Understand the risks of encrypted AI traffic exposure and explore practical steps users and cloud providers can take to stay secure. Learn more.

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, host⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Sherrod DeGrippo⁠ is joined by ⁠Zack Korman⁠, CTO of cybersecurity startup Pistachio. They explore the reality of AI in security, cutting through hype to discuss where AI is both brilliant and flawed, how vendors AI-wash outdated tech, and why Zack believes AI won’t replace jobs but instead scale human creativity. They also dive into phishing simulations, human psychology behind social engineering, AI-powered attacks, jailbreak chaining between AI systems, and the future risks and opportunities AI introduces in cybersecurity.

Microsoft Incident Response - Detection and Response Team (DART) researchers uncovered a new backdoor that is notable for its novel use of the OpenAI Assistants Application Programming Interface (API) as a mechanism for command-and-control (C2) communications. Instead of relying on more traditional methods, the threat actor behind this backdoor abuses OpenAI as a C2 channel as a way to stealthily communicate and orchestrate malicious activities within the compromised environment. To do this, a component of the backdoor uses the OpenAI Assistants API as a storage or relay mechanism to fetch commands and run tasks for the threat actor.

Security is no longer just tech-it's strategy. See how CISOs are leading resilient organizations. Learn more.

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, host Sherrod DeGrippo is joined by Chloé Messdaghi and Crane Hassold to unpack the key findings of the 2025 Microsoft Digital Defense Report; a comprehensive look at how the cyber threat landscape is accelerating through AI, automation, and industrialized criminal networks. They explore how nation-state operations and cybercrime have fused into a continuous cycle of attack and adaptation, with actors sharing tooling, infrastructure, and even business models. The conversation also examines AI’s growing impact, from deepfakes and influence operations to the defensive promise of AI-powered detection, and how identity compromise has become the front door to most intrusions, accounting for over 99% of observed attacks.

Azure Blob Storage is a high-value target for threat actors due to its critical role in storing and managing massive amounts of unstructured data at scale across diverse workloads and is increasingly targeted through sophisticated attack chains that exploit misconfigurations, exposed credentials, and evolving cloud tactics.

Microsoft launches its sixth annual Digital Defense Report, highlighting trends from July 2024 to June 2025, including that over half of cyberattacks with known motives were driven by extortion or ransomware. The report stresses that legacy security is insufficient—modern AI-driven defenses and cross-industry collaboration are essential. For individuals, strong tools like phishing-resistant MFA can block over 99% of identity-based attacks.

Discover how Microsoft empowers employees to lead with security through training, tools, and a company-wide mindset shift. Learn more.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence has identified a financially motivated threat actor that we track as Storm-2657 compromising employee accounts to gain unauthorized access to employee profiles and divert salary payments to attacker-controlled accounts, attacks that have been dubbed "payroll pirate".

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, host⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Sherrod DeGrippo⁠ is joined by Tori Murphy, Anna Seitz, and Chuong Dong to break down two threats: the modular backdoor PipeMagic and Medusa ransomware. They discuss how PipeMagic disguises itself as a ChatGPT desktop app to deliver malware, its sophisticated modular design, and what defenders can do to detect it. The team also explores Medusa’s evolution into a ransomware-as-a-service model, its use of double extortion tactics, and the broader threat landscape shaped by ransomware groups, social engineering, and the abuse of legitimate tools.

Threat actors seek to abuse Microsoft Teams features and capabilities across the attack chain, underscoring the importance for defenders to proactively monitor, detect, and respond effectively. In this blog, we recommend countermeasures and optimal controls across identity, endpoints, data apps, and network layers to help strengthen protection for enterprise Teams users.

Storm-1175, a financially motivated actor known for deploying Medusa ransomware and exploiting public-facing applications for initial access, was observed exploiting the deserialization vulnerability in GoAnywhere MFT's License Servlet, tracked as CVE-2025-10035. We are publishing this blog post to increase awareness of this threat and to share end-to-end protection coverage details across Microsoft Defender.

Microsoft Security Copilot is redefining how security and IT teams operate. Today at Microsoft Secure, we’re unveiling powerful updates that put genAI and...

Microsoft unveils a new wave of security innovation-delivering an agentic platform to protect organizations at scale. Learn more.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence has uncovered a new variant of the XCSSET malware, which is designed to infect Xcode projects, typically used by software developers building Apple or macOS-related applications.

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, host⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Sherrod DeGrippo⁠ is joined by Kelly Bissell, Corporate Vice President at Microsoft, to explore how domain impersonation and typosquatting are changing in the age of AI. They discuss how attackers are increasingly using AI and bots to scale online deception, why this tactic is so effective, and how Microsoft is countering cutting-edge defenses like Siamese neural networks to detect fraudulent domains in real time. Kelly shares insights on the massive scale of these threats, the shift toward defender advantage, and the broader implications for securing organizations worldwide.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence recently detected and blocked a credential phishing campaign that likely used AI-generated code to obfuscate its payload and evade traditional defenses, demonstrating a broader trend of attackers leveraging AI to increase the effectiveness of their operations and underscoring the need for defenders to understand and anticipate AI-driven threats.

GitHub is strengthening npm's security with stricter authentication, granular tokens, and enhanced trusted publishing.