Overview of Petya, a rapid cyberattack

In the first blog post of this 3-part series, we introduced what rapid cyberattacks are and illustrated how they are different in terms of execution and outcome. Next, we will go into some more details on the Petya aka NotPetya attack. How Petya worked The Petya attack chain is well understood,...

Detecting reflective DLL loading with Windows Defender ATP

Today's attacks put emphasis on leaving little, if any, forensic evidence to maintain stealth and achieve persistence. Attackers use methods that allow exploits to stay resident within an exploited process or migrate to a long-lived process without ever creating or relying on a file on disk. In...

TerminalFix campaign deploys a reverse tunnel through multistage intrusion

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Learn more Microsoft Threat Intelligence has observed a TerminalFix campaign, a variant of ClickFix, targeting organizations across multiple industries. The campaign uses compromised websites to display a fake...

The patch window is collapsing: Why security needs a new control plane

For decades, cybersecurity defenders have relied on a relatively straightforward model: a vulnerability is disclosed, security teams assess exposure, test available fixes, deploy patches into production, and ultimately close the risk before attackers can exploit it at scale. That model increasing...

Protecting Microsoft at AI speed: How SFI proactively hardens our cloud

AI models have reached a threshold where they exhibit expert-level capabilities in vulnerability discovery, exploit chaining, and proof-of-concept generation. As AI-powered vulnerability discovery matures, every organization that builds or runs software at scale needs continuous proactive...

Improving security posture across the Microsoft partner ecosystem

The Deputy CISO blog series is where Microsoft Deputy Chief Information Security Officers CISOs share their thoughts on what is most important in their respective domains. In this series, you will get practical advice, tactics to start and stop deploying, forward-looking commentary on where the...

Microsoft a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Endpoint Management Platforms

The endpoint management category is being redefined in real time. Organizations no longer need tools that only inventory devices or enforce configuration policies; they need a platform that connects identity, security, compliance, and AI governance across every endpoint where work happens...

Microsoft a Leader in The Forrester Wave™ for Endpoint Management Platforms

The endpoint management category is being redefined in real time. Organizations no longer need tools that only inventory devices or enforce configuration policies; they need a platform that connects identity, security, compliance, and AI governance across every endpoint where work happens...

CVE-2026-31431: Copy Fail vulnerability enables Linux root privilege escalation across cloud environments

In this article 1. Vulnerability details 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Microsoft Defender XDR detections 4. References 5. Learn more Microsoft Defender is investigating a high-severity local privilege escalation vulnerability CVE-2026-31431 affecting multiple major Linux distributions...

Incident response for AI: Same fire, different fuel

In this article 1. The fundamentals still hold 2. Where AI changes the equation 3. Closing the gaps in telemetry, tooling, and response 4. The human dimension 5. Looking ahead When a traditional security incident hits, responders replay what happened. They trace a known code path, find the defect...

Mitigating the Axios npm supply chain compromise

In this article 1. Analysis of the attack 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Microsoft Defender detections 4. Indicators of compromise 5. Hunting queries On March 31, 2026, two new npm packages for updated versions of Axios, a popular HTTP client for JavaScript that simplifies making HTTP...

How Microsoft Defender protects high-value assets in real-world attack scenarios

In this article 1. Using asset context to strengthen detection 2. How high-value asset protection works 3. Real-world high-value asset protection scenarios 4. Protecting your HVAs 5. Learn more High-value assets including domain controllers, web servers, and identity infrastructure are frequent...

New Microsoft Purview innovations for Fabric to safely accelerate your AI transformation

As organizations adopt AI, security and governance remain core primitives for safe AI transformation and acceleration. After all, data leaders are aware of the notion that: Your AI is only as good as your data. Organizations are skeptical about AI transformation due to concerns of sensitive data...

From transparency to action: What the latest Microsoft email security benchmark reveals

In our last benchmarking post, Clarity in complexity: New insights for transparent email security ,1 we shared why transparency matters more than ever in email security and how clear, consistent benchmarking helps security teams cut through noise and make confident decisions. Today, we’re...

Running OpenClaw safely: identity, isolation, and runtime risk

Self-hosted agent runtimes like OpenClaw are showing up fast in enterprise pilots, and they introduce a blunt reality: OpenClaw includes limited built-in security controls. The runtime can ingest untrusted text, download and execute skills i.e. code from external sources, and perform actions usin...

Resurgence of a multi‑stage AiTM phishing and BEC campaign abusing SharePoint

Microsoft Defender Researchers uncovered a multi‑stage adversary‑in‑the‑middle AiTM phishing and business email compromise BEC campaign targeting multiple organizations in the energy sector, resulting in the compromise of various user accounts. The campaign abused SharePoint file‑sharing services...

Inside RedVDS: How a single virtual desktop provider fueled worldwide cybercriminal operations

Over the past year, Microsoft Threat Intelligence observed the proliferation of RedVDS, a virtual dedicated server VDS provider used by multiple financially motivated threat actors to commit business email compromise BEC, mass phishing, account takeover, and financial fraud. Microsoft’s...

Phishing actors exploit complex routing and misconfigurations to spoof domains

Phishing actors are exploiting complex routing scenarios and misconfigured spoof protections to effectively spoof organizations’ domains and deliver phishing emails that appear, superficially, to have been sent internally. Threat actors have leveraged this vector to deliver a wide variety of...

Defending against the CVE-2025-55182 (React2Shell) vulnerability in React Server Components

CVE-2025-55182 also referred to as React2Shell and includes CVE-2025-66478, which was merged into it is a critical pre-authentication remote code execution RCE vulnerability affecting React Server Components, Next.js, and related frameworks. With a CVSS score of 10.0, this vulnerability could all...

New IDC research highlights a major cloud security shift

Cloud security is at a tipping point. While moving to the cloud powers both growth and speed for organizations, it can also bring new risks. According to IDC’s latest research, organizations experienced an average of nine cloud security incidents in 2024, with 89% reporting a year-over-year...

Investigating active exploitation of CVE-2025-10035 GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer vulnerability

On September 18, 2025, Fortra published a security advisory regarding a critical deserialization vulnerability in GoAnywhere MFT's License Servlet, which is tracked as CVE-2025-10035 and has a CVSS score of 10.0. The vulnerability could allow a threat actor with a validly forged license response...

Microsoft Defender delivered 242% return on investment over three years​​

The latest Forrester Total Economic Impact™ TEI study reveals a 242% return on investment ROI over three years for organizations that chose Microsoft Defender. It helps security leaders consolidate tools, reduce overhead, and empower their security operations SecOps teams with operational...

“Dirty stream” attack: Discovering and mitigating a common vulnerability pattern in Android apps

Microsoft discovered a path traversal-affiliated vulnerability pattern in multiple popular Android applications that could enable a malicious application to overwrite files in the vulnerable application’s home directory. The implications of this vulnerability pattern include arbitrary code...

Microsoft Security Copilot drives new product integrations at Microsoft Ignite to empower security and IT teams

First announced in March 2023, Microsoft Security Copilot—Microsofts first generative AI security product—has sparked major interest. The widespread enthusiasm was on full display after announcing our Early Access Program in October 2023 and sharing our incredible Security Copilot innovations at...

Social engineering attacks lure Indian users to install Android banking trojans

Microsoft has observed ongoing activity from mobile banking trojan campaigns targeting users in India with social media messages designed to steal users’ information for financial fraud. Using social media platforms like WhatsApp and Telegram, attackers are sending messages designed to lure users...

An integrated incident response solution with Microsoft and PwC

Today Microsoft Incident Response is excited to announce a new collaboration with PwC to expand our joint incident response and recovery capability. In this global alliance, Microsoft begins the initial containment and investigation, bringing a deep understanding of a company’s infrastructure to...

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 to build stronger security teams

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 Truesec Chief Chaos...

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”...

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...

Connect with Microsoft Security experts at the 2022 Gartner Identity & Access Management Summit

The transition to a remote and hybrid workforce happened fast during a time of uncertainty, and IT professionals rose to the challenge with ingenuity and dedication. But two years in, many IT teams are still responding with patchwork solutions to enforce identity and access management IAM across ...

KuppingerCole rates Microsoft as outstanding in functionality for secure collaboration

We are excited to share that Microsoft has been rated "Outstanding in Functionality" in the KuppingerCole Market Compass for Secure Collaboration, May 2022. Microsoft was also the only company to be awarded the highest possible score of "Strong Positive" in all five categories: security,...

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,...

Center for Threat-Informed Defense, Microsoft, and industry partners streamline MITRE ATT&CK® matrix evaluation for defenders

The MITRE Center for Threat-Informed Defense, Microsoft, and other industry partners collaborated on a project that created a repeatable methodology for developing a top MITRE ATT&CK® techniques list. The method aims to facilitate navigation of the ATT&CK framework, which could help new defenders...

Your guide to mobile digital forensics

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 Security Product Marketing Manager Natalia Godyla talks with Cellebrite Senior Director of...

Protect your business with Microsoft Security’s comprehensive protection

Securing an organization has never been simple. But over the past year, we’ve seen significant changes in the threat landscape that are having a major impact on organizations of every size in every sector. The frequency and sophistication of cyber events have increased significantly. We see...

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 companies are securing devices with Zero Trust practices

Organizations are seeing a substantial increase in the diversity of devices accessing their networks. With employees using personal devices and accessing corporate resources from new locations in record numbers, IT leaders are seeing an increase in their attack surface area. They’re turning to Ze...

Step 5. Set up mobile device management: top 10 actions to secure your environment

The “Top 10 actions to secure your environment” series outlines fundamental steps you can take with your investment in Microsoft 365 security solutions. In “Step 5. Set up mobile device management,” you’ll learn how to plan your Microsoft Intune deployment and set up Mobile Device Management MDM ...

How Microsoft tools and partners support GDPR compliance

This post is authored by Daniel Grabski,Executive Security Advisor, Microsoft Enterprise Cybersecurity Group. As an Executive Security Advisor for enterprises in Europe and the Middle East, I regularly engage with Chief Information Security Officers CISOs, Chief Information Officers CIOs and Data...

A decade inside Microsoft Security

Ten years ago, I walked onto Microsofts Redmond campus to take a role on a team that partnered with governments and CERTs on cybersecurity. Id just left a meaningful career in US federal government service because I thought it would be fascinating to experience first-hand the security challenges...

DeadLock ransomware: Breaking down a Rust-based encryptor with decentralized recovery infrastructure

In this article 1. Pre-encryption 2. Encryption 3. Post-encryption 4. Defending against DeadLock ransomware 5. Indicators of compromise Microsoft Threat Intelligence tracks DeadLock ransomware as an emerging financially motivated operation distinguished by its use of decentralized infrastructure ...

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...

Microsoft Build 2026: Securing code, agents, and models across the development lifecycle

In this article 1. Secure your code 2. Secure your agents 3. Trust agents with your data 4. Secure your models 5. Trust starts with security Today, developers and security teams are caught in growing tension. AI is accelerating development and introducing new issues around insecure code, opaque...

When configuration becomes a vulnerability: Exploitable misconfigurations in AI apps

In this article 1. Background 2. What is an exploitable misconfiguration? 3. Exploitable misconfigurations in popular AI applications 4. Minimizing the risk: Practical deployment guidance 5. How Microsoft Defender for Cloud helps detect exposures in Kubernetes 6. Learn more AI and agentic...

When configuration becomes a vulnerability: Exploitable misconfigurations in AI apps

In this article 1. Background 2. What is an exploitable misconfiguration? 3. Exploitable misconfigurations in popular AI applications 4. Minimizing the risk: Practical deployment guidance 5. How Microsoft Defender for Cloud helps detect exposures in Kubernetes 6. Learn more AI and agentic...

Breaking the code: Multi-stage ‘code of conduct’ phishing campaign leads to AiTM token compromise

In this article 1. Multi-step social engineering campaign leading to credential theft 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Microsoft Defender detections 4. Hunting queries 5. Indicators of compromise Phishing campaigns continue to improve sophistication and refinement in blending social...

Detection strategies across cloud and identities against infiltrating IT workers

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Activities in pre-recruitment phase 2. Activities in recruiting phase 3. Activities in post-recruitment phase 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. Microsoft Defender XDR detections The shift to remote and hybrid work since the pandemic expanded glob...

Investigating Storm-2755: “Payroll pirate” attacks targeting Canadian employees

In this article 1. Storm-2755’s attack chain 2. Defending against Storm-2755 and AiTM campaigns 3. Microsoft Defender detection and hunting guidance 4. Indicators of compromise Microsoft Incident Response – Detection and Response Team DART researchers observed an emerging, financially motivated...

Top 10 actions to build agents securely with Microsoft Copilot Studio

Organizations are rapidly adopting Copilot Studio agents, but threat actors are equally fast at exploiting misconfigured AI workflows. Mis-sharing, unsafe orchestration, and weak authentication create new identity and data‑access paths that traditional controls don’t monitor. As AI agents become...