Beneath the surface: Uncovering the shift in web skimming

Microsoft security researchers recently observed that web skimming campaigns now employ various obfuscation techniques to deliver and hide skimming scripts. It’s a shift from earlier tactics where attackers conspicuously injected malicious scripts into e-commerce platforms and content management...

Automating security assessments using Cloud Katana

Today, we are open sourcing Cloud Katana, a cloud-native serverless application built on the top of Azure Functions to assess security controls in the cloud and hybrid cloud environments. We are currently covering only use cases in Azure, but we are working on extending it to other cloud provider...

Move away from passwords, deploy Windows Hello. Today!

Something we understood from the very beginning with Windows Hello for Business is our customers would approach Windows 10 in a series of phases. The first phase is to simply deploy the platform itself. From there, additional phases would follow to take advantage of optional Windows 10 technologi...

DevOps threat matrix

The use of DevOps practices, which enable organizations to deliver software more quickly and efficiently, has been on the rise. This agile approach minimizes the time-to-market of new features and bug fixes. More and more companies are implementing DevOps services, each with its own infrastructur...

Mitigate risk by integrating threat modeling and DevOps processes

Agile and DevOps are without any doubt two of the biggest security trends of recent years. The rapid rise of the cloud has only fueled the need for flexibility and dynamicity. Therefore, it’s natural for developers and organizations to seek methodologies and tools for addressing new requirements...

New Security Signals study shows firmware attacks on the rise; here’s how Microsoft is working to help eliminate this entire class of threats

Cybersecurity threats are always evolving, and today we’re seeing a new wave of advanced attacks targeting areas of computing that don’t have the protection of the cloud. New data shows that firmware attacks are on the rise, and businesses aren’t paying close enough attention to securing this...

Securing and governing data in a new hybrid work reality

The past year has led to an evolution in not only how we think about work, but more importantly, where work gets done. Arguably, gone are the days that your organization’s data is limited to the protected confines of your corporate network as your people continue to work remotely, return in some...

Protecting multi-cloud environments with Azure Security Center

We’ve heard from many of you that multi-cloud adoption is becoming a standard operating model for your organization and that it’s challenging to have the right security controls and posture across your environment. Historically, security teams have not had effective tools to secure multi-cloud...

Using Zero Trust principles to protect against sophisticated attacks like Solorigate

The Solorigate supply chain attack has captured the focus of the world over the last month. This attack was simultaneously sophisticated and ordinary. The actor demonstrated sophistication in the breadth of tactics used to penetrate, expand across, and persist in affected infrastructure, but many...

Modernize secure access for your on-premises resources with Zero Trust

Change came quickly in 2020. More likely than not, a big chunk of your workforce has been forced into remote access. And with remote work came an explosion of bring-your-own-device BYOD scenarios, requiring your organization to extend the bounds of your network to include the entire internet and...

System Management Mode deep dive: How SMM isolation hardens the platform

Ensuring that the platform firmware is healthy and trustworthy is fundamental to guaranteeing that powerful platform security features like Hypervisor-protected code integrity HVCI and Windows Defender Credential Guard are functioning as expected. Windows 10 achieves this by leveraging a...

Patching Perforce perforations: Critical RCE vulnerability discovered in Perforce Helix Core Server

Microsoft discovered, responsibly disclosed, and helped remediate four vulnerabilities that could be remotely exploited by unauthenticated attackers in Perforce Helix Core Server “Helix Core Server”, a source code management platform largely used in the videogame industry and by multiple...

Automatic Conditional Access policies in Microsoft Entra streamline identity protection

Extending our commitment to help customers be secure by default, today were announcing the auto-rollout of Microsoft Entra Conditional Access policies that will automatically protect tenants based on risk signals, licensing, and usage. Weve designed these policies based on our deep knowledge of t...

Octo Tempest crosses boundaries to facilitate extortion, encryption, and destruction

Microsoft has been tracking activity related to the financially motivated threat actor Octo Tempest, whose evolving campaigns represent a growing concern for organizations across multiple industries. Octo Tempest leverages broad social engineering campaigns to compromise organizations across the...

ZINC weaponizing open-source software

In recent months, Microsoft has detected a wide range of social engineering campaigns using weaponized legitimate open-source software by an actor we track as ZINC. Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center MSTIC observed activity targeting employees in organizations across multiple industries includi...

Rewards plus: Fake mobile banking rewards apps lure users to install info-stealing RAT on Android devices

Our analysis of a recent version of a previously reported info-stealing Android malware, delivered through an ongoing SMS campaign, demonstrates the continuous evolution of mobile threats. Masquerading as a banking rewards app, this new version has additional remote access trojan RAT capabilities...

Microsoft shares 4 challenges of protecting sensitive data and how to overcome them

Breaches of sensitive data are extremely costly for organizations when you tally data loss, stock price impact, and mandated fines from violations of General Data Protection Regulation GDPR, California Consumer Privacy Act CCPA, or other regulations. They also can diminish the trust of those who...

Widespread credential phishing campaign abuses open redirector links

Microsoft has been actively tracking a widespread credential phishing campaign using open redirector links. Attackers combine these links with social engineering baits that impersonate well-known productivity tools and services to lure users into clicking. Doing so leads to a series of...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint now supports Windows 10 on Arm devices

Today, we are excited to announce that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint support of Windows 10 on Arm devices is generally available. This expanded support is part of our continued efforts to extend Microsoft Defender for Endpoint capabilities across all the endpoints defenders need to secure. Arm...

What’s new in Windows Defender ATP Fall Creators Update

When we introduced Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Windows Defender ATP, our initial focus was to reduce the time it takes companies to detect, investigate, and respond to advanced attacks. The Windows Fall Creators Update represents a new chapter in our product evolution as we offer ...

Troldesh ransomware influenced by (the) Da Vinci code

We at the MMPC are constantly tracking new and emerging ransomware threats so we can be one step ahead of active campaigns and help protect our users. As part of these efforts, we recently came across a new variant of the Win32/Troldesh ransomware family. Ransomware, like most malware, is...

New Microsoft Purview features use AI to help secure and govern all your data

In the past few years, we have witnessed how digital and cloud transformation has accelerated the growth of data. With more and more customers moving to the cloud, and with the rise of hybrid work, data usage has moved beyond the traditional borders of business. Data is now stored in multiple clo...

The Microsoft Intune Suite fuels cyber safety and IT efficiency

Today marks a significant shift in endpoint management and security. Were launching the Microsoft Intune Suite, which unifies mission-critical advanced endpoint management and security solutions into one simple bundle. The new Intune Suite can simplify our customers’ endpoint management experienc...

The door is open for anyone to become a cyber defender

Throughout Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Microsoft has highlighted the importance of cybersecurity and provided resources to help people and organizations stay safe. It’s great to have this month as a reminder, and even better if that awareness becomes a year-round endeavor. Education is really...

‘Ice phishing’ on the blockchain

The technologies that connect us are continually advancing, and while this brings tremendous new capabilities to users, it also opens new attack surfaces for adversaries and abusers. Social engineering represents a class of threats that has extended to virtually every technology that enables huma...

Protect against phishing with Attack Simulation Training in Microsoft Defender for Office 365

Sophisticated cyberattacks are on the rise, with email phishing as the most common attack vector. We’ve seen it all over the news with stories like Hafnium that targeted Exchange servers1 or the Nobelium attack against SolarWinds,2 which show just how easy it is for bad actors to distribute a...

Microsoft and NIST collaborate on EO to drive Zero Trust adoption

2020s Nobelium attack sent shock waves through both government and private sectors. 2021 has already seen large-scale nation-state attacks such as Hafnium1 alongside major ransomware attacks2 on critical infrastructure. The breadth and boldness of these attacks show that, far from being deterred,...

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...

Resources for accelerating your Zero Trust journey

For many organizations, 2020 was the year that finally saw remote work become a reality on a global scale. As many people begin transitioning back to the office, many organizations are thinking about how they can transition from a remote workforce to a more permanent hybrid workplace. We recently...

How far have we come? The evolution of securing identities

The security community is continuously changing, growing, and learning from each other to better position the world against cyber threats. In the latest Voice of the Community blog series post, Microsoft Product Marketing Manager Natalia Godyla talks with Troy Hunt, founder of Have I Been Pwned,...

Increasing resilience against Solorigate and other sophisticated attacks with Microsoft Defender

­Even as investigations into the sophisticated attack known as Solorigate are still underway, details and insights about the tools, patterns, and methods used by the attackers point to steps that organizations can take to improve their defenses against similar attacks. Solorigate is a cross-domai...

Ensuring customers are protected from Solorigate

Microsoft is monitoring a dynamic threat environment surrounding the discovery of a sophisticated attack that included compromised binaries from a legitimate software. These binaries, which are related to the SolarWinds Orion Platform, could be used by attackers to remotely access devices. We hav...

Overview of rapid cyberattacks

Rapid cyberattacks like Petya and WannaCrypt have reset our expectations on the speed and scope of damage that a cyberattack can inflict. The Microsoft Enterprise Cybersecurity Group Detection and Response team worked extensively to help customers respond to and recover from these kinds of attack...

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint now stops human-operated attacks on its own

Defenders need every edge they can get in the fight against ransomware. Today, were pleased to announce that Microsoft Defender for Endpoint customers will now be able automatically to disrupt human-operated attacks like ransomware early in the kill chain without needing to deploy any other...

Expanded Microsoft Security Experts offerings provide comprehensive protection

Since we first introduced Microsoft Security Experts in May 2022, we’ve worked hard to expand our new security services category. In the past 16 months, we’ve launched new services, expanded our capabilities, and introduced new ways to buy. Our customers face an unprecedented number of security...

Microsoft Entra delivers 240 percent ROI, according to new Forrester study

Every day we easily move between apps and devices while identity professionals work hard behind the scenes to improve technologies that make this digital experience more secure. With nearly 50 percent of data breaches caused by stolen credentials, its important for identity professionals to arm...

KillNet and affiliate hacktivist groups targeting healthcare with DDoS attacks

In the last year, geopolitical tension has led to an uptick of reported cybercrime events fueled by hacktivist groups. The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency CISA published an advisory to warn organizations about these attacks and teamed with the FBI on a distributed...

Mitigate threats with the new threat matrix for Kubernetes

Today, we are glad to release the third version of the threat matrix for Kubernetes, an evolving knowledge base for security threats that target Kubernetes clusters. The matrix, first released by Microsoft in 2020, was the first attempt to systematically cover the attack landscape of Kubernetes...

DEV-0569 finds new ways to deliver Royal ransomware, various payloads

Recent activity from the threat actor that Microsoft tracks as DEV-0569, known to distribute various payloads, has led to the deployment of the Royal ransomware, which first emerged in September 2022 and is being distributed by multiple threat actors. Observed DEV-0569 attacks show a pattern of...

Cyber Signals: 3 strategies for protection against ransomware

The “as a service” business model has gained widespread popularity as growing cloud adoption has made it possible for people to access important services through third-party providers. Given the convenience and agility of service offerings, perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that the “as a servic...

Celebrating 20 Years of Trustworthy Computing

20 years ago this week, Bill Gates sent a now-famous email to all Microsoft employees announcing the creation of the Trustworthy Computing TwC initiative. The initiative was intended to put customer security, and ultimately customer trust, at the forefront for all Microsoft employees. Gates’ memo...

Securing a new world of hybrid work: What to know and what to do

The cybersecurity landscape has fundamentally changed, as evidenced by large-scale, complex attacks like Nobelium, Hafnium, and more recently last week’s Colonial Pipeline attack, which signals that human-operated ransomware is on the rise. Hackers launch an average of 50 million password attacks...

What we like about Microsoft Defender for Endpoint

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. It’s no secret that the security industry generally likes Microsoft Defender for Endpoint. After a few months of using and integrating it with our platform here at Expel, we feel the...

Siemens USA CISO: 3 essentials to look for in a cloud provider

In the latest episode of my series, The Shiproom, I spoke with Kurt John, Chief Cybersecurity Officer CISO at Siemens USA. Kurt is listed in Security Magazine’s Top 10 most influential cybersecurity leaders, and he also serves on a special cybersecurity committee organized by the...

Forrester TEI study: Azure Sentinel delivers 201 percent ROI over 3 years and a payback of less than 6 months

2020 has been a transitional year, ushering in broad changes in how, and where, we work. Security operations SecOps teams face more significant challenges than ever as they protect the organization in this rapidly changing environment. These teams need a flexible, cost-effective, and efficient...

Windows Defender ATP thwarts Operation WilySupply software supply chain cyberattack

Several weeks ago, the Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection Windows Defender ATP research team noticed security alerts that demonstrated an intriguing attack pattern. These early alerts uncovered a well-planned, finely orchestrated cyberattack that targeted several high-profile technology...

Detecting threat actors in recent German industrial attacks with Windows Defender ATP

When a Germany-based industrial conglomerate disclosed in December 2016 that it was breached early that year, the breach was revealed to be a professionally run industrial espionage attack. According to the German press, the intruders used the Winnti family of malware as their main implant, givin...

Digital security sessions at Microsoft Ignite to prepare you for the era of AI

Thousands of security professionals will join us for Microsoft Ignite 2023 from November 14 to 17, 2023, where we will share how to embrace the AI era confidently, with protection for people, data, devices, and apps that extends across clouds and platforms. With more than 45 security sessions,...

Defending new vectors: Threat actors attempt SQL Server to cloud lateral movement

Microsoft security researchers recently identified a campaign where attackers attempted to move laterally to a cloud environment through a SQL Server instance. This attack technique demonstrates an approach weve seen in other cloud services such as VMs and Kubernetes cluster, but not in SQL Serve...

​​Microsoft Entra: 5 identity priorities for 2023

Welcome to 2023. After the pandemic upended how we work, learn, play, and manage our lives, we find ourselves more connected than ever, with more convenient access to an ever-wider range of online tools and experiences. But as our global digital footprint continues to grow, so does the risk of...