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Microsoft has released emergency out-of-band Office security updates to patch a critical Microsoft Office vulnerability that is already under active exploitation. This flaw (tracked as CVE-2026-21509) is being used by attackers in real-world attacks to bypass built-in security protections. The zero-day bug (CVE-2026-21509) is a high‑severity security feature‑bypass flaw in Microsoft Office that originates from…

Microsoft is rolling out an important security change to protect Windows environments from a newly exposed Kerberos vulnerability that could let attackers exploit weak RC4 encryption. The company has urged organizations to act quickly as domain controllers move toward stronger AES‑based encryption to prevent potential authentication risks. The security flaw (CVE‑2026‑20833) is a Kerberos information‑disclosure…

Microsoft AI Shell brings an AI‑assisted, conversational experience to your terminal. It runs as a standalone CLI (aish) or as a sidecar in Windows Terminal/PowerShell/iTerm2 (macOS), where it can suggest commands, fix errors, and even insert code directly into your shell. It ships with AI agents for Azure OpenAI (GPT‑4o) and Copilot in Azure, with…

Microsoft has made its Purview Data Security Investigations solution generally available for commercial customers. The new tool is built to expose hidden data risks and reduce investigation timelines from weeks to just hours. According to Microsoft, traditional data investigations often require manual, file‑by‑file reviews, which are no longer practical due to the scale of data…

The rise of AI agents is forcing a fundamental rethink of enterprise security. Agents are autonomous, task-oriented digital workers that are no longer confined to experimental labs or niche use cases. Agents are being embedded into Microsoft 365, Windows, and Azure, where they draft emails, summarize meetings, automate reports, and interact with data on behalf…

Microsoft has introduced new Unified Tenant Configuration Management (UTCM) APIs in public preview through Microsoft Graph. These APIs enable organizations to consistently control, manage, and monitor configuration settings across one or multiple Microsoft 365 workloads. Why is configuration drift a growing problem in Microsoft 365 tenants? The new UTCM APIs address the problem of configuration…

Microsoft has released new out-of-band updates to fix a Windows 11 bug that caused applications to freeze when saving files to cloud storage services. The issue was introduced by the January 13 security update and has affected users relying on OneDrive, Dropbox, and similar platforms. Last week, Microsoft acknowledged that this bug caused the classic…

On this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss Microsoft releasing the Windows App Development CLI, a new Command Line Utility for Windows app developers.

A new study reveals that UK mid-market organisations are increasingly reducing their reliance on external cybersecurity vendors and shifting responsibility to in-house teams. This move is driven by mounting cost pressures and declining trust in providers, and it raises concerns about whether these organisations can sustain long-term cyber resilience. IT services provider Advania conducted a…

Microsoft is investigating a newly discovered issue that causes certain apps to freeze when saving files to cloud storage services such as OneDrive and Dropbox. The problem appears to impact users who installed the January 2026 security update on Windows 11 PCs. “For example, in some configurations of Outlook that store PST files on OneDrive,…

One of the mechanisms Microsoft uses to enable or restrict Active Directory (AD) capabilities in Windows Server is the concept of Active Directory functional levels. Windows Server introduces stronger security, improved performance, better manageability, and increased functionality in Active Directory for each new version of the server operating system. Functional levels determine which AD DS…

Microsoft has introduced new trust-focused enhancements in the Teams Admin Center (TAC) to help IT admins more easily evaluate, approve, and manage applications used within Microsoft Teams. These updates are designed to strengthen governance, streamline compliance checks, and highlight trusted solutions. Improved trust visibility for apps First off, Microsoft has a new “Apps to Consider…