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 ·
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 ·
Tech
Microsoft Hires Analyst for Xbox Strategy
Microsoft has appointed Matthew Ball, a well-known games analyst and investor, as the new chief strategy officer for Xbox. Ball's extensive experience in analyzing market shifts is expected to help guide Xbox's hardware and console strategy as it faces increasing competition in the gaming industry.
Taranpreet Singh ·
Security
AI-Powered Threats Target Growing Businesses
AI presents both opportunities and significant risks for growing businesses. Cybercriminals are leveraging AI to launch more effective and targeted attacks. For example, AI-automated phishing has proven to be 4.5 times more effective than traditional methods, creating new challenges for business leaders balancing growth and security.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Infra
Microsoft releases its own server Linux
Microsoft has officially released Azure Linux 4.0, its first server-grade Linux distribution. The new OS is designed for cloud environments and can be run on Azure infrastructure or locally on desktops using the Windows Subsystem for Linux, marking a significant step for the company.
Ashish Kale ·
Security
Securing Gaming for 500 Million Players
Microsoft's Deputy CISO for Gaming, Aaron Zollman, discussed the unique security challenges in the gaming sector. With over 500 million monthly active players on platforms like Xbox and PC, the scale presents distinct security demands compared to traditional enterprise environments, requiring specialized strategies.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
CISA Adds Seven Actively Exploited Flaws
The US cybersecurity agency has updated its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities (KEV) catalog with seven new entries, including flaws in Microsoft Windows, Defender, and Adobe Acrobat. The additions signal that these vulnerabilities are being actively used by attackers, requiring urgent attention from IT and security teams.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Tech
Microsoft Tests New Windows 11 Customizations
Microsoft is testing highly requested customization features for Windows 11 in a new Insider Preview build. Users can now move the taskbar to any side of the screen, use smaller buttons, and reduce recommended content in the Start menu, addressing long-standing community feedback.
Taranpreet Singh ·
Security
Windows Security Patch Fails Over Glitch
Microsoft's May security update for Windows 11 is failing for some users, leaving their systems unprotected. The installation fails and rolls back when the device's boot partition has insufficient free space. The issue occurs during the reboot phase, leaving dozens of security patches uninstalled.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
New Windows Flaw Grants System Access
A security researcher has released a proof-of-concept exploit for a new Windows zero-day vulnerability called MiniPlasma. The exploit can grant full SYSTEM privileges on fully patched Windows 11 systems. The flaw is reportedly an unfixed version of a bug Microsoft claimed to have patched in 2020.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
New Flaw Bypasses Bitlocker Encryption
A new vulnerability called YellowKey allows attackers with access to a Windows device to bypass Bitlocker encryption and access files. Microsoft is working on a permanent patch for the flaw (CVE-2026-45585) and has released temporary mitigation steps for companies to implement immediately.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Critical Microsoft Vulnerabilities Doubled Last Year
A BeyondTrust report found that while Microsoft's total vulnerability count was stable in 2023, critical flaws doubled. Attackers are shifting focus from initial access to privilege escalation, using identity-based attacks to gain deeper control over systems. This trend highlights the growing importance of internal security controls.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
How One Identity Led to Cloud Breach
Microsoft details an attack where a threat actor used a single compromised identity to breach an entire cloud environment. The attack began with social engineering and escalated through Microsoft Entra ID and M365 to compromise critical Azure services, including databases and virtual machines.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Webworm Group Uses Discord for Attacks
A China-aligned hacking group known as Webworm is using new custom backdoors, EchoCreep and GraphWorm. The group leverages popular services like Discord and the Microsoft Graph API for its command-and-control communications, primarily targeting government agencies with this updated tooling, according to recent cybersecurity research.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Issues BitLocker Bypass Mitigation
Microsoft has released a mitigation for a BitLocker security bypass vulnerability known as "YellowKey." The zero-day flaw, tracked as CVE-2026-45585, was publicly disclosed last week and carries a CVSS score of 6.8, affecting the Windows disk encryption feature.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Phishing Service Bypasses Microsoft 365 MFA
A new phishing-as-a-service platform called EvilTokens has compromised over 340 Microsoft 365 organizations. The attack tricks users into authorizing a malicious app via a device login flow, effectively bypassing multi-factor authentication and granting attackers access to their accounts without needing passwords or MFA codes.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Disrupts Major Malware Signing Service
Microsoft has taken down a major malware code-signing service that enabled ransomware groups to make their malicious software appear legitimate. The operation involved seizing a website, revoking over 1,000 abused certificates, and shutting down hundreds of virtual machines hosted on Azure.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft May Security Patch Fails
Microsoft's May Security Update for Windows 11 is failing to install on some devices. The issue is caused by insufficient free space on the EFI System Partition. This leaves affected systems vulnerable, as they do not receive the dozens of security patches included in the update.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Windows 11 Security Update Fails
Microsoft has officially acknowledged that the May 2026 Windows 11 security update, KB5089549, is failing to install on some devices. Affected users are reporting an error code 0x800f0922, which prevents the update from completing. The company is currently investigating the issue.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Shuts Down Malware Signing Service
Microsoft has disrupted a "malware-signing-as-a-service" operation run by a group called Fox Tempest. The service abused Microsoft's own code signing system to make malicious software, including ransomware, appear legitimate, compromising thousands of machines and networks globally.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Security
Microsoft Exposes Malware Signing Service
Microsoft has detailed a financially motivated group called Fox Tempest that operates a service selling fraudulent code-signing certificates to other criminals. This service helps malware, including ransomware, appear legitimate to bypass security software and infect systems more easily.
Neeraj Dhiman ·
Tech
Microsoft Launches New Business Surface Devices
Microsoft has launched three new Surface devices for business customers: the Surface Pro 12, Surface Laptop 8, and a 13-inch Laptop model. These devices feature Intel's latest Core Ultra Series 3 processors, business-centric upgrades, and notably higher starting prices.
Taranpreet Singh ·
Tech
Microsoft launches new Intel Surface devices
Microsoft has launched new versions of its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, initially featuring Intel's latest Core Ultra Series 3 processors. This strategy prioritizes Intel chips, with models powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 processors expected to be released later in the year for business customers.
Navdeep Kaur Mahal ·