What exploited vulnerabilities have in common: A data-driven analysis of real-world attacks
Real-world exploitation concentrates in a small, high-impact subset of CVEs.
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From help desk impersonation to AD CS abuse: Investigating ESC1 and ESC8 intrusion paths
Teams support impersonation led to remote access, malicious runtime execution, and Certificate Services abuse through authentication relay and Kerberos. -
The hidden network: Inside the phishing infrastructure ecosystem powering global cybercrime
Microsoft uncovered a Chinese-language cybercriminal ecosystem, an interconnected network of phishing kit operators (tracked as Storm-2990), and an illicit marketplace (tracked as Storm-3119) selling tools and infrastructure for large-scale phishing. -
Star Blizzard refines phishing and malware delivery with the RedFlick technique
Since January 2026, Microsoft has observed Russian state threat actor Star Blizzard evolve their detection evasion capabilities through large-scale phishing campaigns, the use of accounts on compromised websites, and a novel malware delivery technique, tracked by Microsoft as “RedFlick”. Prevent threats with Microsoft Defender
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NeedyMantis: Unpacking a post-compromise malware family used in targeted operations
Microsoft Threat Intelligence identified NeedyMantis, a modular post-compromise malware framework used in targeted intrusions that combines custom loaders, encrypted archives, and extensible components to maintain long-term access and support follow-on operations. -
Beyond the ransomware: Tracking Storm-2570’s consistent tradecraft across deployments
Storm-2570 is a ransomware affiliate that uses consistent post-compromise tools and techniques across deployments involving Qilin, DragonForce, Anubis, and BERT ransomware, and provides guidance to help defenders detect and disrupt this activity before ransomware deployment. -
Unmasking EvilTokens: Getting to the root of device code phishing
EvilTokens has quickly become one of the top PhaaS platforms, enabling device code phishing attacks through AI-assisted lures, automated infrastructure, and token theft. -
DeadLock ransomware: Breaking down a Rust-based encryptor with decentralized recovery infrastructure
Microsoft Threat Intelligence examines DeadLock ransomware, an emerging financially motivated operation distinguished by its use of decentralized infrastructure to support victim communications, negotiations, and data leak operations alongside double extortion tactics used to pressure victims. Retain Microsoft Defender Experts
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CaptiveCrunch: Midnight Blizzard targets travelers worldwide for malware delivery and credential theft
Storm-2945, a sub-cluster of the Russian threat actor Midnight Blizzard, has been observed compromising the sign-in portals of hospitality-related organizations such as hotels since May 2026 in order to deliver malware to travelers and steal credentials in an operation we call CaptiveCrunch. -
Email threat landscape: Q2 2026 trends and insights
In the second quarter of 2026, the continuing effects of Microsoft’s disruption of the Tycoon2FA phishing platform contributed to sustained declines in several major phishing techniques, while threat actors expanded into Teams-based social engineering and employed increasingly automated and multi-stage attack chains. -
GigaWiper: Anatomy of a destructive backdoor assembled from multiple malware
GigaWiper, also tracked as BLUERABBIT, is a destructive backdoor that combines multiple wiping and ransomware-like capabilities into a single operational platform. -
StealC and Amadey: Breaking down infostealers and the cybercrime services that deliver them
On June 24, 2026, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) facilitated the takedown, suspension, and blocking of domains that formed the backbone of the StealC and Amadey infrastructure.
