All news with #microsoft tag

🛡️ Microsoft Deputy CISO for Government and Trust Tim Langan outlines a proactive approach to protecting government data, emphasizing collaboration across teams and partners. The post advocates defend forward threat hunting, the Cybersecurity Governance Council for cross-functional decision-making, and embedding security through initiatives like the Secure Future Initiative. Key focus areas include secure-by-design development, paved paths for compliance, and accelerating secure solutions for federal and defense scenarios.

🤖 Maia 200 is Microsoft’s new first‑party AI inference accelerator, fabricated on TSMC’s 3nm process and optimized for low‑precision tensor compute. It combines native FP8/FP4 tensor cores with 216GB of HBM3e at 7 TB/s, 272MB on‑chip SRAM and specialized data‑movement engines to raise token throughput and utilization. Microsoft positions Maia 200 as delivering over 10 petaFLOPS (FP4), about 30% better performance‑per‑dollar versus its prior fleet, and higher FP8 performance than competing hyperscaler accelerators. Deployed in US Central with Azure integration and an SDK preview, Maia 200 targets inference for services such as Microsoft 365 Copilot and OpenAI GPT‑5.2.

🔐 Microsoft complied with a US search warrant in early 2025 and provided BitLocker recovery keys stored on its servers to investigators probing alleged COVID unemployment fraud in Guam. Because many Windows installations back up recovery keys by default to Microsoft cloud services, those keys were retrievable when legally compelled. Experts stress this is a custody and governance issue rather than a cryptographic failure of BitLocker, and recommend restricting default cloud backups, enforcing strict admin controls, and redirecting keys to on‑premises or enterprise key vaults where possible.

🔧 Microsoft has issued emergency out-of-band updates after users reported that the January 13 Patch Tuesday releases caused some applications, notably Outlook, to hang or behave unexpectedly when accessing files stored on cloud services such as OneDrive and Dropbox. The company released cumulative fixes — including KB5078127 for Windows 11, KB5078129 for Windows 10 and server updates KB5078131/KB5078136/KB5078135 — to address PST-file issues that could cause hangs, missing sent items or repeated redownloads. Administrators should review the KB notes, test in their environments and deploy the patches to restore normal email and cloud-file workflows.

⚠️Microsoft is investigating reports that some Windows 11 devices fail to boot with the UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME stop error after installing the January 13, 2026 cumulative update KB5074109. Affected systems running Windows 11 25H2 and all editions of 24H2 display a black crash screen and cannot start without manual recovery. Microsoft says only physical devices are impacted so far and asks affected users to submit feedback via the Feedback Hub. The company also released emergency out‑of‑band updates to address an Outlook PST cloud storage freeze.

🔧 Microsoft has released out-of-band updates for Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server to address an issue that caused Outlook to freeze when opening PST files stored in cloud-backed storage such as OneDrive or Dropbox. The problem emerged after the January 13, 2026 Patch Tuesday updates and mainly affected classic Outlook configurations used in enterprises. Affected instances could become unresponsive until the process was terminated or the system restarted, and users reported missing Sent Items and duplicate downloads. The fixes are available via Windows Update or the Microsoft Download Catalog and include several KB updates for specific Windows and Server versions.

📞 ShinyHunters says it is behind a wave of voice-phishing campaigns that compromise single sign-on accounts at Okta, Microsoft Entra, and Google, enabling access to downstream SaaS platforms. Attackers call employees posing as IT, steer victims through dynamic phishing pages and capture multi-factor authentication in real time, then enumerate connected applications to harvest data. The group claims Salesforce as a primary target and has issued extortion demands using stolen information.

🔒 Microsoft describes runtime protections that let organizations inspect and control AI agent behavior in real time by integrating Microsoft Defender with Copilot Studio. Webhook-based checks evaluate planned tool invocations, intent, context, and previous orchestration outputs before execution, enabling precise allow/block decisions without changing agent logic. The post demonstrates three attack scenarios—malicious invoice-triggered instructions, SharePoint prompt injection, and capability reconnaissance—and shows how runtime blocking, logging, and XDR alerts prevent data exposure.

⚠️ Microsoft confirmed a coding error in Outlook for iOS (version 5.2602.0) that can cause the app to crash or freeze on iPad devices. Affected users can work around the issue by launching Outlook in Airplane Mode and then re-enabling Wi‑Fi or cellular. Microsoft has developed a fix, though the updated app may take up to 24 hours to appear in the App Store while Apple processes the release.

🔒 Three global organizations—Ford, Icertis, and TriNet—illustrate how embedding security into every layer of the stack enables safer AI adoption and operational agility. Each moved from fragmented point solutions to a unified, Zero Trust platform built on Microsoft Security technologies such as Defender, Sentinel, Purview, Entra, and Security Copilot, using AI-powered telemetry and automation to accelerate detection and response. The result: fewer incidents, faster triage, improved compliance, and measurable cost savings that position them to scale AI responsibly.

🔔 Microsoft is introducing Brand Impersonation Protection for Teams Calling, rolling out to the targeted release ring in mid‑February and enabled by default. The feature inspects incoming VoIP calls from first‑time external contacts for signs of brand impersonation and displays high‑risk call warnings before suspicious calls are answered. Users can accept, block, or end flagged calls, and alerts may persist during a conversation if suspicious signals continue. IT teams are advised to update support materials and brief helpdesks ahead of the rollout.

🧰 Microsoft is rolling out AI enhancements to Notepad and Paint for Windows 11 Insiders in the Canary and Dev channels. Notepad now streams AI-generated previews for Write, Rewrite, and Summarize and adds expanded Markdown formatting and a welcome screen to surface new features. Paint introduces an AI-powered Coloring Book for Copilot+ PCs and a fill tolerance slider for finer control. Both features require Microsoft account sign-in and can be disabled or uninstalled.

📧 Attackers abused Microsoft Teams functionality to distribute phishing content that appears to come from legitimate services. They created guest invitations and finance-themed team names that mimic billing and subscription notices, prompting recipients to contact a fraudulent support phone number. The campaign sent 12,866 phishing messages (about 990 per day) and targeted 6,135 users. Recipients were encouraged to call attackers posing as support to resolve fake payment issues.

🔐 Microsoft 365 tenant configurations are the operational blueprint for services such as Entra, Intune, Exchange, Defender, Teams and SharePoint. The piece stresses that Microsoft does not provide backups for tenant-level settings under the shared responsibility model, so restoration is the customer's duty. Lost or altered policies — from conditional access and MFA rules to DLP and retention policies — can disrupt security, compliance and business continuity. Organizations should adopt intelligent configuration backup to maintain a Zero-Trust posture and ensure recoverability.

🔒 Microsoft Defender researchers uncovered a multi‑stage AiTM phishing and BEC campaign that abused SharePoint file‑sharing to deliver credential‑harvesting traps and maintain persistence by creating malicious inbox rules. Attackers used trusted vendor‑style lures and legitimate SharePoint redirects to capture session cookies or credentials, then expanded the campaign across energy sector organizations by sending more than 600 phishing messages from compromised accounts. Defender XDR and Office 365 detections exposed session cookie theft, replay attempts, and malicious inbox rules — remediation requires revoking session cookies, deleting attacker‑created inbox rules, and restoring MFA controls in addition to password resets.

🔧 Microsoft provided a temporary workaround for users whose Outlook desktop client freezes after installing this month's Windows security updates. The bug affects POP accounts and configurations that store PST files on cloud-backed storage such as OneDrive or Dropbox, and has been reported on Windows 11 25H2 and 24H2, Windows 10, and multiple Windows Server releases. Microsoft recommends accessing mail via webmail, moving PST files out of OneDrive, or uninstalling the KB5074109/KB5073724 updates via Settings > Windows Update > Update history > Uninstall updates, while warning that removing security updates increases exposure to threats.

🛡️Report Fraud has launched in the UK to replace the criticised Action Fraud service, providing a single, modern national reporting, triage and intelligence platform across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The service incorporates real-time analytics powered by Palantir and Microsoft, an interactive portal for victims to track and update cases, proactive notifications, and instant intelligence sharing with police and businesses. A new National Crime Analysis Service (N-CAS) will underpin analytics, and a national "Every Report Counts" advertising campaign will promote the launch.

🔐 Microsoft recommends four priorities for identity and network access in 2026: deploy fast, adaptive AI protection; manage and govern AI agents as first-class identities; unify identity and network controls into an Access Fabric; and strengthen identity foundations with phishing-resistant credentials and high-assurance recovery. The post cites Microsoft Entra capabilities and studies showing faster, more accurate admin workflows, and emphasizes applying Zero Trust to agents, networks, and devices.

🖱️ Microsoft released PowerToys 0.97, introducing CursorWrap, a new mouse utility that 'teleports' the pointer to the opposite edge of active monitors to ease navigation across multi-monitor setups. The update also brings major improvements to the Command Palette quick launcher, adding built-in extensions to control other PowerToys, Peek file previews, a Personalization page, and a Remote Desktop extension. PowerToys is available via the Microsoft Store and GitHub.

⚠️ Microsoft is enforcing new Intune MAM security requirements beginning January 19 (or shortly after), requiring updated iOS SDKs/wrappers and an updated Android Company Portal to keep apps running. Enterprises that don’t update wrapped or SDK-integrated apps — including Outlook and Teams — risk having those apps blocked from launching. Admins should rebuild or rewrap affected apps, push updates, enable conditional launch policies, and monitor App Protection Status to avoid user outages.