Microsoft
Latest Microsoft news, announcements & analysis
Tech
Microsoft Revamps Windows Insider Program
Microsoft is overhauling its Windows Insider Program, which provides early access to new Windows 11 features. The company is introducing significant changes, starting with giving testers the ability to select specific new features they want to try out, offering more control over their preview experience.
Navdeep Kaur Mahal ·
Tech
Xbox Closes Ninja Theory, Other Studios May Spin Off
Microsoft is closing Ninja Theory, the acclaimed studio behind the Hellblade series. The move is part of a larger Xbox restructuring, with several other studios reportedly in talks to spin off from the company.
Taranpreet Singh ·
Security
Microsoft Named Leader in Endpoint Protection
For the seventh consecutive time, Microsoft has been recognized as a Leader in the 2026 Gartner Magic Quadrant for Endpoint Protection. The placement highlights the company's strength in the endpoint security market, particularly with its Microsoft Defender product, amid increasingly coordinated and fast-moving cyber threats.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Chrome and Defender Under Active Attack
Google issued an urgent update for a critical Chrome vulnerability that could allow code execution. Meanwhile, attackers are actively exploiting flaws in Microsoft Defender. Other security news includes scrutiny of child safety on major platforms and new spyware detection tools.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Tech
Microsoft Accelerates Its Quantum Computing Plans
Microsoft is accelerating its quantum computing development, reaffirming its controversial claims about achieving a key milestone. Despite skepticism from some experts, the company is pushing ahead with its roadmap, signaling deep commitment to its unique approach for building a fault-tolerant quantum computer.
Taranpreet Singh ·
Security
Microsoft Defender Flaws Actively Exploited
Microsoft has revealed that two vulnerabilities in its Defender security software are being actively exploited. One is a privilege escalation flaw (CVE-2026-41091) that could allow an attacker to gain SYSTEM-level access, while the other is a denial-of-service flaw. Both are being used in real-world attacks.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Tech
Why Windows 11 Is Forcing Microsoft Accounts
Windows 11 is making it harder to use a local account, pushing users to sign in with a Microsoft account. This creates significant headaches for developers and IT teams who rely on local accounts for security and system management.
Navdeep Kaur Mahal ·
Security
Microsoft Disrupts Malware Signing Service
Microsoft has taken down a cybercrime operation that offered malware-signing-as-a-service. The service abused Microsoft's own Artifact Signing platform to create fraudulent code-signing certificates, which were then sold to ransomware gangs and other malicious actors to help their malware evade detection.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Scammers Exploit Microsoft Email System
For months, scammers have exploited a loophole to send spam from an internal Microsoft email address. By creating new accounts, they can send phishing links that appear to be legitimate alerts from Microsoft, bypassing standard email filters and potentially tricking employees into clicking on malicious links.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Edge Shares Precise Location Data
A new report reveals that multiple popular mobile browsers, including Microsoft Edge and Aloha, are collecting and sharing precise user location data with third-party companies. The findings highlight significant privacy risks for both individual users and corporate environments where data security is a primary concern.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Benchmarks Defender Against Email Security Rivals
Microsoft has released a year's worth of benchmarking data, comparing its Defender email security platform against rivals. The reports use real-world threat data to measure effectiveness, offering transparency for teams evaluating their security tools.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Urges Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure
Microsoft is advocating for Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure, urging researchers to report issues privately. The statement follows a public dispute where a security researcher disclosed multiple zero-day vulnerabilities, leading to a debate on platform governance and responsible disclosure ethics.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
New Espionage Group Targets Microsoft Web Servers
A new espionage-focused hacking group, likely linked to China, is targeting Microsoft IIS web servers. The group, called OP-512, uses a custom web shell framework to gain persistent access and steal information from corporate networks.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
AI Chatbots Used to Spread Malware
Microsoft is warning of a new campaign where attackers use AI chatbot recommendations to lead users to malicious websites. This social engineering tactic distributes cryptojacking malware by exploiting user trust in AI-generated suggestions, extending threats beyond conventional search engine results.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Researcher threatens new Windows exploit
A security researcher is threatening to publicly release another zero-day exploit for Microsoft Windows, escalating a dispute with the company. The threat puts pressure on Microsoft and creates a potential security risk for all Windows users, pending the company's response or the exploit's public disclosure.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Poisoned search results lead to cryptojacking
Microsoft has identified an active cryptojacking campaign that uses poisoned search results and AI chatbot interactions to lure victims. Attackers abuse legitimate tools like ScreenConnect and Microsoft .NET utilities to install GPU miners, hijacking system resources for mining cryptocurrency without user consent.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft launches new MAI-1 AI models
Microsoft has launched its new MAI-1 family of seven AI models. The release includes MAI-Code-1-Flash, a 7-billion parameter model optimized for generating code across more than 50 programming languages, aiming to boost developer productivity with high performance and efficiency.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
New Ransomware Spreads Across Networks
Microsoft has analyzed a new ransomware variant called 'The Gentlemen.' Written in Go, it operates as a ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) and is notable for its ability to spread itself across networks automatically. This combination of robust encryption and lateral movement significantly increases its threat.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Just Patched a Record 206 Security Flaws
Microsoft has released its largest-ever security update, fixing 206 vulnerabilities. The patch addresses three publicly known zero-day flaws and dozens of critical bugs that could allow remote code execution, requiring immediate attention from IT teams.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Malicious npm packages target developers
Microsoft has identified an active supply chain attack on the npm ecosystem. Attackers are publishing malicious packages that mimic internal corporate libraries. Using a technique called dependency confusion, these packages are designed to infiltrate and gather information from developer environments, posing a significant risk to organizations.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Windows Netlogon Flaw Under Active Attack
A critical vulnerability in the Windows Netlogon protocol is now being actively exploited by attackers, according to Belgium's Centre for Cybersecurity. The flaw allows for remote code execution, giving attackers potential control over affected systems. Microsoft released a patch in August, and immediate patching is crucial.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Tech
Microsoft Adds Optional AI Watermarks to Photos
Microsoft is updating six Windows apps, most notably adding an optional Copilot watermark for AI-edited images in the Photos app. The feature is off by default, giving users control over labeling AI content.
Taranpreet Singh ·
AI
AI Finds New Malware, Refuses to Name Attacker
A Microsoft AI agent found new malware by analyzing its behavior, not its signature. This allowed it to spot a variant that evades normal security tools. The AI also declined to name the threat actor it found.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Azure Lets You Safely Run Risky AI Code
Microsoft Azure now offers sandboxes to safely run untrusted code from AI agents. The isolated environments start in under a second, scale massively, and cost nothing when idle, making AI experimentation much safer for developers.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft Tool Upgrades AI Agents Without Retraining
Microsoft has released SkillOpt, an open-source tool that automatically improves AI agent skills. This lets developers enhance agent performance for specific tasks without the time and cost of retraining the entire underlying model.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Data
Microsoft Wants to Run Workflows Inside PostgreSQL
Microsoft has open-sourced a new tool for PostgreSQL called pg_durable. It allows developers to run complex workflows directly inside the database, which can simplify system design by removing the need for external orchestration tools.
Taranpreet Singh ·
AI
GitHub Copilot CLI Now Understands Your Entire Codebase
GitHub's Copilot for the command line is getting a major upgrade. It now uses the same technology that powers code editors to provide smarter, more accurate suggestions, making it a far more powerful tool for developers.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Infra
Microsoft Urges Move to GitHub Despite Outages
Microsoft is pushing enterprises to switch from Azure Repos to GitHub. The recommendation comes despite GitHub's recent history of major outages, forcing IT leaders to weigh new features against platform stability.
Ashish Kale ·
AI
An AI Just Cut Microsoft's Quantum Timeline in Half
Microsoft's new AI platform, Microsoft Discovery, is now available on Azure. It helped develop a new quantum chip that is 1,000x more reliable, halving the company's timeline for a scalable quantum computer to just 2029.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft AI Chief Says Anthropic Is Too Expensive
Microsoft's AI chief publicly criticized Anthropic's high prices, highlighting a growing industry-wide concern over the cost and return on investment of generative AI tools as companies struggle to justify their spending.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft Finds Seven New Ways to Hack AI Agents
Microsoft has identified seven new security vulnerabilities specific to agentic AI systems. This research provides a new framework for developers and security teams to understand and defend against emerging AI-based threats.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft Uncovers Seven New Ways AI Agents Fail
After a year of testing, Microsoft's AI Red Team updated its framework for AI agent threats, adding seven new failure modes. This new taxonomy helps developers and security teams better understand and defend against emerging AI vulnerabilities.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft Releases New AI Security Tools
Microsoft has released two open-source tools, Rampart and Clarity, to help developers secure AI agents. The tools are designed for safety verification during early development, addressing risks as AI agents gain more operational authority. This is part of Microsoft's push for continuous AI safety engineering.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
Microsoft and EY Launch $1B AI Initiative
Microsoft and EY are investing $1 billion over five years to accelerate enterprise AI adoption. The partnership will create integrated teams of EY's Forward Deployed Engineers and Microsoft experts to help clients implement AI projects and build their own capabilities, offering a combined engineering and innovation service.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
AI
New AI agent challenges coding copilots
Julien Verlaguet, creator of the Hack language, is building a new AI coding agent at SkipLabs. It challenges the standard 'copilot' model of prompt-draft-iterate. Instead of focusing on speed through iteration, the tool aims to generate production-ready code that can ship without developer feedback.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Data
Microsoft Research releases AI data tool
Microsoft Research has released Data Formulator 0.7, an open-source, AI-powered system for enterprise data analytics. The tool combines data connectivity, AI agent-guided exploration, and visualization in a shared workspace. A new Data Connectors feature simplifies integration with various data sources like databases and BI systems.
Taranpreet Singh ·
Infra
Microsoft Halts Wisconsin Data Center Plans
Microsoft has withdrawn its proposal for a 244-acre data center campus in Caledonia, Wisconsin, following significant community opposition. The decision highlights growing local resistance to large-scale infrastructure projects, which can impact cloud service expansion plans for major tech companies and their customers.
Ashish Kale ·
AI
Building Secure Foundations for AI
Microsoft is highlighting the security challenges organizations face when adopting AI. As companies like St. Luke’s and ManpowerGroup move to AI-powered models, establishing a strong security foundation for cloud, data, and identity becomes essential for enabling responsible innovation and managing new risks.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Infra
Microsoft Releases Its First Linux Server
Microsoft has released Azure Linux, its first general-purpose Linux distribution for servers. Based on Fedora, it's now available to all Azure customers. The company is also offering Azure Container Linux, a specialized version for container hosts, solidifying its commitment to open-source technologies.
Ashish Kale ·
AI
Microsoft Unveils AI Vulnerability Hunter
Microsoft has launched MDASH, a new AI-powered security platform for large-scale vulnerability discovery. The system uses more than 100 specialized AI agents that work together to automatically scan, validate, and prove security flaws across complex codebases like Windows and other Microsoft software.
Neeraj Dhiman ·