All news with #microsoft tag

Microsoft Word to Auto-Save New Documents to Cloud

📝 Microsoft is testing a change that will enable autosave and save new documents to OneDrive by default in Word for Windows, delivered first to Microsoft 365 Insiders in the Beta Channel with Version 2509 (Build 19221.20000) or later. Microsoft says the feature will come to Excel and PowerPoint for Windows later this year. Users can choose a local folder instead or toggle the behavior off via the Save page in Word options. Microsoft lists several known issues being addressed during testing.

Amazon RDS Custom Adds New GDRs for SQL Server 2019/2022

🔔 Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server now supports new General Distribution Releases for Microsoft SQL Server 2019 (RDS version 15.00.4435.7.v1) and 2022 (RDS version 16.00.4200.1.v1). The new GDRs address vulnerabilities tracked as CVE-2025-49717, CVE-2025-49718, and CVE-2025-49719 and correspond to Microsoft's KB5058722 and KB5058721 release notes. AWS recommends upgrading affected Amazon RDS Custom for SQL Server instances using the Amazon RDS Management Console, or programmatically via the AWS SDK or CLI, and consulting the Amazon RDS Custom User Guide for upgrade procedures.

Fake IT Support Phishing Targets Microsoft Teams Users

🔒 Researchers at Permiso have uncovered phishing campaigns that abuse Microsoft Teams by impersonating IT support to trick employees into installing remote access tools like QuickAssist and AnyDesk. Attackers gain full control of compromised endpoints, deploy credential-stealing malware and establish persistence. Campaigns are linked to the financially motivated actor EncryptHub and use simple impersonation tactics that bypass email defences. Security teams should monitor unusual external Teams activity and verify unexpected support requests.

Make Websites Conversational with NLWeb and AutoRAG

🤖 Cloudflare offers a one-click path to conversational search by combining Microsoft’s NLWeb open standard with Cloudflare’s managed retrieval engine, AutoRAG. The integration crawls and indexes site content into R2 and a managed vector store, serves embeddings and inference via Workers AI, and exposes both a user-facing /ask endpoint and an agent-focused /mcp endpoint. Publishers get continuous re-indexing, controlled agent access, and observability through an AI Gateway, removing much of the infrastructure burden for conversational experiences.

VS Code Marketplace Name Reuse Enables Malware Campaign

🔍 ReversingLabs has exposed a campaign in which malicious Visual Studio Code extensions exploited a name-reuse loophole on the VS Code Marketplace. A downloader extension named ahbanC.shiba executed the command shiba.aowoo to fetch a second payload that encrypted files and demanded one Shiba Inu token, although no wallet address was provided. The vulnerability arises because removed extensions free their names for reuse, contrary to Marketplace guidance that names are unique. Researchers demonstrated the issue by republishing test extensions under previously used names and warned developers to exercise greater caution when installing Marketplace packages.

Hidden Vulnerabilities in Project Management Tools: Backup

🛡️ Many organizations rely on SaaS project platforms such as Trello and Asana for daily operations, but native protections and short retention windows often leave critical data exposed. The piece highlights human error, misconfiguration, and targeted cyberattacks as leading causes of loss. It recommends adding a third‑party backup layer and presents FluentPro Backup as a solution offering continuous automated backups, granular restores, one‑click project recovery, and Azure‑backed security to ensure recoverability and auditability.

Storm-0501 Deletes Azure Data and Backups After Exfiltration

🔒 Microsoft Threat Intelligence details a campaign by Storm-0501 that exfiltrated data from a large enterprise’s Azure environment, then deleted backups and encrypted remaining resources to block recovery. The actor abused Entra Connect synchronization, elevated to Global Administrator, and used Azure Owner privileges to steal storage keys and transfer blobs via AzCopy. Microsoft recommends enabling blob backups, least privilege, logging, and Azure Backup to mitigate these cloud-native ransomware tactics.

AWS Client VPN adds Windows Arm64 support in v5.3.0

🔐 AWS announced that AWS Client VPN version 5.3.0 adds official support for Windows Arm64, enabling the AWS-supplied desktop VPN client to run on the latest Arm64-based Windows devices. The client remains free of charge and is available in all regions where the service is generally available. Client VPN is a managed service that connects remote users securely to AWS and on-premises networks and continues to support macOS 13–15, Windows 10 (x64), Windows 11 (Arm64 and x64), and Ubuntu Linux 22.04 and 24.04 LTS. Administrators can download and deploy the updated client to bring Arm64 Windows endpoints into supported VPN configurations.

Storm-0501 Debuts Brutal Hybrid Ransomware Chain Attack

🚨 Microsoft Threat Intelligence says financially motivated group Storm-0501 has refined a brutal hybrid ransomware chain that leverages hijacked privileged accounts to pivot from on‑prem Active Directory into Azure, exploiting visibility gaps to exfiltrate, encrypt, and mass‑delete cloud resources and backups. The actor used Evil‑WinRM for lateral movement and DCSync to harvest credentials, abused a non‑MFA synced global admin to reset passwords, and created a malicious federated domain for broad persistence. After exfiltration they deleted backups where possible, encrypted remaining cloud data, and initiated extortion via a compromised Microsoft Teams account. CISOs are urged to enforce least privilege, audit on‑prem assets, close cloud visibility gaps, and rehearse ransomware playbooks.

Microsoft Tops Modern Endpoint Security Market Share

🔒 Microsoft Defender has been ranked number one in modern endpoint security market share for the third consecutive year, according to IDC’s 2024 report. Market share rose from 25.8% in 2023 to 28.6% in 2024, reflecting a 28.2% growth rate. Defender emphasizes cross-platform protection—Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, and IoT—leveraging AI-powered detection and built-in exposure management to enable rapid SOC response and attack disruption.

BlueHat Asia 2025 CFP Open — Submit Papers by Sep 14

📣 BlueHat Asia 2025, hosted by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC), will take place in Bengaluru, India on November 5–6, 2025. The Call for Papers is open through September 14, 2025, and submissions require only a talk title and a sufficiently detailed abstract—no formal paper is necessary. Speakers are invited to present practical research and lessons across topics such as vulnerability discovery and mitigation, exploit development and detection, securing AI and machine learning, IoT/OT and critical infrastructure security, DFIR, social engineering, malware, and reverse engineering. If you’ve reported a case to MSRC, consider presenting once at least 30 days have passed since the fix was published and impacted customers were notified.

Microsoft Azure and NVIDIA Accelerate Scientific AI

🔬 This blog highlights how Microsoft Azure and NVIDIA combine cloud infrastructure and GPU-accelerated AI tooling to speed scientific discovery and commercial deployment. It profiles three startups—Pangaea Data, Basecamp Research, and Global Objects—demonstrating applications from clinical decision support to large-scale protein databases and photorealistic digital twins. The piece emphasizes measurable outcomes, compliance, and the importance of scalable compute and optimized AI frameworks for real-world impact.

The AI Fix #65 — Excel Copilot Dangers and Social Media

⚠️ In episode 65 of The AI Fix, Graham Cluley warns that Microsoft Excel’s new COPILOT function can produce unpredictable, non-reproducible formula results and should not be used for important numeric work. The hosts also discuss a research experiment that created a 500‑AI social network and the arXiv paper Can We Fix Social Media?. The episode blends technical analysis with lighter AI culture stories and offers subscription and support notes.

Phishing Campaign Uses UpCrypter to Deploy RATs Globally

📧 Fortinet FortiGuard Labs has observed a phishing campaign using fake voicemail and purchase-order lures to direct victims to convincing landing pages that prompt downloads of JavaScript droppers. The droppers retrieve the UpCrypter loader, which conducts anti-analysis and sandbox checks before fetching final payloads, including various RATs such as PureHVNC, DCRat and Babylon. Attacks since August 2025 have targeted manufacturing, technology, healthcare, construction and retail/hospitality across multiple countries; defenders are urged to block malicious URLs, strengthen email authentication, and monitor anomalous M365 activity.

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.

postMessage Risks: Token Exposure and Trust Boundaries

🔒 MSRC presents a deep dive into misconfigured postMessage handlers across Microsoft services and the systemic risk posed by overly permissive trust models. The report, authored by Jhilakshi Sharma on August 25, 2025, documents token exfiltration, XSS, and cross-tenant impact in real-world case studies including Bing Travel, web.kusto.windows.net, and Teams apps. It summarizes mitigations such as removing vulnerable packages, tightening Teams app manifests, enforcing strict origin checks for postMessage, and applying CSP constraints to reduce attack surface.

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.

Analyzing ClickFix: A Rising Click-to-Execute Threat

🛡️ Microsoft Threat Intelligence and Microsoft Defender Experts describe the ClickFix social engineering technique, where attackers trick users into copying and pasting commands that execute malicious payloads. Observed since early 2024 and active through 2025, these campaigns deliver infostealers, RATs, loaders, and rootkits that target Windows and macOS devices. Lures arrive via phishing, malvertising, and compromised sites and often impersonate legitimate services or CAPTCHA verifications. Organizations should rely on user education, device hardening, and Microsoft Defender XDR layered protections to detect and block ClickFix activity.

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.

Microsoft restricts Chinese firms' early MAPP exploit access

🔒 Microsoft has restricted distribution of proof-of-concept exploit code to MAPP participants in countries where firms must report vulnerabilities to their governments, including China. Affected companies will receive a more general written description issued at the same time as patches rather than PoC code, Microsoft said. The change follows the late-July SharePoint zero-day attacks and concerns about a possible leak from the early-bug-notification program.