All news with #azure tag

Microsoft to Enforce MFA for Azure Resource Management

🔐 Starting October 1, 2025, Microsoft will enforce multi-factor authentication (MFA) for all Azure resource management actions to protect tenants from unauthorized access. The change, part of its Secure Future Initiative, will be rolled out gradually across public cloud tenants and covers Azure CLI, PowerShell, SDKs, REST APIs, IaC tools, the Azure mobile app, and automation that uses user identities. To prevent disruptions Microsoft recommends updating Azure CLI to 2.76+ and Azure PowerShell to 14.3+; global administrators may postpone enforcement until July 2026.

AWS Transform for .NET Adds Azure DevOps Repos Support

🔗 AWS Transform for .NET now supports Azure DevOps repositories alongside GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket. You can connect Azure DevOps repos directly to AWS Transform to discover, assess, and transform hundreds of repositories in parallel and run unit tests as part of the modernization workflow. Dependencies hosted in Azure Artifacts (NuGet) are resolved automatically during transformation, simplifying migration of .NET Framework applications to Linux-ready, cross-platform .NET while preserving Azure DevOps workflows.

Protecting Azure Infrastructure From Silicon to Systems

🔐 Microsoft describes a hardware-to-cloud security approach that embeds verification, isolation, and transparency across Azure infrastructure. The piece highlights purpose-built technologies such as Azure Boost for control-plane isolation, Azure Integrated HSM for server-local key protection, and a spectrum of confidential computing guarantees for workloads. It also emphasizes open-source and ecosystem efforts—Caliptra, OCP SAFE, and a Code Transparency Service—to enable verifiable supply-chain attestations and immutable firmware provenance.

Microsoft’s open-source journey: from Linux to AI scale

🔎 Microsoft recounts its transition from an early Linux contributor in 2009 to one of the largest open-source supporters in cloud and AI today. The post highlights Azure as a top contributor to the CNCF, the 2015 launch of VS Code, the 2018 GitHub acquisition, and the role of AKS and managed PostgreSQL in enterprise deployments. It also describes COSMIC, explains how OpenAI’s ChatGPT runs at global scale on Azure infrastructure, and lists projects Azure teams are building in the open.

Microsoft Named Leader in 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant

🚀 Microsoft has been named a Leader in the 2025 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Cloud-Native Application Platforms and is positioned furthest to the right in Completeness of Vision. The announcement highlights a developer-first approach across containers, functions, APIs, and web frameworks, with integrated tools such as GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio. Azure emphasizes AI-native capabilities through Azure AI Foundry and platform innovations designed to accelerate agentic applications for enterprise scenarios.

Agent Factory: Build Your First AI Agent with Tools

🔧 This Microsoft Azure blog post, the second entry in the six-part Agent Factory series, explains how tool ecosystems are defining the next wave of agentic AI. It argues the industry is moving from single-model prompts to extensible platforms that let agents discover and invoke a broad set of capabilities at runtime. The piece highlights the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Azure AI Foundry for secure, enterprise-grade tool integration, and summarizes five best practices for governance, identity, and observability to achieve scalable, production-ready agents.

Building the Frontier Firm with Microsoft Azure Modernization

🚀 Microsoft frames a new enterprise archetype—Frontier Firms—that embed AI agents across workflows and rearchitect operations around a modern cloud foundation. The post warns that AI cannot scale on legacy systems and that technical debt undermines agility, security, and innovation. It cites IDC findings showing substantial gains in agility, resilience, ROI, and speed to market when organizations migrate and modernize on Azure, and urges continuous modernization and use of Microsoft’s App Modernization Guidance.

PAN-OS 12.1 Orion: Quantum-Ready Multicloud Security

🔐 PAN-OS 12.1 Orion delivers a framework for quantum-ready and multicloud security, combining automated asset discovery, continuous risk assessment and centralized management via Strata Cloud Manager. It introduces an industry-first cipher translation to make legacy applications quantum-safe, plus quantum-optimized fifth-generation NGFW hardware for high-scale PQC inspection. The release also expands AI-driven detections and one-click deployment across AWS/Azure/GCP.

Microsoft August 2025 Patch Tuesday: 111 Vulnerabilities

⚠️ Microsoft released its August 2025 Patch Tuesday updates addressing 111 vulnerabilities, including 13 marked critical. The fixes span remote code execution, elevation-of-privilege and information-disclosure flaws across Windows, Hyper-V, Microsoft Office, GDI+ and cloud services. Microsoft reports no observed in-the-wild exploitation but notes several issues where exploitation is assessed as “more likely.” Talos is issuing Snort detection rules and urges administrators to apply vendor updates and intrusion-detection signatures promptly.

August 2025 Patch Tuesday: 107 CVEs, 13 Critical, Zero-Day

🛡️ Microsoft’s August 2025 Patch Tuesday addresses 107 CVEs, including one publicly disclosed Windows Kerberos zero‑day (CVE-2025-53779) and 13 Critical flaws. Notable fixes cover high‑severity RCEs in the Windows Graphics Component and GDI+ and an NTLM elevation‑of‑privilege issue. Microsoft has released patches; organizations should apply updates promptly and use Falcon Exposure Management to prioritize and visualize exposure.

GPT-5 in Azure AI Foundry: Enterprise AI for Agents

🚀 Today Microsoft announced general availability of OpenAI's flagship model, GPT-5, in Azure AI Foundry, positioning it as a frontier LLM for enterprise applications. The GPT-5 family (GPT-5, GPT-5 mini, GPT-5 nano, GPT-5 chat) spans deep reasoning, real-time responsiveness, and ultra-low-latency options, all accessible through a single Foundry endpoint and managed by a model router to optimize cost and performance. Foundry pairs agent orchestration, tool-calling, developer controls, telemetry, and compliance-aware deployment choices to help organizations move from pilot projects to production.

Zero Day Quest returns with up to $5M bounties for Cloud

🔒 Microsoft is relaunching Zero Day Quest with up to $5 million in total bounties for high-impact Cloud and AI security research. The Research Challenge runs 4 August–4 October 2025 and focuses on targeted scenarios across Azure, Copilot, Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, Identity, and M365. Eligible critical findings receive a +50% bounty multiplier, and top contributors may be invited to an exclusive live hacking event at Microsoft’s Redmond campus in Spring 2026. Participants will have access to training from the AI Red Team, MSRC, and product teams, and Microsoft will support transparent, responsible disclosure.

MSRC Announces 2025 Most Valuable Security Researchers

🏆 The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) announced its 2025 Most Valuable Researchers (MVRs), recognizing security researchers who submitted valid vulnerability reports under Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure. The Top 10 MVRs were ranked by total points earned for valid reports submitted between July 1, 2024 and June 30, 2025, and MSRC also highlights annual Technical Leaderboards by product area such as Azure, Office, Windows, and Dynamics 365. Awardees receive digital badges and MSRC swag boxes, and badges recognize achievements for Accuracy, Impact, and Volume.