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Office metadata should be treated as operational risk, not trivia. In Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, metadata is the information stored with the file that describes the document rather than appearing as normal content. It can include the author, company, creation date, last modified by value, revision count, keywords, comments, custom properties, template names, and file-management…

If you’ve been wondering what happened to Exchange SE CU1, you’re not alone. Microsoft has published a new blog post explaining the delay and detailing how its increased focus on security and growing number of vulnerability fixes are affecting the way Exchange updates are developed and released. Exchange Server Subscription Edition (SE) is an on-premises…

Microsoft is urging organizations to use threat modeling to discover cryptographic dependencies that could become vulnerable as quantum computing advances. The company emphasized that identifying these risks early can help businesses prepare for the shift to quantum-resistant security and avoid costly disruptions during the transition. One of the biggest challenges in transitioning to post-quantum cryptography…

In this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss Microsoft’s plan to unify its currently separate consumer and enterprise Copilot experiences into an all-in-one app.

As organizations rush to embrace AI, 80% experienced either a cybersecurity breach or an AI-related incident in the past year. The findings suggest that many companies are deploying AI faster than they can secure it, which leaves sensitive data and compliance efforts increasingly vulnerable. Kiteworks has just released its fifth annual Data Security and Compliance…

Microsoft is strengthening security across its Azure IoT services with a series of new enhancements designed to better protect connected devices. The updates introduce modern encryption, passwordless authentication, and more secure software update delivery to help organizations reduce the risks facing IoT environments. As organizations deploy larger fleets of connected devices, they face growing security…

Microsoft is giving its Copilot AI assistant a major branding and user experience overhaul, bringing personal and work experiences together in a single Microsoft Copilot app. The update introduces a new name, icon, and web address while ensuring that existing security, compliance, privacy, and data protection controls for commercial customers remain unchanged. Microsoft Copilot has…

A newly disclosed Microsoft SharePoint vulnerability has quickly escalated from a research finding to an active security threat, just days after a public proof-of-concept exploit was released. Attackers are already using the vulnerability to target exposed SharePoint environments. Rapid7 security researcher Stephen Fewer has recently published a detailed technical analysis on CVE-2026-55040 along with a…

You’ve heard it before: I thought you handled that This is where the conversation gets interesting. The vendor can secure the platform. The Managed Service Provider (MSP) can secure the tenant. But if users are pasting sensitive data into public AI tools, creating accounts, owning the relationship with the AI, then the whole shared responsibility…

Microsoft has released the August 2026 Patch Tuesday updates for Windows 11. This month, the company fixed 398 vulnerabilities in Windows, Microsoft Office, Azure, Exchange Server, SharePoint, Teams, Power BI, .NET, Visual Studio and other products. Microsoft is reminding customers that Windows 11 version 24H2 Home and Pro editions will reach end of support on…

Microsoft has announced the public preview of Azure Private Link over IPv6, expanding private connectivity options for organizations adopting IPv6. The new capability allows customers to securely connect to Azure Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) resources via private IPv6 endpoints, reducing their reliance on IPv4-based connectivity. According to Microsoft, many organizations are increasingly adopting IPv6 networks, but Azure…

Microsoft has officially launched Microsoft Entra Tenant Governance, giving organizations a centralized way to discover, secure, and manage increasingly complex multi-tenant environments. The new solution helps IT teams discover hidden or unmanaged tenants, close security gaps, and enforce consistent governance before configuration issues turn into serious risks. Organizations operate multiple Microsoft tenants for production, testing,…