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.Protection Against Email Bombs with Microsoft Defender for Office 365
In today's digital age, email remains a critical communication tool for businesses and individuals. However, with the increasing sophistication of cyberattacks, email security has become more important than ever. One such threat that has been growing is the email bombing, a form of net abuse that sends large volumes of email to an address to overflow the mailbox, overwhelm the server, or distract attention from important email messages indicating a security breach. Email bomb - Wikipedia Understanding Email Bombing Email bombing, typically involves subscribing victims to a large number of legitimate newsletter and subscription services. Each subscription service sends email notifications, which in aggregate create a large stream of emails into the victim’s inbox, making email triage for legitimate emails very difficult. This form of attack is essentially a denial-of-service (DDOS) on the victim's email triaging attention budget. Hybrid Attacks More recently, email subscription bombs have been coupled with simultaneous lures on Microsoft Teams, Zoom, or via phone calls. Attackers impersonate IT support and offer to help solve the email problem caused by the spike of unwanted emails, ultimately compromising the victim's system or installing malware on their system. This type of attack is brilliant because it creates a sense of urgency and legitimacy, making victims more likely to accept remote assistance and inadvertently allow malware planting or data theft. Read about the use of mail bombs where threat actors misused Quick Assist in social engineering attacks leading to ransomware | Microsoft Security Blog. Incidence and Purpose of Email Bombing Email bombing attacks have been around for many years but can have significant impacts on targeted individuals, such as enterprise executives, HR or finance representatives. These attacks are often used as precursors to more serious security incidents, including malware planting, ransomware, and data exfiltration. They can also mute important security alerts, making it easier for attackers to carry out fraudulent activities without detection. New Detection technology for Mail Bombing attacks To address the limitations of current defenses which often include the victim’s attempt to build their own mail flow rules, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 releases a comprehensive solution involving a durable block to limit the influx of emails, majority of which are often Spam. By intelligently tracking message volumes across different sources and time intervals, this new detection leverages historical patterns of the sender and signals related to spam content. It prevents mail bombs from being dropped into the user’s inbox and the messages are rather sent to the Junk folder (of Outlook). Note: Safe sender lists in Outlook continue to be honored, so emails from trustworthy sources are not unexpectedly moved to the Junk folder (in order to prevent false positives). Since the initial rollout that started in early May, we’ve seen a tremendous impact in blocking mail bombing attacks out of our customers’ inboxes: How to leverage new “Mail bombing” detection technology in SOC experiences 1. Investigation and hunting: SOC analysts can now view the new Detection technology as Mail bombing within the following surfaces: Threat Explorer, Email entity page and Advanced Hunting empowering them to investigate, filter and hunt for threats related to mail bombing. 2. Custom detection rule: To analyze the frequency and volume of attacks from mail bombing vector, or to have automated alerts configured to notify SOC user whenever there is a mail bombing attack, SOC analysts can utilize the custom detection rules in Advanced hunting by writing a KQL query using data in DetectionMethods column of EmailEvents table. Here’s a sample query to get you started: EmailEvents | where Timestamp > ago(1d) | where DetectionMethods contains "Mail bombing" | project Timestamp, NetworkMessageId, SenderFromAddress, Subject, ReportId The SOC experiences are rolled out worldwide to all customers. Conclusion Email bombs represent an incidental threat in the world of cybersecurity. With the new detection technology for Mail Bombing, Microsoft Defender for Office 365 protects users from these attacks and empowers Security Operations Center Analysts to ensure to gain visibility into such attacks and take quick actions to keep organizations safe! Note: The Mail bombing protection is available by default in Exchange Online Protection and Microsoft Defender for Office 365 plans. This blog post is associated with Message Center post MC1096885. Also read Part 2 of our blog series to learn more about protection against multi-modal attacks involving mail bombing and correlation of Microsoft Teams activity in Defender. Learn: Detection technology details table What's on the Email entity page Filterable properties in the All email view in Threat ExplorerPlanning your move to Microsoft Defender portal for all Microsoft Sentinel customers
In November 2023, Microsoft announced our strategy to unify security operations by bringing the best of XDR and SIEM together. Our first step was bringing Microsoft Sentinel into the Microsoft Defender portal, giving teams a single, comprehensive view of incidents, reducing queue management, enriching threat intel, streamlining response and enabling SOC teams to take advantage of Gen AI in their day-to-day workflow. Since then, considerable progress has been made with thousands of customers using this new unified experience; to enhance the value customers gain when using Sentinel in the Defender portal, multi-tenancy and multi-workspace support was added to help customers with more sophisticated deployments. Our mission is to unify security operations by bringing all your data, workflows, and people together to unlock new capabilities and drive better security outcomes. As a strong example of this, last year we added extended posture management, delivering powerful posture insights to the SOC team. This integration helps build a closed-loop feedback system between your pre- and post-breach efforts. Exposure Management is just one example. By bringing everything together, we can take full advantage of AI and automation to shift from a reactive to predictive SOC that anticipates threats and proactively takes action to defend against them. Beyond Exposure Management, Microsoft has been constantly innovating in the Defender experience, adding not just SIEM but also Security Copilot. The Sentinel experience within the Defender portal is the focus of our innovation energy and where we will continue to add advanced Sentinel capabilities going forward. Onboarding to the new unified experience is easy and doesn’t require a typical migration. Just a few clicks and permissions. Customers can continue to use Sentinel in the Azure portal while it is available even after choosing to transition. Today, we’re announcing that we are moving to the next phase of the transition with a target to retire the Azure portal for Microsoft Sentinel by July 1, 2026. Customers not yet using the Defender portal should plan their transition accordingly. “Really amazing to see that coming, because cross querying with tables in one UI is really cool! Amazing, big step forward to the unified [Defender] portal.” Glueckkanja AG “The biggest benefit of a unified security operations solution (Microsoft Sentinel + Microsoft Defender XDR) has been the ability to combine data in Defender XDR with logs from third party security tools. Another advantage developed has been to eliminate the need to switch between Defender XDR and Microsoft Sentinel portals, now having a single pane of glass, which the team has been wanting for some years.” Robel Kidane, Group Information Security Manager, Renishaw PLC Delivering the SOC of the future Unifying threat protection, exposure management and security analytics capabilities in one pane of glass not only streamlines the user experience, but also enables Sentinel customers to realize security outcomes more efficiently: Analyst efficiency: A single portal reduces context switching, simplifies workflows, reduces training overhead, and improves team agility. Integrated insights: SOC-focused case management, threat intelligence, incident correlation, advanced hunting, exposure management, and a prioritized incident queue enriched with business and sensitivity context—enabling faster, more informed detection and response across all products. SOC optimization: Security controls that can be adjusted as threats and business priorities change to control costs and provide better coverage and utilization of data, thus maximizing ROI from the SIEM. Accelerated response: AI-driven detection and response which reduces mean time to respond (MTTR) by 30%, increases security response efficiency by 60%, and enables embedded Gen AI and agentic workflows. What’s next: Preparing for the retirement of the Sentinel Experience in the Azure Portal Microsoft is committed to supporting every single customer in making that transition over the next 12 months. Beginning July 1, 2026, Sentinel users will be automatically redirected to the Defender portal. After helping thousands of customers smoothly make the transition, we recommend that security teams begin planning their migration and change management now to ensure continuity and avoid disruption. While the technical process is very straightforward, we have found that early preparation allows time for workflow validation, training, and process alignment to take full advantage of the new capabilities and experience. Tips for a Successful Migration to Microsoft Defender 1. Leverage Microsoft’s help: Leverage Microsoft documentation, instructional videos, guidance, and in-product support to help you be successful. A good starting point is the documentation on Microsoft Learn. 2. Plan early: Engage stakeholders early including SOC and IT Security leads, MSSPs, and compliance teams to align on timing, training and organizational needs. Make sure you have an actionable timeline and agreement in the organization around when you can prioritize this transition to ensure access to the full potential of the new experience. 3. Prepare your environment: Plan and design your environment thoroughly. This includes understanding the prerequisites for onboarding Microsoft Sentinel workspaces, reviewing and deciding on access controls, and planning the architecture of your tenant and workspace. Proper planning will ensure a smooth transition and help avoid any disruptions to your security operations. 4. Leverage Advanced Threat Detection: The Defender portal offers enhanced threat detection capabilities with advanced AI and machine learning for Microsoft Sentinel. Make sure to leverage these features for faster and more accurate threat detection and response. This will help you identify and address critical threats promptly, improving your overall security posture. 5. Utilize Unified Hunting and Incident Management: Take advantage of the enhanced hunting, incident, and investigation capabilities in Microsoft Defender. This provides a comprehensive view for more efficient threat detection and response. By consolidating all security incidents, alerts, and investigations into a single unified interface, you can streamline your operations and improve efficiency. 6. Optimize Cost and Data Management The Defender portal offers cost and data optimization features, such as SOC Optimization and Summary Rules. Make sure to utilize these features to optimize your data management, reduce costs, and increase coverage and SIEM ROI. This will help you manage your security operations more effectively and efficiently. Unleash the full potential of your Security team The unified SecOps experience available in the Defender portal is designed to support the evolving needs of modern SOCs. The Defender portal is not just a new home for Microsoft Sentinel - it’s a foundation for integrated, AI-driven security operations. We’re committed to helping you make this transition smoothly and confidently. If you haven’t already joined the thousands of security organizations that have done so, now is the time to begin. Resources AI-Powered Security Operations Platform | Microsoft Security Microsoft Sentinel in the Microsoft Defender portal | Microsoft Learn Shifting your Microsoft Sentinel Environment to the Defender Portal | Microsoft Learn Microsoft Sentinel is now in Defender | YouTubeGraph RAG for Security: Insights from a Microsoft Intern
As a software engineering intern at Microsoft Security, I had the exciting opportunity to explore how Graph Retrieval-Augmented Generation (Graph RAG) can enhance data security investigations. This blog post shares my learning journey and insights from working with this evolving technology.
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.Level Up Your Security Skills with the New Microsoft Sentinel Ninja Training!
If you’ve explored our Microsoft Sentinel Ninja Training in the past, it’s time to revisit! Our training program has undergone some exciting changes to keep you ahead of the curve in the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. Microsoft Sentinel is a cutting-edge, cloud-native SIEM and SOAR solution designed to help security professionals protect their organizations from today’s complex threats. Our Ninja Training program is here to guide you through every aspect of this powerful tool. So, what’s new? In addition to the structured security roles format, the Ninja Training now offers a more interactive experience with updated modules, hands-on labs, and real-world scenarios. Whether you're focusing on threat detection, incident response, or automation, the training ensures you gain the practical skills needed to optimize your security operations. One of the biggest updates is the integration of Sentinel into the Defender XDR portal, creating a unified security platform. This merger simplifies workflows, speeds up incident response, and minimizes tool-switching, allowing for seamless operations. Other highlights include: Step-by-step guidance through the official Microsoft Sentinel documentation. Exclusive webinars and up-to-date blog posts from Microsoft experts. If you're ready to take your Sentinel skills to the next level or want to revisit the program’s new features, head over to the blog now and dive into the refreshed Microsoft Sentinel Ninja Training! Don’t miss out—your next cybersecurity breakthrough is just a click away!
