Protect your organizations against QR code phishing with Defender for Office 365
QR code phishing campaigns have most recently become the fastest growing type of email-based attack. These types of attacks are growing and embed QR code images linked to malicious content directly into the email body, to evade detection. They often entice unwitting users with seemingly genuine prompts, like a password reset or a two-factor authentication request. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is continuously adapting as threat actors evolve their methodologies. In this blog post we’ll share more details on how we’re helping defenders address this threat and keeping end-users safe.
Build custom email security reports and dashboards with workbooks in Microsoft Sentinel
Security teams in both small and large organizations track key metrics to make critical security decisions and identify meaningful trends in their organizations. Defender for Office 365 has rich, built-in reporting capabilities that provide insights into your security posture to support these needs. However, sometimes security teams require custom reporting solutions to create dedicated views, combine multiple data sources, and get additional insights to meet their needs. We previously shared an example of how you can leverage Power BI and the Microsoft Defender XDR Advanced Hunting APIs to build a custom dashboard and shared a template that you can customize and extend. In this blog, we will showcase how you can use workbooks in Microsoft Sentinel to build a custom dashboard for Defender for Office 365. We will also share an example workbook that is now available and can be customized based on your organization’s needs. Why use workbooks in Microsoft Sentinel? There are many potential benefits to using workbooks if you already use Microsoft Sentinel and already stream the hunting data tables for Defender for Office 365: You can choose to store data for a longer period of time via configuring longer retention for tables you use for your workbooks. For example you can store Defender for Office 365 EmailEvents table data for 1 year and build visuals over longer period of time. You can customize your visuals easily based on your organization’s needs. You can configure auto-refresh for the workbook to keep the data shown up to date. You can access ready to use workbook templates and customize them if it's needed. Getting started After you connect your data sources to Microsoft Sentinel, you can visualize and monitor the data using workbooks in Microsoft Sentinel. Ensure that Microsoft Defender XDR is installed in your Microsoft Sentinel instance, so you can use Defender for Office 365 data with a few simple steps. Detection and other Defender for Office 365 insights are already available as raw data in the Microsoft Defender XDR advanced hunting tables: EmailEvents - contains information about all emails EmailAttachmentInfo - contains information about attachments in emails EmailUrlInfo - contains information about URLs in emails EmailPostDeliveryEvents – contains information about Zero-hour auto purge (ZAP) or Manual remediation events UrlClickEvents - contains information about Safe Links clicks from email messages, Microsoft Teams, and Office 365 apps in supported desktop, mobile, and web apps. CloudAppEvents – CloudAppEvents can be used to visualize user reported Phish emails and Admin submissions with Defender for Office 365. The Microsoft Defender XDR solution in Microsoft Sentinel provides a connector to stream the above data continuously into Microsoft Sentinel. Microsoft Sentinel then allows you to create custom workbooks across your data or use existing workbook templates available with packaged solutions or as standalone content from the content hub. How to access the workbook template We are excited to share a new workbook template for Defender for Office 365 detection and data visualization, which is available in the Microsoft Sentinel Content hub. The workbook is part of the Microsoft Defender XDR solution. If you are already using our solution, this update is now available for you. If you are installing the Microsoft Defender XDR solution for the first time, this workbook will be available automatically after installation. After the Microsoft Defender XDR solution is installed (or updated to the latest available version), simply navigate to the Workbooks area in Microsoft Sentinel and on the Templates tab select Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Detection and Insights. Using the “View Template” action loads the workbook. What insights are available in the template? The template has the following sections with each section deep diving into various areas of email security, providing details and insights to security team members: Detection overview Email - Malware Detections Email - Phish Detections Email - Spam Detections Email - Business Compromise Detections (BEC) Email - Sender Authentication based Detections URL Detections and Clicks Email - Top Users/Senders Email - Detection Overrides False Negative/Positive Submissions File - Malware Detections (SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive) Post Delivery Detections and Admin Actions Email - Malware Detections Email - Business Compromise Detections (BEC) Email - Sender Authentication based Detections URL Detections and Clicks False Negative/Positive Submissions File - Malware Detections (SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive) Post Delivery Detections and Admin Actions Can I customize the workbook? Yes, absolutely. Based on the email attributes in the Advanced Hunting schema, you can define more functions and visuals as needed. For example, you can use the DetectionMethods field to analyse detections caught by capabilities like Spoof detections, Safe Attachment, and detection for emails containing URLs extracted from QR codes. You can also bring other data sources into Microsoft Sentinel as tables and use them when creating visuals in the workbook. This sample workbook is a powerful showcase for how you can use the Defender for Office 365 raw detection data to visualize email security detection insights directly in Microsoft Sentinel. It enables organizations to easily create customized dashboards that can help them analyse, track their threat landscape, and respond quickly—based on unique requirements. Do you have questions or feedback about Microsoft Defender for Office 365? Engage with the community and Microsoft experts in the Defender for Office 365 forum. More information Integrate Microsoft Defender XDR with Microsoft Sentinel. Learn more about Microsoft Sentinel workbooks. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Detection Details Report – Updated Power BI template for Microsoft Sentinel and Log Analytics Learn more about Microsoft Defender XDR.
Attack Simulation Training: Using machine learning to drive more effective simulations
Attack Simulation Training (AST) is an advanced tool that helps security teams improve their performance. It allows teams to run intelligent simulations and consume actionable insights, which can then be used to remediate risks and change behavior. With the addition of intelligent features like predicted compromise rate, and payload recommendations, we look to improve the payload efficacy, and increase the overall quality of simulations within an organization.Best Practices for Investigating Phishing Incidents in Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Discover best practices for investigating phishing incidents with Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Learn how to use the Incidents tab, analyze threats, and accelerate response with Security Copilot’s AI-powered guidance.You may be right after all! Disputing Submission Responses in Microsoft Defender for Office 365
Introduction As a Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) specializing in SIEM, XDR, and Cloud Security, I have witnessed the rapid evolution of cybersecurity technologies, especially those designed to protect organizations from sophisticated threats targeting email and collaboration tools. Microsoft Defender for Office 365 introduced an LLM-based engine to help better classify phishing emails that, these days, are mostly written using AI anyways about a year ago. Today, I'm excited to spotlight a new place AI has been inserted into a workflow to make it better…a feature that elevates the transparency and responsiveness of threat management: the ability to dispute a submission response directly within Microsoft Defender for Office 365. Understanding the Challenge While the automated and human-driven analyses are robust in Defender for Office 365, there are occasions where the response—be it a verdict of "benign" or "malicious"— doesn’t fully align with the security team's context or threat intelligence. If you are a Microsoft 365 organization with Exchange Online mailboxes, you’re probably familiar with how admins can use the Submissions page in the Microsoft Defender portal to submit messages, URLs, and attachments to Microsoft for analysis. As a recent enhancement, now all the admin submissions use LLM based response for better explainability. In the past, disputing such verdicts required separate support channels, using Community support, or manual email processes, often delaying resolution and impacting the speed of cyber operations. Introducing the Dispute Submission Response Feature With the new dispute submission response feature, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 bridges a critical gap in the incident response workflow. Now, when a security analyst or administrator receives a verdict on a submitted item, they have the option to dispute the response directly within the Microsoft 365 Defender portal. This feature streamlines feedback, allowing teams to quickly flag disagreements and provide additional context for review at the speed of operations. How It Works Upon submission of a suspicious item, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 provides a response indicating its assessment—malicious, benign, or other categorizations. If the security team disagrees with the verdict, they can select the "Dispute" option and submit their rationale, including supporting evidence and threat intelligence. The disputed case is escalated directly to Microsoft’s threat research team for further review, and the team is notified of progress and outcomes. This direct feedback loop not only empowers security teams to advocate for their organization's unique context, but also enables Microsoft to continually refine detection algorithms and verdict accuracy based on real-world input, because security is a team sport. Benefits for Security Operations Faster Resolution: Streamlined dispute submission eliminates the need for external support tickets and escalations, reducing turnaround time for critical cases. Greater Transparency: The feature fosters a collaborative relationship between customers and Microsoft, ensuring that verdicts are not final judgments but points in an ongoing dialogue. Continuous Improvement: Feedback from disputes enhances Microsoft’s threat intelligence and improves detection for all Defender for Office 365 users. Empowerment: Security teams gain a stronger voice in the protection of their environment, reinforcing trust in automated defenses. MVP Insights: Real-World Impact Having worked with global enterprises, I’ve seen how nuanced and context-specific threats can be. Sometimes, what appears benign to one organization may be a targeted attack for another, a slight modification to a URL may catch one email, but not others, as slight changes are made as billions of emails are sent. We are only as good as the consortium. The ability to dispute submission responses creates a vital safety net, ensuring that security teams are not forced to accept verdicts that could expose them to risk. It’s a welcome step toward adaptive, user-driven security operations. Conclusion The dispute submission response feature in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 is one of the most exciting features for me, because it focuses on enabling organizations striving for agility and accuracy in threat management. By enabling direct, contextual feedback, Microsoft empowers security teams to play an active role in shaping their defenses. As an MVP, I encourage all users to leverage this feature, provide detailed feedback, and help drive the future of secure collaboration in the cloud. You may be right after all. _________ This blog has been generously and expertly authored by Microsoft Security MVP, Mona Ghadiri with support of the Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product team. Mona Ghadiri Microsoft Security MVP Learn More and Meet the Author 1) December 16th Ask the Experts Webinar: Microsoft Defender for Office 365 | Ask the Experts: Tips and Tricks (REGISTER HERE) DECEMBER 16, 8 AM US Pacific You’ve watched the latest Microsoft Defender for Office 365 best practices videos and read the blog posts by the esteemed Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs). Now bring your toughest questions or unique situations straight to the experts. In this interactive panel discussion, Microsoft MVPs will answer your real-world scenarios, clarify best practices, and highlight practical tips surfaced in the recent series. We’ll kick off with a who’s who and recent blog/video series recap, then dedicate most of the time to your questions across migration, SOC optimization, fine-tuning configuration, Teams protection, and even Microsoft community engagement. Come ready with your questions (or pre-submit here) for the expert Security MVPs on camera, or the Microsoft Defender for Office 365 product team in the chat! REGISTER NOW for 12/16. 2) Additional MVP Tips and Tricks Blogs and Videos in this Four-Part Series: 1. Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Migration & Onboarding by Purav Desai 2. Safeguarding Microsoft Teams with Microsoft Defender for Office 365 by Pierre Thoor 3. (This blog post) You may be right after all! Disputing Submission Responses in Microsoft Defender for Office 365 by Mona Ghadiri 4. Microsoft Defender for Office 365: Fine-Tuning | Real-world Defender for Office 365 tuning that closes real attack paths by Joe Stocker Learn and Engage with the Microsoft Security Community Log in and follow this Microsoft Defender for Office 365 blog and follow/post in the Microsoft Defender for Office 365 discussion space. Follow = Click the heart in the upper right when you're logged in 🤍 Learn more about the Microsoft MVP Program. Join the Microsoft Security Community and be notified of upcoming events, product feedback surveys, and more. Get early access to Microsoft Security products and provide feedback to engineers by joining the Microsoft Customer Connection Community. Join the Microsoft Security Community LinkedIn
