Monthly news - November 2025
Microsoft Defender Monthly news - November 2025 Edition This is our monthly "What's new" blog post, summarizing product updates and various new assets we released over the past month across our Defender products. In this edition, we are looking at all the goodness from October 2025. Defender for Cloud has its own Monthly News post, have a look at their blog space. â° Microsoft Ignite 2025 November 18-20, register now! đ New Virtual Ninja Show episode: Whatâs new for Microsoft Teams protection in Defender for Office 365 Microsoft Defender Custom detections are now the unified experience for creating detections in Microsoft Defender! Read this blog for all the details. How Microsoft Defender helps security teams detect prompt injection attacks in Microsoft 365 Copilot. Weâre excited to share that Microsoft Defender now provides visibility into prompt injection attempts within Microsoft 365 Copilot and helps security teams detect and respond to prompt injection attacks more efficiently and at a broader context, with insights that go beyond individual interaction. Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting reports now include an Emerging threats section that details the proactive, hypothesis-based hunts we conducted in your environment. Each report also now includes investigation summaries for nearly every hunt that Defender Experts conduct in your environment, regardless of whether they identified a confirmed threat. Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR reports now include a Trends tab provides you with the monthly volume of investigated and resolved incidents for the last six months, visualized according to the incidents' severity, MITRE tactic, and threat type. This section gives you insight into how Defender Experts are tangibly improving your security operations by showing important operational metrics on a month-over-month basis. Threat Intelligence Export is now available in Microsoft Sentinel. Traditionally, Microsoft Sentinel has supported importing threat intel from external sources (partners, governments, ISACs, or internal tenants) via Structured Threat Information eXpression (STIX) via Trusted Automated eXchange of Intelligence Information (TAXII). With this new export feature, you can now share curated threat intel back to trusted destinations. This empowers security teams to contribute threat intel to other organizations in support of collective defense, or to their own central platform to add or enrich threat intelligence. Microsoft Defender for Identity Weâre excited to announce that the Defender for Identity Unified Sensor (v3.x) is now generally available (GA). The unified sensor provides enhanced coverage, improved performance across your environment and offering easier deployment and management for domain controllers. Learn more on how to active it in our docs.. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 đ Email Authentication SecOps Guide (New learn doc) - visit & bookmark our short link: https://aka.ms/authguide The following docs article has been updated with with Compauth Codes: Message Headers Reference New blog series: Best practices from the Microsoft Community Defender for Office 365: Migration & Onboarding Onboarding to Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is often treated as a quick setup task, but it should be seen as a critical opportunity to establish strong security foundations. In my roles supporting incident response and security operations in Microsoft 365, I have observed that onboarding is often underestimated. - Purav Desai, Dual Microsoft Security MVP (Most Valuable Professional) This blog covers four key areas that are frequently missed, but they are essential for a secure and auditable deployment of Defender for Office 365. Before diving into the technical details, it is important to clarify a common misconception about Defender for Office 365 protections. Safeguarding Microsoft Teams with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 As organizations rely more on Microsoft Teams for daily collaboration, securing this platform has become a top priority. Threat actors are increasingly targeting Teams chats and channels with phishing links and malicious files, making it critical for IT admins and security professionals to extend protection beyond email. Enter Microsoft Defender for Office 365, now armed with dedicated Teams protection capabilities. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 enables users to report suspicious messages, brings time-of-click scanning of URLs and files into Teams conversations, and provides rich alerts and hunting insights for SecOps teams. As a collaborative piece between Pierre Thoor, a Microsoft Security MVP, and the Defender for Office 365 Product Engineering Team, this guides with accompanying videos emphasize a proactive, user-driven approach to threat detection and response, turning everyday Teams interactions into actionable security signals for SecOps. Microsoft Defender for Endpoint End of Windows 10 Support: What Defender Customers Need to Know As of October 14, 2025, Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 10. This means that Windows 10 devices will no longer receive security or feature updates, nor technical support from Microsoft. While these devices will continue to operate, the lack of regular security updates increases vulnerability to cyber threats, including malware and viruses. Applications running on Windows 10 may also lose support as the platform stops receiving updates. Endpoint Security Policies can now be distributed via MTO's (Multi Tenant Organization) Content Distribution capability. This capability moved from Public Preview to General Availability (GA). With this capability, you can create content distribution profiles in the multi-tenant portal that allow you to seamlessly replicate existing content - such as custom detection rules and now, endpoint security policies - from a source tenant to designated target tenants. Once distributed, the content runs on the target tenant, enabling centralized control with localized execution. You can read the announcement blog for public preview, as the content shares valuable insights. (Public Preview) Streamlined connectivity support for US government environments (GCC, GCC High, DoD). Learn more in our docs. (General Availability) Isolation exclusions. The Isolation exclusions feature is now generally available. Isolation exclusions allow designated processes or endpoints to bypass the restrictions of network isolation, ensuring essential functions continue while limiting broader network exposure. Learn more in our docs. Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management (Public Preview) Microsoft Secure Score now includes three new Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) based proactive recommendations that help organizations prevent common endpoint attack techniques including web-shell persistence, misuse of system tools, and Safe Mode based evasion. (Public Preview) You can now use CVE exceptions to exclude specific Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVEs) from analysis in your environment. CVE exceptions allow you to control what type of data is relevant to your organization and to selectively exclude certain data from your remediation efforts. For more information, see Exceptions in Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management and Create, view, and manage exceptions. For more information, see Exceptions in Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management and Create, view, and manage exceptions. Microsoft Security Blogs The new Microsoft Security Store unites partners and innovation On September 30, 2025, Microsoft announced a bold new vision for security: a unified, AI-powered platform designed to help organizations defend against todayâs most sophisticated cyberthreats. But an equally important storyâone thatâs just beginning to unfoldâis how the Microsoft Security Store is bringing this vision to life through a vibrant ecosystem of partners, developers, and innovatorsâall contributing together to deliver more value and security to our customers. Security Store is the gateway for customers to easily discover, buy, and deploy trusted security solutions and AI agents from leading partnersâall verified by Microsoft Security product teams to work seamlessly with Microsoft Security products. Inside the attack chain: Threat activity targeting Azure Blob Storage Azure Blob Storage is a high-value target for threat actors due to its critical role in storing and managing massive amounts of unstructured data at scale across diverse workloads and is increasingly targeted through sophisticated attack chains that exploit misconfigurations, exposed credentials, and evolving cloud tactics. Investigating targeted âpayroll pirateâ attacks affecting US universities Microsoft Threat Intelligence has identified a financially motivated threat actor that we track as Storm-2657 compromising employee accounts to gain unauthorized access to employee profiles and divert salary payments to attacker-controlled accounts, attacks that have been dubbed âpayroll pirateâ. Disrupting threats targeting Microsoft Teams Threat actors seek to abuse Microsoft Teams features and capabilities across the attack chain, underscoring the importance for defenders to proactively monitor, detect, and respond effectively. Harden your identity defense with improved protection, deeper correlation, and richer context Expanded ITDR featuresâincluding the new Microsoft Defender for Identity sensor, now generally availableâbring improved protection, correlation, and context to help customers modernize their identity defense.GenAI vs Cyber Threats: Why GenAI Powered Unified SecOps Wins
Cybersecurity is evolving faster than ever. Attackers are leveraging automation and AI to scale their operations, so how can defenders keep up? The answer lies in Microsoft Unified Security Operations powered by Generative AI (GenAI). This opens the Cybersecurity Paradox: Attackers only need one successful attempt, but defenders must always be vigilant, otherwise the impact can be huge. Traditional Security Operation Centers (SOCs) are hampered by siloed tools and fragmented data, which slows response and creates vulnerabilities. On average, attackers gain unauthorized access to organizational data in 72 minutes, while traditional defense tools often take on average 258 days to identify and remediate. This is over eight months to detect and resolve breaches, a significant and unsustainable gap. Notably, Microsoft Unified Security Operations, including GenAI-powered capabilities, is also available and supported in Microsoft Government Community Cloud (GCC) and GCC High/DoD environments, ensuring that organizations with the highest compliance and security requirements can benefit from these advanced protections. The Case for Unified Security Operations Unified security operations in Microsoft Defender XDR consolidates SIEM, XDR, Exposure management, and Enterprise Security Posture into a single, integrated experience. This approach allows the following: Breaks down silos by centralizing telemetry across identities, endpoints, SaaS apps, and multi-cloud environments. Infuses AI natively into workflows, enabling faster detection, investigation, and response. Microsoft Sentinel exemplifies this shift with its Data Lake architecture (see my previous post on Microsoft Sentinelâs New Data Lake: Cut Costs & Boost Threat Detection), offering schema-on-read flexibility for petabyte-scale analytics without costly data rehydration. This means defenders can query massive datasets in real time, accelerating threat hunting and forensic analysis. GenAI: A Force Multiplier for Cyber Defense Generative AI transforms security operations from reactive to proactive. Hereâs how: Threat Hunting & Incident Response GenAI enables predictive analytics and anomaly detection across hybrid identities, endpoints, and workloads. It doesnât just find threatsâit anticipates them. Behavioral Analytics with UEBA Advanced User and Entity Behavior Analytics (UEBA) powered by AI correlates signals from multi-cloud environments and identity providers like Okta, delivering actionable insights for insider risk and compromised accounts. [13 -Micros...s new UEBA | Word] Automation at Scale AI-driven playbooks streamline repetitive tasks, reducing manual workload and accelerating remediation. This frees analysts to focus on strategic threat hunting. Microsoft Innovations Driving This Shift For SOC teams and cybersecurity practitioners, these innovations mean you spend less time on manual investigations and more time leveraging actionable insights, ultimately boosting productivity and allowing you to focus on higher-value security work that matters most to your organization. Plus, by making threat detection and response faster and more accurate, you can reduce stress, minimize risk, and demonstrate greater value to your stakeholders. Sentinel Data Lake: Unlocks real-time analytics at scale, enabling AI-driven threat detection without rehydration costs. Microsoft Sentinel data lake overview UEBA Enhancements: Multi-cloud and identity integrations for unified risk visibility. Sentinel UEBAâs Superpower: Actionable Insights You Can Use! Now with Okta and Multi-Cloud Logs! Security Copilot & Agentic AI: Harnesses AI and global threat intelligence to automate detection, response, and compliance across the security stack, enabling teams to scale operations and strengthen Zero Trust defenses defenders. Security Copilot Agents: The New Era of AI, Driven Cyber Defense Sector-Specific Impact All sectors are different, but I would like to focus a bit on the public sector at this time. This sector and critical infrastructure organizations face unique challenges: talent shortages, operational complexity, and nation-state threats. GenAI-centric platforms help these sectors shift from reactive defense to predictive resilience, ensuring mission-critical systems remain secure. By leveraging advanced AI-driven analytics and automation, public sector organizations can streamline incident detection, accelerate response times, and proactively uncover hidden risks before they escalate. With unified platforms that bridge data silos and integrate identity, endpoint, and cloud telemetry, these entities gain a holistic security posture that supports compliance and operational continuity. Ultimately, embracing generative AI not only helps defend against sophisticated cyber adversaries but also empowers public sector teams to confidently protect the services and infrastructure their communities rely on every day. Call to Action Artificial intelligence is driving unified cybersecurity. Solutions like Microsoft Defender XDR and Sentinel now integrate into a single dashboard, consolidating alerts, incidents, and data from multiple sources. AI swiftly correlates information, prioritizes threats, and automates investigations, helping security teams respond quickly with less manual work. This shift enables organizations to proactively manage cyber risks and strengthen their resilience against evolving challenges. Picture a single pane of glass where all your XDRs and Defenders converge, AI instantly shifts through the noise, highlighting what matters most so teams can act with clarity and speed. That may include: Assess your SOC maturity and identify silos. Use the Security Operations Self-Assessment Tool to determine your SOCâs maturity level and provide actionable recommendations for improving processes and tooling. Also see Security Maturity Model from the Well-Architected Framework Explore Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, and Security Copilot for AI-powered security. Explains progressive security maturity levels and strategies for strengthening your security posture. What is Microsoft Defender XDR? - Microsoft Defender XDR and What is Microsoft Security Copilot? Design Security in Solutions from Day One! Drive embedding security from the start of solution design through secure-by-default configurations and proactive operations, aligning with Zero Trust and MCRA principles to build resilient, compliant, and scalable systems. Design Security in Solutions from Day One! Innovate boldly, Deploy Safely, and Never Regret it! Upskill your teams on GenAI tools and responsible AI practices. Guidance for securing AI apps and data, aligned with Zero Trust principles Build a strong security posture for AI About the Author: Hello Jacques "Jackâ here! I am a Microsoft Technical Trainer focused on helping organizations use advanced security and AI solutions. I create and deliver training programs that combine technical expertise with practical use, enabling teams to adopt innovations like Microsoft Sentinel, Defender XDR, and Security Copilot for stronger cyber resilience. #SkilledByMTT #MicrosoftLearnAnnouncing General Availability: Unified identity and endpoint sensor
This milestone streamlines the deployment of on-premises identity security by unifying our endpoint and identity protection into a single sensor, pre-installed and ready for activation on Domain Controllers running Windows Server 2019 or newer. What Is a sensor? Whatâs new about this version? Viewed through a cybersecurity lens, a âsensorâ is a software component that monitors and protects critical infrastructure. Serving as one of the first lines of defense against threat actors, they continuously scan corporate resources for malicious activity or misconfigurations to ensure your organization remains secure. Like many security solutions, Microsoft Defender relies on sensors to gain visibility into the endpoints and on-premises identity infrastructure within your environment. The telemetry they provide â plus unmatched Microsoft Threat Intelligence â enables us to help security professionals better detect and respond to potential threats targeting their domains. Individually, the insights into the endpoints and users are extremely valuable. But when used in tandem, they provide a holistic view and protection for identity infrastructure. V3.x takes this co-existence a step further and merges the components, eliminating the need for installing and maintaining two distinct sensors. For qualifying Domain Controllers, itâs fast and simple to activate with a click of a button, optimized for performance, and is embedded within the Windows operating system. What does this mean for customers? New customers can now easily activate identity protections on critical on-premises identity infrastructure by deploying v3.x to eligible Domain Controllers in a matter of clicks. This streamlined approach reduces deployment complexity, minimizes configuration errors, and accelerates time-to-protection. It also allows security teams to focus on threat detection and response instead of managing infrastructure prerequisites. Additional benefits include: Built into the OS â The sensor is now part of Windows Server 2019 and later (with the latest cumulative update), eliminating many of the prerequisites required by earlier sensor versions. âOne-clickâ activation â Once your domain controller is onboarded to Defender for Endpoint for Servers, enabling identity protections can be done in just a matter of clicks within the Defender portal. You no longer need to download and distribute the sensor deployment packages, installing .NET dependencies, configuring NPCAP for interoperability, or opening ports for Network Name Resolution (NNR). Increased automation â You can even enable automatic activation for all domain controllers that meet the requirements, ensuring continuous protection with zero extra effort. How to get started: Review the prerequisites listed within our documentation to determine if you are eligible to deploy v3.x If you meet all the pre-requisites, use the detailed activation guide here to activate v3.x. Once activated we recommend you opt-in to apply unified sensor Remote Procedure Call (RPC) audit tags. By applying these tag, you enable advanced identity detections that rely on RPC monitoring via the Windows Filtering Platform (WFP). This unlocks additional alerts and visibility for identity-based threats. What's next? Join us at Microsoft Ignite in San Francisco on November 17â21, or online, November 18â20, for deep dives and practical labs to help you maximize your Microsoft Defender investments and to get more from the Microsoft capabilities you already use. Security is a core focus at Ignite this year, with the Security Forum on November 17th, deep dive technical sessions, theater talks, and hands-on labs designed for security leaders and practitioners Featured sessions BRK237: Identity Under Siege: Modern ITDR from Microsoft Join experts in Identity and Security to hear how Microsoft is streamlining collaboration across teams and helping customers better protect, detect, and respond to threats targeting your identity fabric. BRK240 â Endpoint security in the AI era: What's new in Defender Discover how Microsoft Defenderâs AI-powered endpoint security empowers you to do more, better, faster. BRK236 â Your SOCâs ally against cyber threats, Microsoft Defender Experts See how Defender Experts detect, halt, and manage threats for you, with real-world outcomes and demos. LAB541 â Defend against threats with Microsoft Defender Get hands-on with Defender for Office 365 and Defender for Endpoint, from onboarding devices to advanced attack mitigation. Explore and filter the full security catalog by topic, format, and role: aka.ms/SessionCatalogSecurity. Why attend? Ignite is the place to learn about the latest Defender capabilities, including new agentic AI integrations and unified threat protection. We will also share future-facing innovations in Defender, as part of our ongoing commitment to autonomous defense. Security ForumâMake day 0 count (November 17) Kick off with an immersive, in person preday focused on strategic security discussions and real-world guidance from Microsoft leaders and industry experts. Select Security Forum during registration. Register for Microsoft Ignite >Introducing the new PowerShell Module for Microsoft Defender for Identity
Today, I am excited to introduce a new PowerShell module designed to help further simplify the deployment and configuration of Microsoft Defender for Identity. This tool will make it easier than ever to protect your organization from identity-based cyber-threats.Ready to accelerate your Zero Trust journey? Discover whatâs next
For admins | 1-minute read Zero Trust isnât just a security buzzwordâitâs the new baseline for protecting your organization in a world where threats are always evolving. But what does it really take to move from strategy to action? Find out by reading our recent blog, Accelerate your Zero Trust journey: Using the Microsoft Zero Trust workshop for impact on the M365 Accelerator site. In it, we break down some of the real-world challenges IT admins face and show how this hands-on workshop can help you build a clear roadmap forward. For example, learn how you can use the workshop to: Assess and improve your security posture by evaluating your organizationâs current security maturity across six critical Zero Trust pillars (Identity, Devices, Data, Network, Infrastructure, Security Operations), identify gaps, and prioritize actions for improvement. Drive cross-team alignment and executive buy-in by bringing together stakeholders from security, infrastructure, networking, and compliance for communication, consensus building, and creating a data-driven roadmap that resonates with leadership. Turn security strategy into actionable results with practical steps for leveraging the Zero Trust Workshop to transform security from a reactive task into a proactive, strategic advantage for your organization. Next steps Ready to move beyond theory and see how Microsoftâs approach can help you secure identities, apps, and data? Then Accelerate your Zero Trust journey is your next must-read. Get the full story and workshop details here.
Host Microsoft Defender data locally in the United Arab Emirates
We are pleased to announce that local data residency support in the UAE is now generally available for Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Microsoft Defender for Identity.⯠This announcement reinforces our ongoing commitment to delivering secure, compliant services aligned with local data sovereignty requirements. Customers can now confidently onboard to Defender for Endpoint and Defender for Identity in the UAE, knowing that this Defender data will remain at rest within the UAE data boundary. This allows customers toâŻmeet their regulatory obligations and maintain control over their data. For more details on the Defender data storage and privacy policies, refer toâŻMicrosoft Defender for Endpoint data storage and privacyâŻandâŻMicrosoft Defender for Identity data security and privacy. Note:âŻDefender for Endpoint and Defender for Identity mayâŻpotentially use other Microsoft services (i.e. Microsoft Intune for security settings management). Each Microsoft service is governed by its own data storage and privacy policies and may have varying regional availability. For more information, refer to ourâŻOnline Product Terms. In addition to the UAE, Defender data residency capabilities are available in the United States, the European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Switzerland and India (see our recent announcement for local data hosting in India). Customers with Existing deployments for Defender for Endpoint and/or Defender for Identity Existing customers can check their deployment geoâŻwithin the portal by going to Settings -> Microsoft Defender XDR-> Account; and see where the service is storing your data at rest. For example,âŻin the image below, the service location for the Defender XDR tenant is UAE. ation information If you would like to update your service location, please reach out to Customer Service and Support for a tenant reset. Support can be accessed by clicking on the â?â icon in the top right corner of the portal when signed in as an Admin (see image below). If you are a Microsoft Unified support customer, please reach out to your Customer Success Account Manager for assistance with the migration process. More information: Ready to go local? Read our documentation for more information on how toâŻget started. Microsoft Defender XDR data center location Not yet a customer? Take Defender XDR for a spin via aâŻ90-day trial for Office 365 E5âŻor Defender for Endpoint viaâŻa 90-day trial for Defender for Endpoint Check out the Defender for Endpoint websiteâŻto learn more about our industry leading Endpoint protection platform Check out the Defender for Identity websiteâŻto learn how to keep your organization safe against rising identity threatsMonthly news - October 2025
Microsoft Defender Monthly news - October 2025 Edition This is our monthly "What's new" blog post, summarizing product updates and various new assets we released over the past month across our Defender products. In this edition, we are looking at all the goodness from September 2025. Defender for Cloud has it's own Monthly News post, have a look at their blog space. â° Microsoft Ignite 2025 November 18-20, register now! đ New Virtual Ninja Show episodes: Defender for Endpoint: Customize settings for optimum performance The new Defender for Identity sensor explained Expanding Microsoft Sentinel UEBA Transitioning the Sentinel SIEM experience from Azure to the Defender portal Microsoft Defender Move your Microsoft Sentinel experience into Microsoft Defender to streamline security operations into a single, AI-powered interface. This move enhances analyst efficiency, integrates threat insights, and improves response times through automation and advanced posture management. Customers are encouraged to begin planning their migration now to ensure a smooth transition and maximize the benefits of the new experience. Learn more about panning your move to the Defender portal here. Microsoft Defender delivered 242% return on investment over three yearsââ. âThe latest 2025 commissioned Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact⢠(TEI) study reveals a 242% ROI over three years for organizations that chose Microsoft Defender. Read more in our blog. Custom detection rules get a boost. If you are a Microsoft Sentinel user and have connected your Sentinel workspace to Microsoft Defender, you are probably more familiar with analytics rules in Microsoft Sentinel and are looking to explore the capabilities and benefits of custom detections. Understanding and leveraging custom detection rules can significantly enhance your organization's security posture. This blog will delve into the benefits of custom detections and showcase scenarios that highlight their capabilities, helping you make the most of this robust feature. (Public Preview) In advanced hunting, you can now hunt using the hunting graph, which renders rendering predefined threat scenarios as interactive graphs. (Public Preview) You can investigate incidents using Blast radius analysis, which is an advanced graph visualization built on the Microsoft Sentinel data lake and graph infrastructure. This feature generates an interactive graph showing possible propagation paths from the selected node to predefined critical targets scoped to the userâs permissions. Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps (Public Preview) Protect Copilot Studio AI Agents in Real Time with Microsoft Defender. Microsoft Defender offers real-time protection during runtime for AI agents built with Microsoft Copilot Studio. This capability automatically blocks the agentâs response during runtime if a suspicious behavior like a prompt injection attack is detected, and notifies security teams with a detailed alert in the Microsoft Defender portal. Learn more about it in this blog. Protect against OAuth Attacks in Salesforce with Microsoft Defender. In this blog, we will delve only into one of the Salesforce OAuth attack campaign and provide guidance on how organizations can use Microsoft Defender to protect against this and similar SaaS attack campaigns. Microsoft Defender for Identity Defender for Identity data centers are now also deployed in the United Arab Emirates, North and Central regions. For the most current list of regional deployments, see Defender for Identity data locations. (Public Preview) We are excited to announce the availability of a new Graph-based API for managing unified agent server actions in Defender for Identity. This capability is currently in preview and available in API Beta version. This API allows customers to: Monitor the status of unified agent servers Enable or disable the automatic activation of eligible servers Activate or deactivate the agent on eligible serversâ For more information, see Managing unified agent actions through Graph API. Several Defender for Identity detections are being updated to reduce noise and improve accuracy, making alerts more reliable and actionable. As the rollout continues, you might see a decrease in the number of alerts raised. Learn more on our docs page. We've added a new tab on the Identity profile page that contains all active identity-related identity security posture assessments (ISPMs). This feature consolidates all identity-specific security posture assessments into a single contextual view, helping security teams quickly spot weaknesses and take targeted actions. Learn more on our docs page. (Public Preview) Defender for Identity supports the Unified connectors experience, starting with the Okta Single Sign-On connector. This enables Defender for Identity to collect Okta system logs once and share them across supported Microsoft security products, reducing API usage and improving connector efficiency. For more information, see: Connect Okta to Microsoft Defender for Identity Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Near real-time URL protection in Teams messages: - Known, malicious URLs in Teams messages are delivered with a warning. Messages found to contain malicious URLs up to 48 hours after delivery also receive a warning. The warning is added to messages in internal and external chats and channels for all URL verdicts (not just malware or high confidence phishing). Users can report external and intra-org Microsoft Teams messages as non-malicious (not a security risk) from the following locations: Chats Standard, shared, and private channels Meeting conversations User reported settings determine whether reported messages are sent to the specified reporting mailbox, to Microsoft, or both. Also added support for Teams message reporting on Teams mobile client. Microsoft Security Exposure Management Cloud Attack Paths now reflect real, externally driven and exploitable risks that adversaries could use to compromise your organization, helping you cut through the noise and act faster. The paths now focus on external entry points and how attackers could progress through your environment reaching business-critical targets. Read more about it in this blog: Refining Attack Paths: Prioritizing Real-World, Exploitable Threats The legacy Azure AD Connect asset rule has been removed from Critical Assets. Its associated device role, AzureADConnectServer, will be deprecated in December 2025. Ensure all relevant custom rules are transitioned to use the new device role, EntraConnectServer, to maintain compliance and visibility. For more information, see Predefined classification. New predefined classifications: predefined Device classification rules for SharePoint Server and Microsoft Entra ID Cloud Sync were added to the critical assets list. For more information, see Predefined classification. We have added new data connectors for Wiz and Palo Alto Prisma. These connectors enable seamless integration of vulnerability and asset data from leading cloud security platforms into Microsoft Security Exposure Management, providing enhanced visibility and context for your environments. For more information, see: Wiz data connector, Palo Alto Prisma data connector. Microsoft Security Blogs https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/09/24/ai-vs-ai-detecting-an-ai-obfuscated-phishing-campaign/ Microsoft Threat Intelligence recently detected and blocked a credential phishing campaign that likely used AI-generated code to obfuscate its payload and evade traditional defenses, demonstrating a broader trend of attackers leveraging AI to increase the effectiveness of their operations and underscoring the need for defenders to understand and anticipate AI-driven threats. XCSSET evolves again: Analyzing the latest updates to XCSSETâs inventory Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered a new variant of the XCSSET malware, which is designed to infect Xcode projects, typically used by software developers building Apple or macOS-related applications.Introducing Microsoft Security Store
Security is being reengineered for the AI eraâmoving beyond static, rulebound controls and after-the-fact response toward platform-led, machine-speed defense. We recognize that defending against modern threats requires the full strength of an ecosystem, combining our unique expertise and shared threat intelligence. But with so many options out there, itâs tough for security professionals to cut through the noise, and even tougher to navigate long procurement cycles and stitch together tools and data before seeing meaningful improvements. Thatâs why we built Microsoft Security Store - a storefront designed for security professionals to discover, buy, and deploy security SaaS solutions and AI agents from our ecosystem partners such as Darktrace, Illumio, and BlueVoyant. Security SaaS solutions and AI agents on Security Store integrate with Microsoft Security products, including Sentinel platform, to enhance end-to-end protection. These integrated solutions and agents collaborate intelligently, sharing insights and leveraging AI to enhance critical security tasks like triage, threat hunting, and access management. In Security Store, you can: Buy with confidence â Explore solutions and agents that are validated to integrate with Microsoft Security products, so you know theyâll work in your environment. Listings are organized to make it easy for security professionals to find whatâs relevant to their needs. For example, you can filter solutions based on how they integrate with your existing Microsoft Security products. You can also browse listings based on their NIST Cybersecurity Framework functions, covering everything from network security to compliance automation â helping you quickly identify which solutions strengthen the areas that matter most to your security posture. Simplify purchasing â Buy solutions and agents with your existing Microsoft billing account without any additional payment setup. For Azure benefit-eligible offers, eligible purchases contribute to your cloud consumption commitments. You can also purchase negotiated deals through private offers. Accelerate time to value â Deploy agents and their dependencies in just a few steps and start getting value from AI in minutes. Partners offer ready-to-use AI agents that can triage alerts at scale, analyze and retrieve investigation insights in real time, and surface posture and detection gaps with actionable recommendations. A rich ecosystem of solutions and AI agents to elevate security posture In Security Store, youâll find solutions covering every corner of cybersecurityâthreat protection, data security and governance, identity and device management, and more. To give you a flavor of what is available, here are some of the exciting solutions on the store: Darktraceâs ActiveAI Security SaaS solution integrates with Microsoft Security to extend self-learning AI across a customer's entire digital estate, helping detect anomalies and stop novel attacks before they spread. The Darktrace Email Analysis Agent helps SOC teams triage and threat hunt suspicious emails by automating detection of risky attachments, links, and user behaviors using Darktrace Self-Learning AI, integrated with Microsoft Defender and Security Copilot. This unified approach highlights anomalous properties and indicators of compromise, enabling proactive threat hunting and faster, more accurate response. Illumio for Microsoft Sentinel combines Illumio Insights with Microsoft Sentinel data lake and Security Copilot to enhance detection and response to cyber threats. It fuses data from Illumio and all the other sources feeding into Sentinel to deliver a unified view of threats across millions of workloads. AI-driven breach containment from Illumio gives SOC analysts, incident responders, and threat hunters unified visibility into lateral traffic threats and attack paths across hybrid and multi-cloud environments, to reduce alert fatigue, prioritize threat investigation, and instantly isolate workloads. Netskopeâs Security Service Edge (SSE) platform integrates with Microsoft M365, Defender, Sentinel, Entra and Purview for identity-driven, label-aware protection across cloud, web, and private apps. Netskope's inline controls (SWG, CASB, ZTNA) and advanced DLP, with Entra signals and Conditional Access, provide real-time, context-rich policies based on user, device, and risk. Telemetry and incidents flow into Defender and Sentinel for automated enrichment and response, ensuring unified visibility, faster investigations, and consistent Zero Trust protection for cloud, data, and AI everywhere. PERFORMANTA Email Analysis Agent automates deep investigations into email threats, analyzing metadata (headers, indicators, attachments) against threat intelligence to expose phishing attempts. Complementing this, the IAM Supervisor Agent triages identity risks by scrutinizing user activity for signs of credential theft, privilege misuse, or unusual behavior. These agents deliver unified, evidence-backed reports directly to you, providing instant clarity and slashing incident response time. Tanium Autonomous Endpoint Management (AEM) pairs realtime endpoint visibility with AI-driven automation to keep IT environments healthy and secure at scale. Tanium is integrated with the Microsoft Security suiteâincluding Microsoft Sentinel, Defender for Endpoint, Entra ID, Intune, and Security Copilot. Tanium streams current state telemetry into Microsoftâs security and AI platforms and lets analysts pivot from investigation to remediation without tool switching. Tanium even executes remediation actions from the Sentinel console. The Tanium Security Triage Agent accelerates alert triage, enabling security teams to make swift, informed decisions using Tanium Threat Response alerts and real-time endpoint data. Walkthrough of Microsoft Security Store Now that youâve seen the types of solutions available in Security Store, letâs walk through how to find the right one for your organization. You can get started by going to the Microsoft Security Store portal. From there, you can search and browse solutions that integrate with Microsoft Security products, including a dedicated section for AI agentsâall in one place. If you are using Microsoft Security Copilot, you can also open the store from within Security Copilot to find AI agents - read more here. Solutions are grouped by how they align with industry frameworks like NIST CSF 2.0, making it easier to see which areas of security each one supports. You can also filter by integration typeâe.g., Defender, Sentinel, Entra, or Purviewâand by compliance certifications to narrow results to what fits your environment. To explore a solution, click into its detail page to view descriptions, screenshots, integration details, and pricing. For AI agents, youâll also see the tasks they perform, the inputs they require, and the outputs they produce âso you know what to expect before you deploy. Every listing goes through a review process that includes partner verification, security scans on code packages stored in a secure registry to protect against malware, and validation that integrations with Microsoft Security products work as intended. Customers with the right permissions can purchase agents and SaaS solutions directly through Security Store. The process is simple: choose a partner solution or AI agent and complete the purchase in just a few clicks using your existing Microsoft billing accountâno new payment setup required. Qualifying SaaS purchases also count toward your Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment (MACC), helping accelerate budget approvals while adding the security capabilities your organization needs. Security and IT admins can deploy solutions directly from Security Store in just a few steps through a guided experience. The deployment process automatically provisions the resources each solution needsâsuch as Security Copilot agents and Microsoft Sentinel data lake notebook jobsâso you donât have to do so manually. Agents are deployed into Security Copilot, which is built with security in mind, providing controls like granular agent permissions and audit trails, giving admins visibility and governance. Once deployment is complete, your agent is ready to configure and use so you can start applying AI to expand detection coverage, respond faster, and improve operational efficiency. Security and IT admins can view and manage all purchased solutions from the âMy Solutionsâ page and easily navigate to Microsoft Cost Management tools to track spending and manage subscriptions. Partners: grow your business with Microsoft For security partners, Security Store opens a powerful new channel to reach customers, monetize differentiated solutions, and grow with Microsoft. We will showcase select solutions across relevant Microsoft Security experiences, starting with Security Copilot, so your offerings appear in the right context for the right audience. You can monetize both SaaS solutions and AI agents through built-in commerce capabilities, while tapping into Microsoftâs go-to-market incentives. For agent builders, itâs even simplerâwe handle the entire commerce lifecycle, including billing and entitlement, so you donât have to build any infrastructure. You focus on embedding your security expertise into the agent, and we take care of the rest to deliver a seamless purchase experience for customers. Security Store is built on top of Microsoft Marketplace, which means partners publish their solution or agent through the Microsoft Partner Center - the central hub for managing all marketplace offers. From there, create or update your offer with details about how your solution integrates with Microsoft Security so customers can easily discover it in Security Store. Next, upload your deployable package to the Security Store registry, which is encrypted for protection. Then define your license model, terms, and pricing so customers know exactly what to expect. Before your offer goes live, it goes through certification checks that include malware and virus scans, schema validation, and solution validation. These steps help give customers confidence that your solutions meet Microsoftâs integration standards. Get started today By creating a storefront optimized for security professionals, we are making it simple to find, buy, and deploy solutions and AI agents that work together. Microsoft Security Store helps you put the right AIâpowered tools in place so your team can focus on what matters mostâdefending against attackers with speed and confidence. Get started today by visiting Microsoft Security Store. If youâre a partner looking to grow your business with Microsoft, start by visiting Microsoft Security Store - Partner with Microsoft to become a partner. Partners can list their solution or agent if their solution has a qualifying integration with Microsoft Security products, such as a Sentinel connector or Security Copilot agent, or another qualifying MISA solution integration. You can learn more about qualifying integrations and the listing process in our documentation here.Cybersecurity: What Every Business Leader Needs to Know Now
As a Senior Cybersecurity Solution Architect, Iâve had the privilege of supporting organisations across the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United Statesâspanning sectors from finance to healthcareâin strengthening their security posture. One thing has become abundantly clear: cybersecurity is no longer the sole domain of IT departments. It is a strategic imperative that demands attention at board-level. This guide distils five key lessons drawn from real-world engagements to help executive leaders navigate todayâs evolving threat landscape. These insights are not merely technicalâthey are cultural, operational, and strategic. If youâre a C-level executive, this article is a call to action: reassess how your organisation approaches cybersecurity before the next breach forces the conversation. In this article, I share five lessons (and quotes) from the field that help demystify how to enhance an organisationâs security posture. 1. Shift the Mindset âThis has always been our approach, and weâve never experienced a breachâso why should we change it?â A significant barrier to effective cybersecurity lies not in the sophistication of attackers, but in the predictability of human behaviour. If youâve never experienced a breach, itâs tempting to maintain the status quo. However, as threats evolve, so too must your defences. Many cyber threats exploit well-known vulnerabilities that remain unpatched or rely on individuals performing routine tasks in familiar ways. Human nature tends to favour comfort and habitâtraits that adversaries are adept at exploiting. Unlike many organisations, attackers readily adopt new technologies to advance their objectives, including AI-powered ransomware to execute increasingly sophisticated attacks. It is therefore imperative to recogniseâwithout delayâthat the advent of AI has dramatically reduced both the effort and time required to compromise systems. As the UKâs National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has stated: âAI lowers the barrier for novice cyber criminals, hackers-for-hire and hacktivists to carry out effective access and information gathering operations. This enhanced access will likely contribute to the global ransomware threat over the next two years.â Similarly, McKinsey & Company observed: âAs AI quickly advances cyber threats, organisations seem to be taking a more cautious approach, balancing the benefits and risks of the new technology while trying to keep pace with attackersâ increasing sophistication.â To counter this evolving threat landscape, organisations must proactively leverage AI in their cyber defence strategies. Examples include: Identity and Access Management (IAM): AI enhances IAM by analysing real-time signals across systems to detect risky sign-ins and enforce adaptive access controls. Example: Microsoft Entra Agents for Conditional Access use AI to automate policy recommendations, streamlining access decisions with minimal manual input. Figure 1: Microsoft Entra Agents Threat Detection: AI accelerates detection, response, and recovery, helping organisations stay ahead of sophisticated threats. Example: Microsoft Defender for Cloudâs AI threat protection identifies prompt injection, data poisoning, and wallet attacks in real time. Incident Response: AI facilitates real-time decision-making, removing emotional bias and accelerating containment and recovery during security incidents. Example: Automatic Attack Disruption in Defender XDR, which can automatically contain a breach in progress. AI Security Posture Management AI workloads require continuous discovery, classification, and protection across multi-cloud environments. Example: Microsoft Defender for Cloudâs AI Security Posture Management secures custom AI apps across Azure, AWS, and GCP by detecting misconfigurations, vulnerabilities, and compliance gaps. Data Security Posture Management (DSPM) for AI AI interactions must be governed to ensure privacy, compliance, and insider risk mitigation. Example: Microsoft Purview DSPM for AI enables prompt auditing, applies Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to third-party AI apps like ChatGPT, and supports eDiscovery and lifecycle management. AI Threat Protection Organisations must address emerging AI threat vectors, including prompt injection, data leakage, and model exploitation. Example: Defender for AI (private preview) provides model-level security, including governance, anomaly detection, and lifecycle protection. Embracing innovation, automation, and intelligent defence is the secret sauce for cyber resilience in 2026. 2. Avoid One-Off Purchases â Invest with a Strategy âOne MDE and one Sentinel to go, please.â Organisations often approach me intending to purchase a specific cybersecurity productâsuch as Microsoft Defender for Endpoint (MDE)âwithout a clearly articulated strategic rationale. My immediate question is: what is the broader objective behind this purchase? Is it driven by perceived value or popularity, or does it form part of a well-considered strategy to enhance endpoint security? Cybersecurity investments should be guided by a long-term, holistic strategy that spans multiple years and is periodically reassessed to reflect evolving threats. Strengthening endpoint protection must be integrated into a wider effort to improve the organisationâs overall security posture. This includes ensuring seamless integration between security solutions and avoiding operational silos. For example, deploying robust endpoint protection is of limited value if identities are not safeguarded with multi-factor authentication (MFA), or if storage accounts remain publicly accessible. A cohesive and forward-looking approach ensures that all components of the security architecture work in concert to mitigate risk effectively. Security Adoption Journey (Based on Zero Trust Framework) Assess â Evaluate the threat landscape, attack surface, vulnerabilities, compliance obligations, and critical assets. Align â Link security objectives to broader business goals to ensure strategic coherence. Architect â Design integrated and scalable security solutions, addressing gaps and eliminating operational silos. Activate â Implement tools with robust governance and automation to ensure consistent policy enforcement. Advance â Continuously monitor, test, and refine the security posture to stay ahead of evolving threats. Security tools are not fast foodâthey work best as part of a long-term plan, not a one-off order. This piecemeal approach runs counter to the modern Zero Trust security model, which assumes no single tool will prevent every breach and instead implements layered defences and integration. 3. Legacy Systems Are Holding You Back âUnfortunately, we are unable to implement phishing-resistant MFA, as our legacy app does not support integration with the required protocols.â A common challenge faced by many organisations I have worked with is the constraint on innovation within their cybersecurity architecture, primarily due to continued reliance on legacy applicationsâoften driven by budgetary or operational necessity. These outdated systems frequently lack compatibility with modern security technologies and may introduce significant vulnerabilities. A notable example is the deployment of phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (MFA)âsuch as FIDO2 security keys or certificate-based authenticationâwhich requires advanced identity protocols and conditional access policies. These capabilities are available exclusively through Microsoft Entra ID. To address this issue effectively, it is essential to design security frameworks based on the organisationâs future aspirations rather than its current limitations. By adopting a forward-thinking approach, organisations can remain receptive to emerging technologies that align with their strategic cybersecurity objectives. Moreover, this perspective encourages investment in acquiring the necessary talent, thereby reducing reliance on extensive change management and staff retraining. I advise designing for where you want to be in the next 1â3 yearsâideally cloud-first and identity-drivenâessentially adopting a Zero Trust architecture, rather than being constrained by the limitations of legacy systems. 4. Collaboration Is a Security Imperative âThis item will need to be added to the dev team's backlog. Given their current workload, they will do their best to implement GitHub Security in Q3, subject to capacity.â Cybersecurity threats may originate from various parts of an organisation, and one of the principal challenges many face is the fragmented nature of their defence strategies. To effectively mitigate such risks, cybersecurity must be embedded across all departments and functions, rather than being confined to a single team or role. In many organisations, the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) operates in isolation from other C-level executives, which can limit their influence and complicate the implementation of security measures across the enterprise. Furthermore, some teams may lack the requisite expertise to execute essential security practices. For instance, an R&D lead responsible for managing developers may not possess the necessary skills in DevSecOps. To address these challenges, it is vital to ensure that the CISO is empowered to act without political or organisational barriers and is supported in implementing security measures across all business units. When the CISO has backing from the COO and HR, initiatives such as MFA rollout happen faster and more thoroughly. Cross-Functional Security Responsibilities Role Security Responsibilities R&D - Adopt DevSecOps practices - Identify vulnerabilities early - Manage code dependencies - Detect exposed secrets - Embed security in CI/CD pipelines CIO - Ensure visibility over organizational data - Implement Data Loss Prevention (DLP) - Safeguard sensitive data lifecycle - Ensure regulatory compliance CTO - Secure cloud environments (CSPM) - Manage SaaS security posture (SSPM) - Ensure hardware and endpoint protection COO - Protect digital assets - Secure domain management - Mitigate impersonation threats - Safeguard digital marketing channels and customer PII Support & Vendors - Deliver targeted training - Prevent social engineering attacks - Improve awareness of threat vectors HR - Train employees on AI-related threats - Manage insider risks - Secure employee data - Oversee cybersecurity across the employee lifecycle Empowering the CISO to act across departments helps organisations shift towards a security-first cultureâembedding cybersecurity into every function, not just IT. 5. Compliance Is Not Security âWeâre compliant, so we must be secure.â Many organisations mistakenly equate passing auditsâsuch as ISO 27001 or SOC 2âwith being secure. While compliance frameworks help establish a baseline for security, they are not a guarantee of protection. Determined attackers are not deterred by audit checklists; they exploit gaps, misconfigurations, and human error regardless of whether an organisation is certified. Moreover, due to the rapidly evolving nature of the cyber threat landscape, compliance frameworks often struggle to keep pace. By the time a standard is updated, attackers may already be exploiting new techniques that fall outside its scope. This lag creates a false sense of security for organisations that rely solely on regulatory checkboxes. Security is a continuous risk management processânot a one-time certification. It must be embedded into every layer of the enterprise and treated with the same urgency as other core business priorities. Compliance may be the starting line, not the finish line. Effective security goes beyond meeting regulatory requirementsâit demands ongoing vigilance, adaptability, and a proactive mindset. Conclusion: Cybersecurity Is a Continuous Discipline Cybersecurity is not a destinationâit is a continuous journey. By embracing strategic thinking, cross-functional collaboration, and emerging technologies, organisations can build resilience against todayâs threats and tomorrowâs unknowns. The lessons shared throughout this article are not merely technicalâthey are cultural, operational, and strategic. If there is one key takeaway, it is this: avoid piecemeal fixes and instead adopt an integrated, future-ready security strategy. Due to the rapidly evolving nature of the cyber threat landscape, compliance frameworks alone cannot keep pace. Security must be treated as a dynamic, ongoing processâone that is embedded into every layer of the enterprise and reviewed regularly. Organisations should conduct periodic security posture reviews, leveraging tools such as Microsoft Secure Score or monthly risk reports, and stay informed about emerging threats through threat intelligence feeds and resources like the Microsoft Digital Defence Report, CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency), NCSC (UK National Cyber Security Centre), and other open-source intelligence platforms. As Ann Johnson aptly stated in her blog: âThe most prepared organisations are those that keep asking the right questions and refining their approach together.â Cyber resilience demands ongoing investmentâin people (through training and simulation drills), in processes (via playbooks and frameworks), and in technology (through updates and adoption of AI-driven defences). To reduce cybersecurity risk over time, resilient organisations must continually refine their approach and treat cybersecurity as an ongoing discipline. The time to act is now. Resources: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/report/impact-of-ai-on-cyber-threat Defend against cyber threats with AI solutions from Microsoft - Microsoft Industry Blogs Generative AI Cybersecurity Solutions | Microsoft Security Require phishing-resistant multifactor authentication for Microsoft Entra administrator roles - Microsoft Entra ID | Microsoft Learn AI is the greatest threatâand defenseâin cybersecurity today. Hereâs why. Microsoft Entra Agents - Microsoft Entra | Microsoft Learn Smarter identity security starts with AI https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/06/12/cyber-resilience-begins-before-the-crisis/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/security-insider/threat-landscape/microsoft-digital-defense-report-2023-critical-cybersecurity-challenges https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/blog/2025/06/12/cyber-resilience-begins-before-the-crisis/
