AI brands as bait: How threat actors are using the AI hype in social engineering
As threat actors operationalize AI to accelerate attacks, they are also leveraging the wider global interest around AI itself as a social engineering lure.
Microsoft Defender for Endpoint
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Microsoft is named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection
Microsoft is named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Endpoint Protection. -
The Gentlemen ransomware: Dissecting a self-propagating Go encryptor
Microsoft Threat Intelligence presents a comprehensive analysis of The Gentlemen, a Go-based ransomware deployed by affiliates of Storm-2697 that combines per-file ephemeral key encryption with an aggressive self-propagation module to deploy itself across an entire network using series of simultaneous lateral movement techniques per target. -
Exposing Fox Tempest: A malware-signing service operation
Fox Tempest is a financially motivated threat actor operating a malware‑signing‑as‑a‑service (MSaaS) used by other cybercriminals, including Vanilla Tempest and Storm groups, to more effectively distribute malicious code, including ransomware. Prevent threats with Microsoft Defender
The Microsoft Defender family offers comprehensive threat prevention, detection, and response capabilities for everyone—from individuals looking to protect their family to the world’s largest enterprises.
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Undermining the trust boundary: Investigating a stealthy intrusion through third-party compromise
Microsoft Incident Response investigated an attack operated through legitimate and trusted administrative mechanisms to blend seamlessly into routine operations and remain undetected demonstrating that intrusions have increasingly avoided using noisy exploits, obvious malware, or custom tooling, instead leveraging systems that organizations already trust within their environments. -
Breaking the code: Multi-stage ‘code of conduct’ phishing campaign leads to AiTM token compromise
Microsoft Defender Research observed a large-scale credential theft campaign that exemplifies this trend, using code of conduct-themed lures, a multi-step attack chain, and legitimate email services to distribute fully authenticated messages from attacker-controlled domains. -
Microsoft Agent 365, now generally available, expands capabilities and integrations
Today we’re announcing the general availability of Agent 365, plus previews of new capabilities to discover and manage shadow AI agents, including local agents like OpenClaw and Claude Code. -
Email threat landscape: Q1 2026 trends and insights
In early 2026, email threats increased with a rise in credential phishing, QR code phishing, and CAPTCHA-gated campaigns, highlighted by Microsoft’s disruption of the Tycoon2FA phishing platform which led to a 15% volume decrease and shifts in threat actor tactics. Retain Microsoft Security Experts
Microsoft Security Experts are now available to strengthen your team with managed security services. Learn how to defend against threats with security experts.
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Dissecting Sapphire Sleet’s macOS intrusion from lure to compromise
The Microsoft Defender Security Research Team uncovered a sophisticated macOS intrusion campaign attributed to the North Korean threat actor Sapphire Sleet that abuses user driven execution and social engineering to bypass macOS security protections and steal credentials, cryptocurrency assets, and sensitive data. -
SOHO router compromise leads to DNS hijacking and adversary-in-the-middle attacks
Executive summary Forest Blizzard, a threat actor linked to the Russian military, has been compromising insecure home and small-office internet equipment like routers, then modifying their settings in ways that turn them into part of the actor’s malicious infrastructure. -
Storm-1175 focuses gaze on vulnerable web-facing assets in high-tempo Medusa ransomware operations
The financially motivated cybercriminal threat actor Storm-1175 operates high-velocity ransomware campaigns that weaponize recently disclosed vulnerabilities to obtain initial access, exfiltrate data, and deploy Medusa ransomware. -
Mitigating the Axios npm supply chain compromise
On March 31, 2026, the popular HTTP client Axios experienced a supply chain attack, causing two newly published npm packages for version updates to download from command and control (C2) that Microsoft Threat Intelligence has attributed to the North Korean state actor Sapphire Sleet.
