Defending new vectors: Threat actors attempt SQL Server to cloud lateral movement
Microsoft security researchers recently identified an attack where attackers attempted to move laterally to a cloud environment through a SQL Server instance.
Microsoft 365 Defender demonstrates 100 percent protection coverage in the 2023 MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations: Enterprise
For the fifth consecutive year, Microsoft 365 Defender demonstrated leading extended detection and response (XDR) capabilities in the independent MITRE Engenuity ATT&CK® Evaluations: Enterprise.
Malware distributor Storm-0324 facilitates ransomware access
The threat actor that Microsoft tracks as Storm-0324 is a financially motivated group known to gain initial access using email-based initial infection vectors and then hand off access to compromised networks to other threat actors.
Flax Typhoon using legitimate software to quietly access Taiwanese organizations
China-based actor Flax Typhoon is exploiting known vulnerabilities for public-facing servers, legitimate VPN software, and open-source malware to gain access to Taiwanese organizations, but not taking further action.
Microsoft Purview data security mitigations for BazaCall and other human-operated data exfiltration attacks
Microsoft Defender is our toolset for prevention and mitigation of data exfiltration and ransomware attacks. Microsoft Purview data security offers important mitigations as well and should be used as part of a defense-in-depth strategy.
Cryptojacking: Understanding and defending against cloud compute resource abuse
Cloud cryptojacking, a type of cyberattack that uses computing power to mine cryptocurrency, could result in financial loss to targeted organizations due to the compute fees that can be incurred from the abuse.
Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR helps triage, investigate, and respond to cyberthreats
Take a closer look at how Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR works, and how it complements the power of the Microsoft 365 Defender suite.
Storm-0978 attacks reveal financial and espionage motives
Microsoft has identified a phishing campaign conducted by the threat actor tracked as Storm-0978 targeting defense and government entities in Europe and North America. The campaign involved the abuse of CVE-2023-36884, which included a zero-day remote code execution vulnerability exploited via Microsoft Word documents.
The five-day job: A BlackByte ransomware intrusion case study
In a recent investigation by Microsoft Incident Response of a BlackByte 2.0 ransomware attack, we found that the threat actor progressed through the full attack chain, from initial access to impact, in less than five days, causing significant business disruption for the victim organization.
Cadet Blizzard emerges as a novel and distinct Russian threat actor
Microsoft attributes several campaigns to a distinct Russian state-sponsored threat actor tracked as Cadet Blizzard (DEV-0586), including the WhisperGate destructive attack, Ukrainian website defacements, and the hack-and-leak front “Free Civilian”.
Detecting and mitigating a multi-stage AiTM phishing and BEC campaign
Microsoft Defender Experts observed a multi-stage adversary-in-the-middle (AiTM) and business email compromise (BEC) attack targeting banking and financial services organizations over two days. This attack originated from a compromised trusted vendor, involved AiTM and BEC attacks across multiple supplier/partner organizations for financial fraud, and did not use a reverse proxy like typical AiTM attacks.
Volt Typhoon targets US critical infrastructure with living-off-the-land techniques
Chinese state-sponsored actor Volt Typhoon is using stealthy techniques to target US critical infrastructure, conduct espionage, and dwell in compromised environments.