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The security community is continuously changing, growing, and learning from each other to better position the world against cyberthreats. In the latest post of our Voice of the Community blog series, Microsoft Security Senior Product Marketing Manager Brooke Lynn Weenig talks with Maria Markstedter, Chief Executive Offer (CEO) of Azeria Labs, former Chief Product Officer (CPO) at Corellium, a Black Hat1 Review Board member, Forbes Person of the Year in Cybersecurity, and the author of a soon-to-be-published book on Arm assembly internals and reverse-engineering.2 The thoughts below reflect Maria’s views, not the views of Microsoft, and are not legal advice. In this blog p…

Compliance management will never be easy, but there are ways to make it simpler and more transparent. Every year, organizations confront a growing volume and diversity of data and ever-evolving industry and government regulations. But the answer to more data, more devices, and more regulations isn’t more point security solutions. In fact, it may be possible to simplify compliance even as everything around you gets more complex. Through research and conversations with customers, we’ve identified four key data security challenges that many organizations face as they implement hybrid work and multicloud environments. You can dig into our findings and recommendations by si…

Hidden Talents: He was a competitive swimmer for many years. Instrument of Choice: His fingers were made for the keyboard, but he used to play the trumpet. 5 pieces of entertainment for the rest of his life: The Office, World War Z, The Matrix, Breaking Bad, The Thick of It. Favorite non-profit: RSPCA How he … A Man of Action: Meet Callum Carney Read More » Continue reading...

Azure Cosmos DB is a fully managed NoSQL cloud database service for modern app development. It offers a variety of advanced built-in features, such as automatic worldwide data replication, lightning-fast response types, and a variety of APIs. In this blog post, we describe security practices for securing access to Azure Cosmos DB and show how monitoring relevant control plane operations, when performed by Microsoft Defender for Azure Cosmos DB, can help detect potentially compromised identities. Authentication and authorization Operating Azure Cosmos DB databases requires valid credentials to be provided for each request. The main type of credentials is a pair of …

A recent study conducted by Microsoft in partnership with Ponemon Institute included a survey of companies that have adopted IoT solutions and 65 percent of them mentioned that security is a top priority when implementing IoT. Attacks targeting IoT devices put businesses at risk. Impacted devices can be bricked, held for ransom, employed as launch points for further network attacks, or used for malicious purposes. Among many consequences, we often see intellectual property (IP) and data theft and compromised regulatory status, all of which can have brand and financial implications on the business. Subsequently, we did a survey to understand the top concerns around the…

There’s still a perception that the most successful computer scientists learn programming at a young age, study engineering at a top school, and then get a software development job right out of college. While that’s how many people enter the field, it’s not the only path. Microsoft Software Engineer Rebecca Nzioki is living proof. She started out studying business but switched disciplines because she found IT more interesting. She decided to switch disciplines again after she started working and discovered a passion for solving customer problems. She then dedicated herself to learning how to code so she could find permanent fixes to issues that were frustrating the custom…

Today’s sophisticated cyber threats require a modern approach to security. And this doesn’t apply only to enterprises or government entities—in recent years we’ve seen attacks increase exponentially against individuals. There are 921 password attacks every second.1 We’ve seen ransomware threats extending beyond their usual targets to go after small businesses and families. And we know, as bad actors become more and more sophisticated, we need to increase our personal defenses as well. That is why it is so important for us to protect your entire digital life, whether you are at home or work—threats don’t end when you walk out of the office or close your work laptop for …

The security community is continuously changing, growing, and learning from each other to better position the world against cyberthreats. In the latest post of our Voice of the Community blog series, Microsoft Security Senior Product Marketing Manager Brooke Lynn Weenig talks with Ann Cavoukian, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Global Privacy & Security by Design, former three-term Information and Privacy Commissioner for Ontario, Canada, and author of “Privacy by Design: The 7 Foundational Principles.” The thoughts below reflect Ann’s views, not the views of her employer or Microsoft, and are not legal advice. In this blog post, Ann shares insights…

Identiverse is where the industry gathers to discuss all things identity. The 2022 conference will take place June 21 to 24 in Denver, Colorado, and I’m absolutely thrilled that Microsoft will be there. At Identiverse, we’ll share how we help customers secure access in a hybrid, multicloud, and decentralized world—everyone needs a digital identity they own. Identity is the center of digital transformation and we always learn a ton from the experiences and ideas our partners, customers, and even competitors share. I’m eager to connect with our amazing partners and chat with new folks interested in identity and security. Here are five ways you can connect with us while ther…

Malware that steals your passwords, credit cards, and crypto wallets is being promoted through search results for a pirated copy of the CCleaner Pro Windows optimization program. This new malware distribution campaign is dubbed “FakeCrack,” and was discovered by analysts at Avast, who report detecting an average of 10,000 infection attempts every day from its customer telemetry data. Most of these victims are based in France, Brazil, Indonesia, and India. The malware distributed in this campaign is a powerful information stealer that can harvest personal data and cryptocurrency assets and route internet traffic through data-snatching proxies. A Black Hat SEO ca…

Today, we're excited to announce that we're making two new reports available in public preview for eligible Microsoft Endpoint Manager customers: Windows feature update device readiness report - Select a target version of Windows that you plan to deploy and provides a device-by-device view of any compatibility risks that may be encountered during or after the feature update or upgrade. Windows feature update compatibility risks report - Find a summary of the top compatibility risks across your organization so that you can prioritize which risks to address first. As organizations plan to upgrade to Windows 11, we’re committed to ensuring that applications and dri…

Spirits soared at the Microsoft Security Excellence Awards on June 5, 2022. And is it any wonder? The celebration marked the first time that Microsoft executives and Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA) members had gathered in person in more than two years so it was a special night for many reasons! Formerly known as the Microsoft Security 20/20 Awards, the Microsoft Security Excellence Awards recognizes MISA member success across security during the past 12 months. MISA is a coalition of Microsoft leaders and subject matter experts, independent software vendors (ISVs), and managed security service providers (MSSPs) working together to defend against incre…

Microsoft successfully detected and disabled attack activity abusing OneDrive by a previously undocumented Lebanon-based activity group Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) tracks as POLONIUM. The associated indicators and tactics were used by the OneDrive team to improve detection of attack activity and disable offending actor accounts. To further address this abuse, Microsoft has suspended more than 20 malicious OneDrive applications created by POLONIUM actors, notified affected organizations, and deployed a series of security intelligence updates that will quarantine tools developed by POLONIUM operators. Our goal with this blog is to help deter future activit…

On May 12, 2021, the White House issued Presidential Executive Order (EO) 14028 to establish cybersecurity as a national priority.1 As part of this effort, the White House has called for greater public and private sector collaboration to address the evolving threats facing federal agencies. In the spirit of the EO and as part of our commitment to enhancing cybersecurity across the United States, we today announce that Tenable has expanded its collaboration with the Microsoft Intelligent Security Association (MISA). Tenable is a pioneer in the risk management market and creator of Nessus, one of the most widely deployed vulnerability assessment solutions in the cybersec…

Dealing with a great amount of data can be time consuming, thus using Python can be very powerful to help analysts sort information and extract the most relevant data for their investigation. The open-source tools library, MSTICPy, for example, is a Python tool dedicated to threat intelligence. It aims to help threat analysts acquire, enrich, analyze, and visualize data. This blog provides a workflow for deeper data analysis and visualization using Python, as well as for extraction and analysis of indicators of compromise (IOCs) using MSTICPy. Data sets from the February 2022 leak of data from the ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) coordinated operation called “Conti” is u…

In 2021, workers everywhere reevaluated their professional and personal choices, leading to what became known as the Great Resignation. In 2022, a new trend that many are calling the Great Reshuffle has emerged, with 43 percent of the workforce saying they’re very likely to consider changing jobs or exiting their industry altogether in the coming year.1 As our 2022 Work Trend Index, Great Expectations: Making Hybrid Work Work, revealed, employees have a new “worth it” equation and are voting with their feet.2 As a result, employees are onboarding and offboarding more frequently. The constant flow of tasks, starting with applying for a job and navigating the first few d…