Microsoft software and cloud platforms underpin enterprise systems, so vulnerabilities and security advisories can affect identity, data, and operations.
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Background for this topic.
Microsoft is a technology company whose Windows, Microsoft 365, Azure, identity services, and developer tools form a widely deployed enterprise computing ecosystem. Its security relevance spans endpoint and server software, cloud control planes, authentication, collaboration data, and the update mechanisms used to maintain them.
Security news under this tag commonly concerns vulnerabilities requiring patching, exploits against exposed services, identity or token compromise, and misconfiguration of cloud permissions or authentication policies. Practitioners should verify affected versions and exposure, apply updates or mitigations, enforce multifactor authentication and least privilege, and monitor relevant audit logs. Incidents involving Microsoft-hosted identities or data may require rapid session and credential containment, investigation across cloud and on-premises systems, and assessment of privacy or regulatory obligations.
Microsoft announced today that it will deprecate WordPad with a future Windows update as it's no longer under active development, though the company did not specify the precise timing of this change. [...]
Microsoft has reminded customers that systems running Windows 11 21H2 will be force-updated before reaching the end of servicing next month. [...]
Microsoft has announced it is retiring Visual Studio for Mac and that support for the latest version, 17.6, will continue for another year, until August 31, 2024. [...]
Threat actors are exploiting poorly secured Microsoft SQL (MS SQL) servers to deliver Cobalt Strike and a ransomware strain called FreeWorld
Microsoft will soon allow users in the European Union, as well as from Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway, to once again open all links in Windows using their default web browser rather than forcing the use of Microsoft Edge. [...]
It could be used to put ethical hackers, and citizens, behind bars A controversial United Nations proposal has a new foe, Microsoft, which has joined the growing number of organizations warning delegates that the draft version of the UN cybercrime treaty only succeeds in justifying state surveillance — not stopping criminals, as originally intended.…
New findings show that malicious actors could leverage a sneaky malware detection evasion technique and bypass endpoint security solutions by manipulating the Windows Container Isolation Framework
A coordinated law enforcement effort codenamed Operation Duck Hunt has felled QakBot, a notorious Windows malware family that's estimated to have compromised over 700,000 computers globally and facilitated financial fraud as well as ransomware
The FBI announced today the disruption of the Qakbot botnet in an international law enforcement operation that not only seized infrastructure but also uninstalled the malware from infected devices. [...]
Totally plucked: Agents remotely roasted Windows botnet malware on victims' machines Uncle Sam today said an international law enforcement effort dismantled Qakbot, aka QBot, a notorious botnet and malware loader responsible for losses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars worldwide, and seized more than $8.6 million in illicit cryptocurrency.…
The U.S. government today announced a coordinated crackdown against QakBot, a complex malware family used by multiple cybercrime groups to lay the groundwork for ransomware infections. The international law enforcement operation involved seizing control over the botnet's online infrastructure, and quietly removing the Qakbot malware from tens of thousands of infected Microsoft Windows computer systems.
Microsoft announced today that Exchange Server 2016 and 2019 now come with support for HTTP Strict Transport Security (also known as HSTS). [...]
Existing phishing-as-a-service platforms are increasingly incorporating adversary-in-the-middle capabilities
Microsoft is warning of an increase in adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) phishing techniques, which are being propagated as part of the phishing-as-a-service (PhaaS) cybercrime model
MSI and Microsoft warn about new Windows Preview blue screens on some motherboards, the latest mishap to raise questions over the reliability of hardware and firmware.
Microsoft announced today that Windows Extended Protection will be enabled by default on servers running Exchange Server 2019 starting this fall after installing the 2023 H2 Cumulative Update (CU14). [...]
Microsoft says the recent wave of blue screens impacting some Windows users is not caused by issues in its August 2023 optional updates. [...]
Cybersecurity researchers have discovered a case of privilege escalation associated with a Microsoft Entra ID (formerly Azure Active Directory) application by taking advantage of an abandoned reply URL
PLUS: India calls for global action on AI and crypto; Vietnam seeks cybersecurity independence; China bans AI prescribing drugs Asia In Brief Taiwan-based infosec consultancy Team T5 has disputed Microsoft's alleged timeline of just when a Beijing-linked attack group named Flax Typhoon commenced its campaigns.…
Microsoft is experimenting with different approaches to introduce new users to Windows 11's features as soon as they complete the initial setup, also known as the "Out of Box Experience" (OOBE). [...]