​​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...

AI is accelerating cyberattacks—here’s how to stay ahead

In March, we wrote that identity security has become the new pressure point for modern cyberattacks. Since then, AI has only increased that pressure. AI helps cyberattackers move faster across the attack chain: personalizing social engineering at scale, automating reconnaissance, analyzing leaked...

AI is accelerating cyberattacks—here’s how to stay ahead

In March, we wrote that identity security has become the new pressure point for modern cyberattacks. Since then, AI has only increased that pressure. AI helps cyberattackers move faster across the attack chain: personalizing social engineering at scale, automating reconnaissance, analyzing leaked...

Microsoft Defender email security benchmarking: Key insights from one year of data

Microsoft publishes quarterly email security benchmarking data comparing Microsoft Defender against secure email gateway SEG and integrated cloud email security ICES vendors using real-world threat telemetry. A year ago, we set out to change how email security effectiveness is measured. With our...

Microsoft Defender email security benchmarking: Key insights from one year of data

Microsoft publishes quarterly email security benchmarking data comparing Microsoft Defender against secure email gateway SEG and integrated cloud email security ICES vendors using real-world threat telemetry. A year ago, we set out to change how email security effectiveness is measured. With our...

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...

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...

Reconstructing AI activity in investigations

AI systems are now part of everyday work. Investigators need a consistent way to reconstruct what happened within them. Security teams are already investigating activity involving Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure AI services—from prompt injection attempts to unexpected data access. Those signals a...

Reconstructing AI activity in investigations

AI systems are now part of everyday work. Investigators need a consistent way to reconstruct what happened within them. Security teams are already investigating activity involving Microsoft 365 Copilot and Azure AI services—from prompt injection attempts to unexpected data access. Those signals a...

AI brands as bait: How threat actors are using the AI hype in social engineering

In this article 1. ChatGPT-themed lure leads to phishing kit collecting credit card data 2. Claude-themed phishing campaign collected credentials and access tokens 3. "Awesome AI Windows Plugin” malvertising deploys Vidar stealer 4. Fake DeepSeek V4 installers on GitHub delivered Vidar Stealer 5...

AI brands as bait: How threat actors are using the AI hype in social engineering

In this article 1. ChatGPT-themed lure leads to phishing kit collecting credit card data 2. Claude-themed phishing campaign collected credentials and access tokens 3. "Awesome AI Windows Plugin” malvertising deploys Vidar stealer 4. Fake DeepSeek V4 installers on GitHub delivered Vidar Stealer 5...

Securing CI/CD in an agentic world: Claude Code Github action case

Microsoft Threat Intelligence discovered that Anthropic's Claude Code GitHub Action could expose CI/CD workflow secrets when AI agents process untrusted GitHub content, including issue bodies, pull request descriptions, and comments. We found that while Claude Code Action supported environment...

Securing CI/CD in an agentic world: Claude Code Github action case

Microsoft Threat Intelligence discovered that Anthropic's Claude Code GitHub Action could expose CI/CD workflow secrets when AI agents process untrusted GitHub content, including issue bodies, pull request descriptions, and comments. We found that while Claude Code Action supported environment...

Updating the taxonomy of failure modes in agentic AI systems: What a year of red teaming taught us

In this article 1. Why the Taxonomy Needed Updating 2. Seven new failure modes 3. Operational findings: What red teaming showed 4. New mitigations 5. What to do this quarter When the Microsoft AI Red Team published the Taxonomy of Failure Modes in Agentic AI Systems in April 2025, the goal was a...

Updating the taxonomy of failure modes in agentic AI systems: What a year of red teaming taught us

In this article 1. Why the Taxonomy Needed Updating 2. Seven new failure modes 3. Operational findings: What red teaming showed 4. New mitigations 5. What to do this quarter When the Microsoft AI Red Team published the Taxonomy of Failure Modes in Agentic AI Systems in April 2025, the goal was a...

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...

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 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...

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...

Malicious npm packages abuse dependency confusion to profile developer environments

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 2. Threat actor attribution 3. Mitigation and protection guidance 4. Indicators of Compromise IOC 5. References 6. Learn more Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered an active supply chain attack involving malicious npm packages registered under...

Malicious npm packages abuse dependency confusion to profile developer environments

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 2. Threat actor attribution 3. Mitigation and protection guidance 4. Indicators of Compromise IOC 5. References 6. Learn more Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered an active supply chain attack involving malicious npm packages registered under...

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...

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...

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...

The Gentlemen ransomware: Dissecting a self-propagating Go encryptor

In this article 1. Pre-encryption 2. File encryption 3. Post-encryption 4. Defending against The Gentlemen ransomware 5. Microsoft Defender detections and hunting guidance 6. Indicators of compromise Ransomware that combines robust encryption with rapid lateral movement significantly increases th...

The Gentlemen ransomware: Dissecting a self-propagating Go encryptor

In this article 1. Pre-encryption 2. File encryption 3. Post-encryption 4. Defending against The Gentlemen ransomware 5. Microsoft Defender detections and hunting guidance 6. Indicators of compromise Ransomware that combines robust encryption with rapid lateral movement significantly increases th...

From poisoned search results to GPU mining: A cryptojacking campaign abusing ScreenConnect and Microsoft .NET utilities

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. References 4. Learn more Microsoft Defender Experts identified an active cryptojacking campaign in which malicious download sites are surfaced not only through traditional search engine poisoning, but also through A...

From poisoned search results to GPU mining: A cryptojacking campaign abusing ScreenConnect and Microsoft .NET utilities

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 3. References 4. Learn more Microsoft Defender Experts identified an active cryptojacking campaign in which malicious download sites are surfaced not only through traditional search engine poisoning, but also through A...

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...

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...

From edge appliance to enterprise compromise: Multi-stage Linux intrusion via F5 and Confluence

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Initial access: Exploiting edge appliances 2. Discovery and reconnaissance 3. Lateral movement and identity compromise 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 1. Microsoft Defender XDR detections 2. Advanced hunting 3. Indicators of compromise IOC 4. MITR...

From edge appliance to enterprise compromise: Multi-stage Linux intrusion via F5 and Confluence

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Initial access: Exploiting edge appliances 2. Discovery and reconnaissance 3. Lateral movement and identity compromise 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 1. Microsoft Defender XDR detections 2. Advanced hunting 3. Indicators of compromise IOC 4. MITR...

Microsoft Security success stories: How St. Luke’s and ManpowerGroup are securing AI foundations

AI is reshaping how work gets done—and how risks emerge across cloud, data, identity, and more. Many organizations want AI-powered productivity, but their security foundations aren’t yet built for it. As organizations move toward AI-powered operating models, security becomes the critical enabler ...

Microsoft Security success stories: How St. Luke’s and ManpowerGroup are securing AI foundations

AI is reshaping how work gets done—and how risks emerge across cloud, data, identity, and more. Many organizations want AI-powered productivity, but their security foundations aren’t yet built for it. As organizations move toward AI-powered operating models, security becomes the critical enabler ...

What’s new in Microsoft Security: May 2026

At Microsoft, security innovations are purpose-built to help every organization protect end-to-end with the speed and scale of AI. Our vision is simple: security should be ambient and autonomous, just like the AI it protects. As organizations accelerate AI adoption, security teams are navigating...

What’s new in Microsoft Security: May 2026

At Microsoft, security innovations are purpose-built to help every organization protect end-to-end with the speed and scale of AI. Our vision is simple: security should be ambient and autonomous, just like the AI it protects. As organizations accelerate AI adoption, security teams are navigating...

Mini Shai Hulud: Compromised @antv npm packages enable CI/CD credential theft

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Technical analysis 2. How GitHub took action to prevent further harm 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 1. Microsoft Defender XDR Detections 2. Microsoft Defender XDR Threat analytics 3. Advanced hunting 4. Indicators of Compromise IOC 3. References ...

Mini Shai Hulud: Compromised @antv npm packages enable CI/CD credential theft

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Technical analysis 2. How GitHub took action to prevent further harm 2. Mitigation and protection guidance 1. Microsoft Defender XDR Detections 2. Microsoft Defender XDR Threat analytics 3. Advanced hunting 4. Indicators of Compromise IOC 3. References ...

Securing the gaming culture of cultures

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...

Introducing RAMPART and Clarity: Open source tools to bring safety into Agent development workflow

In this article 1. Why we are investing in this 2. RAMPART: Continuous safety testing for agentic AI 3. Clarity: Helping check software engineering assumptions 4. RAMPART and Clarity available now The AI systems shipping inside enterprises today are fundamentally different from the ones we were...

Exposing Fox Tempest: A malware-signing service operation

In this article 1. Fox Tempest’s role and impact 2. Fox Tempest’s malware signing as a service infrastructure 3. Defending against Fox Tempest-enabled attacks 4. Microsoft Defender detections 5. Indicators of compromise Fox Tempest is a financially motivated threat actor that operates a...

Exposing Fox Tempest: A malware-signing service operation

In this article 1. Fox Tempest’s role and impact 2. Fox Tempest’s malware signing as a service infrastructure 3. Defending against Fox Tempest-enabled attacks 4. Microsoft Defender detections 5. Indicators of compromise Fox Tempest is a financially motivated threat actor that operates a...

How Storm-2949 turned a compromised identity into a cloud-wide breach

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Cloud compromise: Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 2. Initial access and persistence through targeted social engineering and SSPR abuse 3. Directory discovery and persistence 4. Microsoft 365 discovery and exfiltration 5. Cloud compromise: Microsoft...

How Storm-2949 turned a compromised identity into a cloud-wide breach

In this article 1. Attack chain overview 1. Cloud compromise: Microsoft Entra ID and Microsoft 365 2. Initial access and persistence through targeted social engineering and SSPR abuse 3. Directory discovery and persistence 4. Microsoft 365 discovery and exfiltration 5. Cloud compromise: Microsoft...

How to better protect your growing business in an AI-powered world

AI is rapidly reshaping how work gets done in companies and organizations. In celebrating National Small Business Month, we want to acknowledge the unique challenges that growing business leaders face as AI creates both opportunity and risk. They face constant tradeoffs between moving fast,...

Defense in depth for autonomous AI agents

Designing Secure Autonomous AI Agents with Defense in Depth AI agents are moving beyond assistance and into action. Instead of generating content, they invoke tools, modify data, trigger workflows, and operate across systems with increasing autonomy. This shift changes the security problem...

Defense in depth for autonomous AI agents

Designing Secure Autonomous AI Agents with Defense in Depth AI agents are moving beyond assistance and into action. Instead of generating content, they invoke tools, modify data, trigger workflows, and operate across systems with increasing autonomy. This shift changes the security problem...

Kazuar: Anatomy of a nation-state botnet

In this article 1. Delivery 2. Module types 3. Botnet operations 4. Who is Secret Blizzard? 5. Mitigation and protection guidance 6. Microsoft Defender detections Kazuar, a sophisticated malware family attributed to the Russian state actor Secret Blizzard, has been under constant development for...

Kazuar: Anatomy of a nation-state botnet

In this article 1. Delivery 2. Module types 3. Botnet operations 4. Who is Secret Blizzard? 5. Mitigation and protection guidance 6. Microsoft Defender detections Kazuar, a sophisticated malware family attributed to the Russian state actor Secret Blizzard, has been under constant development for...