Security baseline (DRAFT) for Windows 10 v1809 and Windows Server 2019
Microsoft is pleased to announce the draft release of the security configuration baseline settings for Windows 10 version 1809 (a.k.a., “Redstone 5” or “RS5”), and for Windows Server 2019. Please evaluate these proposed baselines and send us your feedback via ... continue reading

Out of sight but not invisible: Defeating fileless malware with behavior monitoring, AMSI, and next-gen AV
Consider this scenario: Two never-before-seen, heavily obfuscated scripts manage to slip past file-based detection and dynamically load an info-stealing payload into memory. The scripts are part of a social engineering campaign that tricks potential victims into running the scripts, which ... continue reading

Office VBA + AMSI: Parting the veil on malicious macros
As part of our continued efforts to tackle entire classes of threats, Office 365 client applications now integrate with Antimalware Scan Interface (AMSI), enabling antivirus and other security solutions to scan macros and other scripts at runtime to check for ... continue reading

Small businesses targeted by highly localized Ursnif campaign
Cyber thieves are continuously looking for new ways to get people to click on a bad link, open a malicious file, or install a poisoned update in order to steal valuable data. In the past, they cast as wide a ... continue reading

Protecting the protector: Hardening machine learning defenses against adversarial attacks
Harnessing the power of machine learning and artificial intelligence has enabled Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection (Windows Defender ATP) next-generation protection to stop new malware attacks before they can get started often within milliseconds. These predictive technologies are central to ... continue reading

March-April 2018 test results: More insights into industry AV tests
In a previous post, in the spirit of our commitment to delivering industry-leading protection, customer choice, and transparency on the quality of our solutions, we shared insights and context into the results of AV-TESTs January-February 2018 test cycle. We released ... continue reading

Hawkeye Keylogger – Reborn v8: An in-depth campaign analysis
Much of cybercrime today is fueled by underground markets where malware and cybercriminal services are available for purchase. These markets in the deep web commoditize malware operations. Even novice cybercriminals can buy malware toolkits and other services they might need ... continue reading
Creating remediation actions for System Insights
Quick overview System Insights enables you to configure custom remediation scripts to automatically address the issues detected by each capability. For each capability, you can set a custom PowerShell script for each prediction status. Once a capability returns a prediction ... continue reading

Machine learning vs. social engineering
Machine learning is a key driver in the constant evolution of security technologies at Microsoft. Machine learning allows Microsoft 365 to scale next-gen protection capabilities and enhance cloud-based, real-time blocking of new and unknown threats. Just in the last few ... continue reading