Inside Microsoft Threat Intelligence: Calm in the chaos

A man with a beard wearing a suit, accompanied by text that reads Adrian Hill, Lead Investigator, Incident Response Team.

Leading Through the Worst Day

Incident response is never orderly. Threat actors don’t wait. Environments are compromised. Data is missing. Confidence is shaken. But for Microsoft’s Incident Response (IR) team, that chaos is exactly where the work begins.

In Episode 1, we showed how Microsoft Threat Intelligence and the Digital Crime Unit (DCU) disrupted Storm-1152’s massive fake account operation, turning threat intelligence into global action. In this second chapter of Inside Microsoft Threat Intelligence, we move from disruption to response, showing what happens when defenders face the worst day in security, and how calm leadership transforms outcomes.

Adrian Hill, lead investigator for Microsoft IR, explains it simply: “Our job is to bring clarity, calm, and momentum—fast. We set the tone in the first 30 seconds. Because if the customer doesn’t trust us immediately, we can’t help them recover.”

Whether dropped into an active breach or brought in for proactive support, Microsoft’s IR team works to stabilize, guide, and rebuild. Every engagement starts with empathy and ends with action.

Putting the customer first

In high-stakes incidents, Microsoft Incident Response isn’t always the only team on site. Adrian often finds himself shoulder to shoulder with other vendors and internal stakeholders. But rather than compete, he leads with clarity and collaboration, and ensure all parties are marching toward the same goal.

In one recent case, Microsoft joined mid-incident while a threat actor still had active control of the environment. The customer wasn’t even aware Microsoft’s IR team was on deck. Within 30 minutes, Adrian’s team had surfaced threat intelligence from Defender and other telemetry sources that no one else had uncovered. It wasn’t just a faster response. It changed the customer’s perception of what Microsoft Incident Response could deliver.

Turning chaos into ecosystem protection

Microsoft’s IR team doesn’t just clean up attacks; they feed intelligence back into the ecosystem. Every novel tactic, unusual behavior, or new artifact discovered during a customer engagement gets routed back to Microsoft Threat Intelligence. That insight becomes new detections, improved playbooks, and protections that safeguard millions of users and organizations worldwide.

This loop, from the field to Microsoft Threat Intelligence to product integration, is what makes our end-to-end security story unique. Incident response isn’t the last line of defense. It’s the front line of innovation.

From recovery to partnership

IR is rarely one-and-done. In the same engagement, Adrian’s team helped recover cloud backups, secure infrastructure, and walk the customer through containment and long-term strategy. Months later, the organization came back for further briefings, roadmap work, and proactive guidance.

That follow-through is what builds trust and transforms perception.

“We don’t show up to pitch Microsoft,” Adrian says. “We show up to help people. And that’s what makes them want to keep working with us.”

Microsoft’s incident response isn’t just about stopping attacks. It’s about restoring confidence and helping customers take control of their security future and building resilience.

Missed episode one of Inside Microsoft Threat Intelligence? Catch it here.

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