses around the world grapple with the growth of an industrialized, organized attacker ecosystem, the need for customers to secure multicloud and hybrid infrastructure and workloads is increasingly urgent. Today, organizations face an attacker ecosystem that is highly economically...

Structured threat hunting: One way Microsoft Threat Experts prioritizes customer defense

Todays threat landscape is incredibly fast-paced. New campaigns surface all the time, and the amount of damage that they can cause is not always immediately apparent. Security operations centers SOCs must be equipped with the tools and insight to identify and resolve potentially high-impact threa...

Why diversity is important for a strong cybersecurity team

Medicine. Aeronautics. Academia. When you’re a cybersecurity professional, the colleague next to you could have started in one of these industries—or just about any other you can imagine. The backgrounds of cybersecurity professionals are more diverse than those of professionals in other...

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...

Behind the scenes of business email compromise: Using cross-domain threat data to disrupt a large BEC campaign

Microsoft 365 Defender researchers recently uncovered and disrupted a large-scale business email compromise BEC infrastructure hosted in multiple web services. Attackers used this cloud-based infrastructure to compromise mailboxes via phishing and add forwarding rules, enabling these attackers to...

Announcing the Zero Trust Deployment Center

Organizations have been digitally transforming at warp speed in response to the way businesses operate and how people work. As a result, digital security teams have been under immense pressure to ensure their environments are resilient and secure. Many have turned to a Zero Trust security model t...

Developing an effective cyber strategy

The word strategy has its origins in the Roman Empire and was used to describe the leading of troops in battle. From a military perspective, strategy is a top-level plan designed to achieve one or more high-order goals. A clear strategy is especially important in times of uncertainty as it provid...

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...

Phishers unleash simple but effective social engineering techniques using PDF attachments

The Gmail phishing attack is reportedly so effective that it tricks even technical users, but it may be just the tip of the iceberg. We’re seeing similarly simple but clever social engineering tactics using PDF attachments. These deceitful PDF attachments are being used in email phishing attacks...

Fake fax ushers in revival of a ransomware family

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. "Criminal case against you" is a message that may understandably cause panic. That’s what a recent spam campaign hopes happens, increasing the likelihood ...

Adopting guidance from the US National Cybersecurity Strategy to secure the Internet of Things

The recently published United States National Cybersecurity Strategy warns that many popular Internet of Things IoT devices are not sufficiently secure to protect against many of today’s common cybersecurity threats.1 The strategy also cautions that many of these IoT devices are difficult—or, in...

Midnight Blizzard conducts targeted social engineering over Microsoft Teams

Microsoft Threat Intelligence has identified highly targeted social engineering attacks using credential theft phishing lures sent as Microsoft Teams chats by the threat actor that Microsoft tracks as Midnight Blizzard previously tracked as NOBELIUM. This latest attack, combined with past activit...

See product news and on-demand sessions from Microsoft Secure

“Great speakers and very knowledgeable.” “Brilliant.” “Wonderful and very useful.” The first Microsoft Secure on March 28, 2023, was a huge success—as this attendee feedback shows. Our virtual event brought together more than 20,000 security professionals eager to learn security best practices an...

Microsoft achieves first native Cloud Data Management Capabilities certification

Today, Microsoft announced the successful completion of the Cloud Data Management Capabilities CDMC 14 Key Controls and Automations certification, conducted by Accenture and Avanade, accelerating the industry’s move to the cloud. The 14 Key Controls and Automations are a part of the EDM Council’s...

5 cybersecurity capabilities announced at Microsoft Ignite 2022 to help you secure more with less

Protecting your business against growing security threats is a huge priority. Companies of all sizes have increased their spending on cybersecurity solutions to protect their operations over the last year. User spending for the information security and risk management market will grow to USD169.2...

Microsoft recognized as a Leader in UEM Software 2022 IDC MarketScape reports

Competition for talent has increased pressure to lead in the digital space, and business decisions now weigh user experience for employees heavily among costs and benefits. Workers insist on experiences that mirror their personal experiences, often on their own devices. As enterprise computing ha...

Improving AI-based defenses to disrupt human-operated ransomware

Microsoft’s deep understanding of human-operated ransomware attacks, which are powered by a thriving cybercrime gig economy, continuously informs the solutions we deliver to protect customers. Our expert monitoring of threat actors, investigations into real-world ransomware attacks, and the...

Why strong security solutions are critical to privacy protection

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 Voice of the Community blog series, Microsoft Security Senior Product Marketing Manager Brooke Lynn Weenig talks with Ann Cavoukian,...

New security features for Windows 11 will help protect hybrid work

Attackers haven’t wasted any time capitalizing on the rapid move to hybrid work. Every day cybercriminals and nation-states alike have improved their targeting, speed, and accuracy as the world adapted to working outside the office. These changes have put "cybersecurity issues and risks” at the t...

What Generation Z can teach us about cybersecurity

Girl Security National Security Fellows Program fellow Amulya, a 17-year-old interested in countering online disinformation, said she feels her sense of personal privacy has been largely nonexistent “growing up in a media-saturated world.” She believes her sense of privacy was stolen by a...

Cybersecurity threats are always changing—staying on top of them is vital, getting ahead of them is paramount

With a 1,070 percent increase in ransomware attacks year-over-year between July 2020 and June 2021, staying on top of attack trends—such as ransomware and supply chain threats—is more important than ever.1 To successfully detect and defend against security threats, we need to come together as a...

Discover 3 ways to take a holistic approach to data protection

The risk landscape for organizations has changed significantly in the past few years. Traditional ways of identifying and mitigating risks simply don’t work. While traditionally, organizations have focused on external threats, risks from within the organization are just as prevalent and harmful...

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...

Encouraging women to embrace their cybersecurity superpowers

The cybersecurity challenges of today require a diversity of skills, perspectives, and experiences, yet women remain underrepresented in this field. On International Women’s Day, some Microsoft Security women leaders penned a powerful blog highlighting the underrepresentation of women in...

How public-private partnerships can combat cyber adversaries

For several years now, policymakers and practitioners from governments, CERTs, and the security industry have been speaking about the importance of public-private partnerships as an essential part of combating cyber threats. It is impossible to attend a security conference without a keynote...

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...

Averting ransomware epidemics in corporate networks with Windows Defender ATP

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. Microsoft security researchers continue to observe ransomware campaigns blanketing the market and indiscriminately hitting potential targets...

Microsoft Purview data security mitigations for BazaCall and other human-operated data exfiltration attacks

I recently worked with an enterprise customer who experienced a data exfiltration attack using the characteristics of the BazaCall campaign. BazaCall can be both a ransomware and data exfiltration attack that are used together to increase pressure on and damage to the victim. Microsoft Purview ha...

Cybersecurity awareness tips from Microsoft to empower your team to #BeCyberSmart

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, and I’m excited about what Microsoft and our partners in the industry have planned to help everyone stay CyberSmart. 2022 may have offered some respite from the previous year’s rush to enable a remote and hybrid workforce, but the increased use of persona...

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...

4 breakthrough ideas for compliance and data security

Compliance management will never be easy, but there are ways to make it simpler and more transparent. Every year, organizations confront a growing volume and diversity of data and ever-evolving industry and government regulations. But the answer to more data, more devices, and more regulations...

Microsoft collaborates with Tenable to support federal cybersecurity efforts

On May 12, 2021, the White House issued Presidential Executive Order EO 14028 to establish cybersecurity as a national priority.1 As part of this effort, the White House has called for greater public and private sector collaboration to address the evolving threats facing federal agencies. In the...

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...

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...

AI-driven adaptive protection against human-operated ransomware

In human-operated ransomware attacks, threat actors use predictable methods to enter a device but eventually rely on hands-on-keyboard activities to move inside a network. To fortify our existing cloud-delivered automated protection against complex attacks like human-operated ransomware, we...

How Microsoft Defender for IoT can secure your IoT devices

Cybersecurity threats are always evolving, and today we’re seeing a new wave of advanced attacks specifically targeting IoT devices used in enterprise environments as well as operational technology OT devices used in industrial systems and critical infrastructure like ICS/SCADA. It’s not surprisi...

Microsoft at Legalweek: Secure data and gain efficiencies with Microsoft Purview eDiscovery enhanced by generative AI

The legal profession is known for being cautious or hesitant to adopt new technologies. However, when it comes to AI, it seems like legal professionals are ready to be on the leading edge of AI implementation. A Thomson Reuters survey of legal professionals found that 82% agree that AI can be...

Navigating privacy in a data-driven world with Microsoft Priva

Data protection and privacy have become business imperatives. In a global survey conducted by Microsoft and leaders in the academic privacy space, 90 percent of respondents said they would not buy from an organization that does not properly protect its data.1 More than ever, people have a high...

How Microsoft and Sonrai integrate to eliminate attack paths

Cloud development challenges conventional thinking about risk. A “perimeter” was always the abstraction that security teams could start from—defining their perimeter and exposing the cracks in firewalls and network access. With more and more infrastructure represented as ephemeral code, protectin...

Join us at InfoSec Jupyterthon 2022

Notebooks are gaining popularity in InfoSec. Used interactively for investigations and hunting or as scheduled processing jobs, notebooks offer plenty of advantages over traditional security operations center SOC tools. Sitting somewhere between scripting/macros and a full-blown development...

CSO perspective: Why a strong IAM strategy is key to an organization’s cybersecurity approach

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 Alissa “Dr. Jay”...

Learn how Microsoft strengthens IoT and OT security with Zero Trust

As cyber threats grow more sophisticated and relentless, the need for Cybersecurity Awareness Month becomes more urgent every year. As part of our year-round commitment to security for all, Microsoft continues to track numerous incidents targeting both digital and physical operations for many...

Evolving Zero Trust—Lessons learned and emerging trends

Looking back at the last two years, to say that our security strategies have evolved would be an understatement. Organizations around the world made overnight transitions to remote work models in response to a global pandemic, forcing them to reassess attack surface areas as they underwent an...

Microsoft recognized as a Leader in the 2020 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Information Archiving

Organizations face an increasing volume of data generated daily and ever-evolving regulations around how that data is managed. To help navigate this complex information landscape, we are focused on delivering integrated, intelligent, and user-centric solutions. Over the past few years, we...

Don’t let this Black Friday/Cyber Monday spam deliver Locky ransomware to you

Note: Read our latest comprehensive report on ransomware: Ransomware 1H 2017 review: Global outbreaks reinforce the value of security hygiene. We see it every year: social engineering attacks that take advantage of the online shopping activities around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, targeting...

Why a proactive detection and incident response plan is crucial for your organization

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 Matt Suiche, Director...