The escalating sophistication of cyberattacks is marked by the increased use of kernel-level exploits that attempt to run malware with the highest privileges and evade security solutions and software sandboxes. Kernel exploits famously gave the WannaCry and Petya ransomware remote code execution capability, resulting in widescale global outbreaks. Windows 10 remained resilient to these attacks, […]
Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson recently shared his insights on how Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Windows Defender ATP) evolved to achieve important quality milestones. Our Windows Defender ATP team is committed to delivering industry-leading protection, customer choice, and transparency on the quality of our solutions. In the continued spirit of these principles, we want […]
Beyond customer education, the scale and complexity of tech support scams require cooperation and broad partnerships across the industry. Given the scale and complexity of tech support scams, how can the security industry at large work together to deal a major blow to this enduring threat?
At Microsoft, we want users to be in control of their devices, including knowing the security health of these devices. If important security features should fail, users should be aware.
Dofoil is a sophisticated threat that attempted to install coin miner malware on hundreds of thousands of computers in March, 2018. In previous blog posts we detailed how behavior monitoring and machine learning in Windows Defender AV protected customers from a massive Dofoil outbreak that we traced back to a software update poisoning campaign several […]
On March 7, we reported that a massive Dofoil campaign attempted to install malicious cryptocurrency miners on hundreds of thousands of computers. Windows Defender Antivirus, with its behavior monitoring, machine learning technologies, and layered approach to security detected and blocked the attack within milliseconds. Windows 10 S, a special configuration of Windows 10 providing Microsoft-verified security, […]
The surge in Bitcoin prices has driven widescale interest in cryptocurrencies. While the future of digital currencies is uncertain, they are shaking up the cybersecurity landscape as they continue to influence the intent and nature of attacks. Cybercriminals gave cryptocurrencies a bad name when ransomware started instructing victims to pay ransom in the form of […]
Update: Further analysis of this campaign points to a poisoned update for a peer-to-peer (P2P) application. For more information, read Poisoned peer-to-peer app kicked off Dofoil coin miner outbreak. To detect and respond to Dofoil in corporate networks, read Hunting down Dofoil with Windows Defender ATP. Just before noon on March 6 (PST), Windows Defender […]
At 12:46 a.m. local time on February 3, a Windows 7 Pro customer in North Carolina became the first would-be victim of a new malware attack campaign for Trojan:Win32/Emotet. In the next 30 minutes, the campaign tried to attack over a thousand potential victims, all of whom were instantly and automatically protected by Windows Defender […]
Protecting the modern workplace from a wide range of undesirable softwareOur evaluation criteria describe the characteristics and behavior of malware and potentially unwanted applications and guide the proper identification of threats. Learn how we classify malicious software, unwanted software, and potentially unwanted applications. Read the blog post. There has been an increase in free versions […]
