CyberMDX and Microsoft: Protecting life-saving medical devices

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association MISA guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. While hospitals continue to battle the COVID-19 pandemic, many are battling other “viruses” behind the scenes. Malware, ransomware, and phishing attacks against healthcare...

BlueVoyant optimizes customer security with Microsoft security services

This blog post is part of the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association MISA guest blog series. Learn more about MISA. What a year it has been. The rapid and unexpected transition to work from home is one of the biggest issues affecting companies of all sizes and industries in 2020. As companies...

Microsoft unifies SIEM and XDR to help stop advanced attacks

For all of us in security, the last twelve months have been an incredible series of challenges—from balancing remote work with family priorities, to helping build resilient businesses, and protecting against the latest attacks. 2020 showed us that while we have made great progress, there is still...

NERC CIP Compliance in Azure vs. Azure Government cloud

As discussed in my last blog post on North American Electric Reliability Corporation—Critical Infrastructure Protection NERC CIP Compliance in Azure, U.S. and Canadian utilities are now free to benefit from cloud computing in Azure for many NERC CIP workloads. Machine learning, multiple data...

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...

Becoming resilient by understanding cybersecurity risks: Part 4—navigating current threats

In part three of this blog series on aligning security with business objectives and risk, we explored what it takes for security leaders to shift from looking at their mission as purely defending against technical attacks, to one that focuses on protecting valuable business assets, data, and...

Thinking about the balance between compliance and security

Today, many organizations still struggle to adhere to General Data Protection Regulation GDPR mandates even though this landmark regulation took effect nearly two years ago. A key learning for some: being compliant does not always mean you are secure. Shifting privacy regulations, combined with...

CISO series: Building a security-minded culture starts with talking to business managers

Cybersecurity is everyones business; protecting the company and its users against data leaks is no longer just the responsibility of IT and security operations. Everyone from the board to Firstline Workers has an important role to play. A culture that encourages individuals to believe they have a...

Sploitlight: Analyzing a Spotlight-based macOS TCC vulnerability

Microsoft Threat Intelligence has discovered a macOS vulnerability that could allow attackers to steal private data of files normally protected by Transparency, Consent, and Control TCC, such as files in the Downloads folder, as well as caches utilized by Apple Intelligence. While similar to prio...

Microsoft Office 365—Do you have a false sense of cloud security?

Through difficult times, some adversaries will find opportunities and COVID-19 has proven to be a ripe opportunity for them to target a new, expanding, remote workforce. While these threats morph and evolve, Microsoft’s Detection and Response Team DART finds ways to endure and help organizations...

Microsoft’s 4 principles for an effective security operations center

The Microsoft Cyber Defense Operations Center CDOC fields trillions of security signals every day. How do we identify and respond to the right threats? One thing that won’t surprise you: we leverage artificial intelligence AI, machine learning, and automation to narrow the focus. But technology i...

Deep learning rises: New methods for detecting malicious PowerShell

Scientific and technological advancements in deep learning, a category of algorithms within the larger framework of machine learning, provide new opportunities for development of state-of-the art protection technologies. Deep learning methods are impressively outperforming traditional methods on...

How Windows Defender Antivirus integrates hardware-based system integrity for informed, extensive endpoint protection

Detecting and stopping attacks that tamper with kernel-mode agents at the hypervisor level is a critical component of the unified endpoint protection platform in Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection Microsoft Defender ATP. It’s not without challenges, but the deep integration of Windows...

Discover and manage shadow IT with Microsoft 365

While IT teams methodically plan corporate adoption of cloud services, the rest of us have dived in headfirst. Ten years ago, a vendor shared a video file with me via Dropbox because it was too big to email. It was my first experience with a cloud file sharing service, and when I realized I could...

March-April 2018 test results: More insights into industry AV tests

In a previous post, in the spirit of our commitment to delivering industry-leading protection, customer choice, and transparency on the quality of our solutions, we shared insights and context into the results of AV-TESTs January-February 2018 test cycle. We released a transparency report to help...

Storm-0978 attacks reveal financial and espionage motives

Microsoft has identified a phishing campaign conducted by the threat actor tracked as Storm-0978 targeting defense and government entities in Europe and North America. The campaign involved the abuse of CVE-2023-36884, which included a remote code execution vulnerability exploited before disclosu...

Microsoft Secure: Explore innovations transforming the future of security

Building a more secure future requires an end-to-end approach. There is no question that technology plays an essential role, but security will always be human-centered. That’s what Microsoft Secure is all about. It’s about sharing knowledge, best practices, and technology innovations that empower...

IIS modules: The evolution of web shells and how to detect them

Web exploitation and web shells are some of the most common entry points in the current threat landscape. Web servers provide an external avenue directly into your corporate network, which often results in web servers being an initial intrusion vector or mechanism of persistence. Monitoring for...

Zero Trust Adoption Report: How does your organization compare?

From the wide adoption of cloud-based services to the proliferation of mobile devices. From the emergence of advanced new cyberthreats to the recent sudden shift to remote work. The last decade has been full of disruptions that have required organizations to adapt and accelerate their security...

Microsoft Defender ATP can help you secure your remote workforce

As the number of home-based workers has accelerated in the last few weeks, it’s introduced new challenges. You may want to expand the number and types of devices employees can use to access company resources. You need to support a surge in SaaS usage. And it’s important to adjust security policie...

Azure Sentinel uncovers the real threats hidden in billions of low fidelity signals

Cybercrime is as much a people problem as it is a technology problem. To respond effectively, the defender community must harness machine learning to compliment the strengths of people. This is the philosophy that undergirds Azure Sentinel. Azure Sentinel is a cloud-native SIEM that exploits...

Microsoft announces new innovations in security, compliance, and identity at Ignite

Today, at the Microsoft Ignite Conference, we’re announcing new innovations designed to help customers across their security, compliance, and identity needs. With so much going on at Ignite this week, I want to highlight the top 10 announcements: 1. Azure Sentinel—We’re introducing new connectors...

Protecting user identities

This is a blog series that responds to common questions we receive from customers about the deployment of Microsoft 365 security solutions. In this series, youll find context, answers, and guidance for deployment and driving adoption within your organization. Check out Cybersecurity threats: How ...

Accelerate your security deployment with FastTrack for Microsoft 365

This blog is part of a series that responds to common questions we receive from customers about Microsoft 365 Security and Enterprise Mobility + Security. In this series youll find context, answers, and guidance for deployment and driving adoption within your organization. Inpart one of this...

​​Forrester names Microsoft a Leader in the 2026 Extended Detection and Response Platforms Wave™ report

We are excited to share that Microsoft has been named a Leader inThe Forrester Wave™: Extended Detection and Response Platforms, Q2 2026. Microsoft ranked the highest of any vendor evaluated in the Strategy category and is the only vendor to receive the highest score in Vision. Microsoft also...

Cybersecurity’s next fight: How to protect employees from online harassment

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 Leigh Honeywell, CEO and Co-founder of Ta...

Secure containerized environments with updated threat matrix for Kubernetes

Last April, we released the first version of the threat matrix for Kubernetes. It was the first attempt to systematically map the threat landscape of Kubernetes. As we described in the previous post, we chose to adapt the structure of MITRE ATT&CK® framework which, became almost an industry...

The dynamic duo: How to build a red and blue team to strengthen your cybersecurity, Part 1

The security community is continuously changing, growing, and learning from each other to better position the world against cyber threats. In the first post of our new Voice of the Community blog series, Microsoft Product Marketing Manager Natalia Godyla talks with Jake Williams, Founder of...

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...

Misconfigured Kubeflow workloads are a security risk

Azure Security Center ASC monitors and defends thousands of Kubernetes clusters running on top of AKS. Azure Security Center regularly searches for and research for new attack vectors against Kubernetes workloads. We recently published a blog post about a large scale campaign against Kubernetes...

Zero Trust Deployment Guide for Microsoft Azure Active Directory

Microsoft is providing a series of deployment guides for customers who have engaged in a Zero Trust security strategy. In this guide, we cover how to deploy and configure Azure Active Directory Azure AD capabilities to support your Zero Trust security strategy. For simplicity, this document will...

GALLIUM: Targeting global telecom

Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center MSTIC is raising awareness of the ongoing activity by a group we call GALLIUM, targeting telecommunication providers. When Microsoft customers have been targeted by this activity, we notified them directly with the relevant information they need to protect...

Patching as a social responsibility

In the wake of the devastating NotPetya attack, Microsoft set out to understand why some customers weren’t applying cybersecurity hygiene, such as security patches, which would have helped mitigate this threat. We were particularly concerned with why patches hadn’t been applied, as they had been...

Building the security operations center of tomorrow—harnessing the law of data gravity

This post was coauthored by Diana Kelley, Cybersecurity Field CTO, and Sin John, EMEA Chief Security Advisor, Cybersecurity Solutions Group. Youve got a big dinner planned and your dishwasher goes on the fritz. You call the repair company and are lucky enough to get an appointment for that...

From the ground up to the cloud: Microsoft’s Intelligent Security supporting CISOs’ cloud transformation

Its no secret that Microsoft has embraced the cloud in a big wayfrom enterprise solutions like Microsoft Azure to Office 365 and Windows. But a recent research report by Forrester focuses on an equally important shift in our approach to securityintegrating workforce and cloud security in ways tha...

How artificial intelligence stopped an Emotet outbreak

At 12:46 a.m. local time on February 3, a Windows 7 Pro customer in North Carolina became the first would-be victim of a new malware attack campaign for Trojan:Win32/Emotet. In the next 30 minutes, the campaign tried to attack over a thousand potential victims, all of whom were instantly and...

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...

Windows 11 enables security by design from the chip to the cloud

Over the last year, PCs have kept us connected to family, friends, and enabled businesses to continue to run. This new hybrid work paradigm has got us thinking about how we will continue to deliver the best possible quality, experience, and security for the more than 1 billion people who use...

Microsoft acquires ReFirm Labs to enhance IoT security

Modern computing devices can be thought of as a collection of discrete microprocessors each with a dedicated function like high-speed networking, graphics, Disk I/O, AI, and everything in between. The emergence of the intelligent edge has accelerated the number of these cloud-connected devices th...

AI security risk assessment using Counterfit

Today, we are releasing Counterfit, an automation tool for security testing AI systems as an open-source project. Counterfit helps organizations conduct AI security risk assessments to ensure that the algorithms used in their businesses are robust, reliable, and trustworthy. AI systems are...

Full Operational Shutdown—another cybercrime case from the Microsoft Detection and Response Team

Recently, we published our first case report 001: …And Then There Were Six by the Microsoft Detection and Response Team DART. We received significant positive response from our customers and colleagues and our team has been getting inquiries asking for more reports. We are glad to share the DART...

Experts on demand: Your direct line to Microsoft security insight, guidance, and expertise

Microsoft Threat Experts is the managed threat hunting service within Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection ATP that includes two capabilities: targeted attack notifications and experts on demand. Today, we are extremely excited to share that experts on demand is now generally available a...

Collaborate securely

This is a blog series that responds to common questions we receive from customers about deployment of Microsoft 365 security solutions. In this series youll find context, answers, and guidance for deployment and driving adoption within your organization. Check out Protecting user identities, the...

Join Microsoft for a security in a day workshop

Let's talk about an integrated security experience. Many of our customers are in various stages of cybersecurity maturity: Initializing Firefighting No formal security program Developing Point solutions/tools for basic controls Pockets of expertise Defining Aligned to frameworks Documented contro...

Take these steps to stay safe from counterfeit software and fraudulent subscriptions

This post is authored by Matt Lundy, Assistant General Counsel, Microsoft. Software piracy and fraudulent subscriptions are serious, industry-wide problems affecting consumers and organizations around the world. In 2016, 39 percent of all software installed on computers was not properly licensed,...

Microsoft is named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection

As threats become more coordinated and faster to execute, endpoint protection has become the proving ground for modern defense. For the seventh consecutive time, Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection. We believe this reflects both the...

Typosquatted npm packages used to steal cloud and CI/CD secrets

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. The lure: typosquats and spoofed metadata 2. Execution: npm lifecycle hook abuse 3. Gen-1 stager: HTTP C2 beacon and payload drop 4. Gen-2 stager: abusing the legitimate Bun runtime as a loader 5. Credential theft 6. Impact and blast radius 2. Mitigatio...

Email threat landscape: Q1 2026 trends and insights

In this article 1. Tycoon2FA disruption impact 2. QR code phishing attacks 3. CAPTCHA tactics 4. Malicious payloads 5. Business email compromise 6. Defending against email threats 7. Microsoft Defender detections During the first quarter of 2026 January-March, Microsoft Threat Intelligence detect...

Forrester names Microsoft a Leader in Q4 2022 Security Analytics Platforms Wave report

We’re excited to announce that Microsoft is named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: Security Analytics Platforms, Q4 2022. Microsoft achieved the highest possible score in 17 different criteria, including partner ecosystem, innovation roadmap, product security, case management, and architecture. Wi...

Finalists announced in second annual Microsoft Security 20/20 awards

2020 was a transformational year. Seemingly overnight, COVID-19 reshaped our perspective on work, home life, and security. Setting up home offices and powering through online presentations in our pajama bottoms with cameos by pets and children, our industry rose to the challenge. All that...