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...

Simplifying the complex: Introducing Privacy Management for Microsoft 365

The data privacy regulation landscape is more complex than ever. With new laws emerging in countries like China and India, shifts in Europe and the United Kingdom, and currently 26 different laws across the United States, staying ahead of regulations can feel impossible. But this work is...

Get career advice from 7 inspiring leaders in cybersecurity

Are you currently studying information security? Or are you considering transitioning to a career in cybersecurity? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, cybersecurity jobs will grow 31 percent from 2019 to 2029—more than six times the national average job growth.1 Cybersecurity skills...

Why threat protection is critical to your Zero Trust security strategy

The corporate network perimeter has been completely redefined. Many IT leaders are adopting a Zero Trust security model where identities play a critical role in helping act as the foundation of their modern cybersecurity strategy. As a result, cybercriminals have shifted their focus and identitie...

CISO Spotlight: How diversity of data (and people) defeats today’s cyber threats

This year, we have seen five significant security paradigm shifts in our industry. This includes the acknowledgment that the greater the diversity of our data sets, the better the AI and machine learning outcomes. This diversity gives us an advantage over our cyber adversaries and improves our...

CISO series: Talking cybersecurity with the board of directors

In today’s threat landscape, boards of directors are more interested than ever before in their company's cybersecurity strategy. If you want to maintain a board’s confidence, you can’t wait until after an attack to start talking to them about how you are securing the enterprise. You need to engag...

Microsoft Intelligent Security Association expands with new members and products

Last April, we introduced theMicrosoft Intelligent Security Associationa group of 19 security technology providers who have integrated their solutions with a select set of Microsoft products to provide customers better protection, detection, and response. Today, we are pleased to announce five ne...

ACR Stealer: Two observed intrusion chains amid increased threat activity

In this article 1. Campaign 1: WebDAV-based ClickFix with Python loaders and blockchain C2 2. Campaign 2: MSHTA-initiated PowerShell chain with steganographic payload delivery 3. Mitigation and protection guidance 4. References 5. Learn more From late April 2026 to mid-June 2026, Microsoft Defend...

Turn specs into evals for any agent with ASSERT

Today, we’re releasing Adaptive Spec-driven Scoring for Evaluation and Regression Testing ASSERT, an open-source framework for turning natural-language behavior specifications into executable evaluations. Every team building an AI system starts with a clear intention for the behaviors they want t...

SOHO router compromise leads to DNS hijacking and adversary-in-the-middle attacks

In this article 1. DNS hijacking attack chain: From compromised devices to AiTM and other follow-on activity 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Microsoft Defender detection and hunting guidance Executive summary Forest Blizzard, a threat actor linked to the Russian military, has been...

Cyber Signals Issue 9 | AI-powered deception: Emerging fraud threats and countermeasures

Introduction | Security snapshot | Threat briefing Defending against attacks | Expert profile Microsoft maintains a continuous effort to protect its platforms and customers from fraud and abuse. From blocking imposters on Microsoft Azure and adding anti-scam features to Microsoft Edge, to fightin...

New Windows 11 features strengthen security to address evolving cyberthreat landscape

Ahead of the Microsoft Build 2024 conference, we announced a new class of Windows computers, Copilot+ PC. Alongside this exciting new class of PCs, we are introducing important security features and updates that make Windows 11 more secure for users and organizations and give developers the tools...

Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR helps triage, investigate, and respond to cyberthreats

It has been an eventful time since the introduction of Microsoft Security Experts.1 We launched Defender Experts for Hunting, our first-party managed threat hunting service for customers who want Microsoft to help them proactively hunt threats across endpoints, Microsoft Office 365, cloud...

Get integrated Microsoft Purview Information Protection in Adobe Acrobat—now available

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. Data security and compliance are a top priority for leaders as cyberattacks are on the rise. In fact, attacks have increased by 32 percent in the past year, and 1 in 40 organizations...

Microsoft Intune: 5 endpoint management predictions for 2023

The end of the year typically brings with it a small library of reports with predictions for the year ahead. The value in these reports is less in the precise predictions themselves—given how interconnected the world is, no one has a perfect crystal ball. Rather, the forecasts help frame the...

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...

Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting demonstrates industry-leading protection in the 2022 MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations for Managed Services

Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting, our newest managed threat hunting service, delivered industry-leading results during the inaugural MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations for Managed Services. We provided a seamless, comprehensive, and rapid response to the simulated attack using expert-led...

Stopping C2 communications in human-operated ransomware through network protection

Command-and-control C2 servers are an essential part of ransomware, commodity, and nation-state attacks. They are used to control infected devices and perform malicious activities like downloading and launching payloads, controlling botnets, or commanding post-exploitation penetration frameworks ...

Microsoft named a Leader in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Security Information and Event Management

Security operations teams are overwhelmed trying to protect their organizations against an onslaught of cyberattacks, including a 92 percent rise in ransomware attacks.1 Too often, existing security tools are siloed or not designed to meet the needs of today’s hybrid cloud environment. The result...

Automating your Microsoft security suite with D3 XGEN SOAR

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. There are certain pain points in the average security operations center SOC that, no matter what else changes in the security landscape, stay among the most entrenched problems. You...

How one senior developer brings the startup spirit to Microsoft

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Microsoft Africa Development Center, in my role as executive sponsor, for dedication ceremonies we hosted in both Nigeria and Kenya. All I have to say is, “Wow!” The energy at the ADC is simply electric. There’s so much optimism and so much enthusiasm f...

How Open Systems uses Microsoft tools to improve security maturity

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. We’ve all seen it happen—an organization has all the top-notch security tools in place and still, they get breached. In today’s rapidly evolving threat landscape, complexity leads to...

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...

Microsoft Digital Defense Report 2020: Cyber Threat Sophistication on the Rise

Today, Microsoft is releasing a new annual report, called the Digital Defense Report, covering cybersecurity trends from the past year. This report makes it clear that threat actors have rapidly increased in sophistication over the past year, using techniques that make them harder to spot and tha...

Secured-core PCs help customers stay ahead of advanced data theft

Researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology recently revealed information around "Thunderspy," an attack that relies on leveraging direct memory access DMA functionality to compromise devices. An attacker with physical access to a system can use Thunderspy to read and copy data even fro...

Announcing the new Security Engineering website

To meet users’ expectations for security when using a product or cloud service, security must be an integral part of all aspects of the lifecycle. We all know this, and yet time has proven that this is far easier said than done because there is no single approach nor silver bullet that works in...

Securing the modern workplace with Microsoft 365 threat protection – part 2

This post is authored by Debraj Ghosh, Senior Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft 365 Security. Protecting the modern workplace against Ransomware Last week, we shared the roots of Microsoft 365 threat protection. This week, we want to share how Microsoft 365 threat protection services work...

Least privilege for AI agents: Identity, access, and tool binding

In this article 1. Real-world scenarios 2. Best Practices: Identity + RBAC + Scope + Safe Tool Binding 3. Looking Ahead AI agents aren't only smarter API callers. They plan, chain actions across systems, and invoke tools in sequences while no single human explicitly approves each step. The...

​​What’s new in Microsoft Security: June 2026

As organizations scale AI and agents across environments, security teams need protection that covers every surface. The Microsoft vision is simple: security should be ambient and autonomous, just like the AI it protects. This month’s updates help security and IT teams strengthen identity and...

Preinstall to persistence: Inside the Red Hat npm Miasma credential-stealing campaign

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Learn more Microsoft Threat Intelligence identified a large-scale npm supply chain attack affecting 32 maliciously modified packages across more than 90 versions under the @redhat-cloud-services npm scope. The...

Microsoft recognized as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Workforce Identity Security Platforms

Identity is the backbone of modern cybersecurity. Every access decision carries risk, across employees, partners, devices, workloads, and an expanding set of AI-powered agents. But most organizations are still operating across disparate systems. Identity signals are captured in one place, access...

ClickFix campaign uses fake macOS utilities lures to deliver infostealers

In this article 1. Activity overview 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Hunting queries 4. Indicators of compromise Microsoft researchers continue to observe the evolution of an infostealer campaign distributing ClickFix‑style instructions and targeting macOS users. In this recent iteration...

The agentic SOC—Rethinking SecOps for the next decade

Every major shift in cyberattacker behavior over the past decade has followed a meaningful shift in how defenders operate. When security operation centers SOCs deployed endpoint detection and response EDR—and later extended detection and response XDR—security teams raised the bar, pushing...

Inside Tycoon2FA: How a leading AiTM phishing kit operated at scale

In this article 1. Operational overview of Tycoon2FA 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Microsoft Defender detections Following its emergence in August 2023, Tycoon2FA rapidly became one of the most widespread phishing-as-a-service PhaaS platforms, enabling campaigns responsible for tens of...

New Clickfix variant ‘CrashFix’ deploying Python Remote Access Trojan

In January 2026, Microsoft Defender Experts identified a new evolution in the ongoing ClickFix campaign. This updated tactic deliberately crashes victims’ browsers and then attempts to lure users into executing malicious commands under the pretext of restoring normal functionality. This variant...

Unveiling RIFT: Enhancing Rust malware analysis through pattern matching

Today, Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center is excited to announce the release of RIFT , a tool designed to assist malware analysts automate the identification of attacker-written code within Rust binaries. Known for its efficiency, type safety, and robust memory safety, Rust has increasingly...

Microsoft partners with Global Anti-Scam Alliance to fight cybercrime

Being the victim of a scam can be devastating. Unfortunately, the number of people who can attest to the truth of this statement, either because they themselves have been scammed or because it has happened to someone they know, is growing. The Global Anti-Scam Alliance GASA reports that in 2024...

Faster, more personalized service begins at the frontline with Microsoft Intune

In healthcare, patient trust often begins at the frontline with people who deliver care, respond to questions, and manage crucial in-the-moment decisions. Increasingly, those experiences are shaped by the tools frontline workers use. When devices are secure, responsive, and tailored to clinical...

New whitepaper outlines the taxonomy of failure modes in AI agents

We are releasing a taxonomy of failure modes in AI agents to help security professionals and machine learning engineers think through how AI systems can fail and design them with safety and security in mind. The taxonomy continues Microsoft AI Red Team's work to lead the creation of systematizati...

Understanding the threat landscape for Kubernetes and containerized assets

The dynamic nature of containers can make it challenging for security teams to detect runtime anomalies or pinpoint the source of a security incident, presenting an opportunity for attackers to stay undetected. Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed threat actors taking advantage of unsecured...

Analyzing open-source bootloaders: Finding vulnerabilities faster with AI

By leveraging Microsoft Security Copilot to expedite the vulnerability discovery process, Microsoft Threat Intelligence uncovered several vulnerabilities in multiple open-source bootloaders, impacting all operating systems relying on Unified Extensible Firmware Interface UEFI Secure Boot as well ...

AI jailbreaks: What they are and how they can be mitigated

Generative AI systems are made up of multiple components that interact to provide a rich user experience between the human and the AI models. As part of a responsible AI approach, AI models are protected by layers of defense mechanisms to prevent the production of harmful content or being used to...

Microsoft Inspire: Partner resources to prepare for the future of security with AI

Cybersecurity is one of the most pressing challenges of our time. With an ever-changing threat landscape and siloed data across multiple security point solutions, defenders have limited visibility. It’s difficult to stay current and find cybersecurity professionals amid the global talent shortage...

LinkedIn and Microsoft Entra introduce a new way to verify your workplace

In the digital world, when you meet professional contacts for the first time online, you need additional trust signals to increase your confidence that they are who they say they are. We’re thrilled to announce that millions of LinkedIn members will be able to verify their place of work with a...

Secure hybrid and remote workplaces with a Zero Trust approach

Productivity and innovation have become critical goals in many hybrid and remote work environments. Ensuring preventative and strong security, in turn, must be at the heart of that. In this blog series, we’ll discuss two Zero Trust business scenarios: enabling a more productive hybrid or remote...

SEC cyber risk management rule—a security and compliance opportunity

In my practice as a Microsoft Global Black Belt, I focus on the technical and business enablement aspects of protecting organizations from cyber threats with tools like Microsoft 365 Defender, Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Sentinel. In my role as a board member for another publicly traded...

Do more with less with Microsoft Security—3 strategies to get you started

Relentless bad actors, evolving attack tactics, and numerous surfaces and endpoints that attackers may try to exploit. With the average cost of a data breach reaching an all-time high of USD4.35 million in 2022,1 protecting your people and data from adversaries is more important than ever. Plus,...

Disrupting SEABORGIUM’s ongoing phishing operations

The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center MSTIC has observed and taken actions to disrupt campaigns launched by SEABORGIUM, an actor Microsoft has tracked since 2017. SEABORGIUM is a threat actor that originates from Russia, with objectives and victimology that align closely with Russian state...

Microsoft showcases the future of comprehensive security at RSA 2022

The last time the RSA Conference was held as an in-person event was in 2020. Needless to say, a lot has changed since then. RSA is once again going forward as an in-person and digital event in San Francisco, from June 6 to 9, 2022. After two years of remote interactions, we’re excited to exchange...

Stay safe online this holiday shopping season with tips from Microsoft

You may have already noticed this holiday shopping season feels different than those we’ve had before. Headlines about supply chain issues, worker shortages, costs rising—all while the pandemic continues to impact our lives. In my own inbox, I saw emails from brands touting Black Friday sales as...