ALL POSTS

Key Findings Microsoft warns of a new ClickFix variant that tricks users into running a malicious nslookup command through the Windows Run dialog to retrieve a second-stage payload via DNS. Attackers use cmd.exe to perform a DNS lookup against a hard-coded external server, and the `Name:` response is extracted and executed as the second-stage payload. This DNS-based approach allows attackers to signal and deliver payloads via their own infrastructure, reducing reliance on web

Key Findings Microsoft released security updates to address 59 vulnerabilities, including 6 that are actively being exploited in the wild. Of the 59 flaws, 5 are rated Critical, 52 are rated Important, and 2 are rated Moderate in severity. 25 of the patched vulnerabilities are privilege escalation, followed by remote code execution (12), spoofing (7), information disclosure (6), security feature bypass (5), denial-of-service (3), and cross-site scripting (1). The 6 actively e

Key Findings Microsoft released security updates to address 58 new vulnerabilities across Windows, Office, Azure, Edge, Exchange, Hyper-V, and other components. The update includes fixes for 6 zero-day vulnerabilities that are being actively exploited in the wild. 5 of the vulnerabilities were rated as "Critical" by Microsoft. Several vulnerabilities affect high-profile targets like GitHub Copilot, IDEs, and Azure cloud services. Background This month's Patch Tuesday from Mic

Key Findings: Microsoft warns that info-stealing attacks are "rapidly expanding" beyond Windows to target Apple macOS environments. Attackers are leveraging cross-platform languages like Python and abusing trusted platforms to distribute infostealer malware at scale. Background Since late 2025, Microsoft has observed macOS-targeted infostealer campaigns using social engineering techniques such as ClickFix-style prompts and malicious DMG installers. These campaigns deploy macO

Key Findings Microsoft's latest cumulative updates for Windows 11 have caused technical issues, including devices failing to enter sleep mode or shutdown correctly, often resulting in involuntary reboots. The problems have also extended to Windows 10 systems with Virtualization-Based Security (VBS/VSM) enabled. Microsoft has acknowledged the defects and is working on a comprehensive resolution for both Windows 10 and 11. As an interim mitigation, affected users are advised to

Key Findings Microsoft issued emergency updates to fix an actively exploited Office zero-day, CVE-2026-21509, affecting Office 2016–2024 and Microsoft 365 Apps. The vulnerability is a security feature bypass that allows an unauthorized attacker to bypass security protections locally by sending a malicious Office file. Microsoft confirmed the Preview Pane is not an attack vector, but did not disclose technical details about the active exploits. Office 2021 and later are automa

Key Findings The FBI obtained BitLocker encryption keys from Microsoft to access encrypted data on laptops seized during a fraud investigation in Guam. Microsoft provides these recovery keys to law enforcement when presented with a valid legal order, as the keys are often backed up to users' Microsoft accounts by default. This practice raises privacy concerns, as it allows authorities to bypass the encryption meant to protect users' data, even if the device owner has not know

Key Findings Microsoft, in collaboration with law enforcement authorities, has taken coordinated legal action to disrupt the cybercrime subscription service called RedVDS, which has allegedly fueled millions in fraud losses. RedVDS provided criminals with access to disposable virtual computers running unlicensed software, enabling them to operate anonymously and carry out various illicit activities, including phishing, business email compromise (BEC), and financial fraud. Sin

Key Findings Microsoft released its first security update for 2026, addressing 114 security flaws 8 vulnerabilities were rated Critical, and 106 were rated Important in severity The update includes 58 privilege escalation, 22 information disclosure, 21 remote code execution, and 5 spoofing flaws The update marks the third-largest January Patch Tuesday after January 2025 and January 2022 2 previously disclosed zero-day vulnerabilities were also addressed Background Microsoft r

Key Findings Microsoft released its January 2026 security update, addressing 112 vulnerabilities, including 8 critical flaws One of the "important" vulnerabilities, CVE-2026-20805, is being exploited in the wild 6 out of the 8 critical vulnerabilities are remote code execution (RCE) affecting Windows services and Microsoft Office The remaining 2 critical vulnerabilities are elevation of privilege (EoP) affecting Windows Graphic Component and Windows Virtualization-Based Secur

Key Findings Microsoft released patches for 56 security vulnerabilities in various products across the Windows platform, including one vulnerability that has been actively exploited in the wild. Of the 56 flaws, three are rated Critical, and 53 are rated Important in severity. Two of the patched vulnerabilities are listed as publicly known at the time of the release. The vulnerabilities include 29 privilege escalation, 18 remote code execution, four information disclosure, th

Key Findings Microsoft released 57 vulnerabilities in the December 2025 Patch Tuesday, including 2 "critical" and the rest "important" Microsoft assessed that exploitation of the 2 "critical" vulnerabilities is "less likely" Cisco Talos is releasing new Snort rules to detect attempts to exploit some of the disclosed vulnerabilities Background This month's Patch Tuesday addresses a range of vulnerabilities, including: CVE-2025-62562: Microsoft Outlook remote code execution vul

Key Findings Microsoft disclosed that it automatically detected and mitigated a 15.72 Tbps DDoS attack, the largest ever observed in the cloud, targeting a single endpoint in Australia. The attack originated from the AISURU botnet, a Mirai-class IoT botnet powered by nearly 300,000 infected devices, mainly routers, security cameras, and DVR systems. The attack involved massive UDP floods from over 500,000 source IPs across various regions, with minimal spoofing and random sou

Key Findings Microsoft has made its internal Xbox Game Publishing Guide publicly available, previously accessible only to select partners. This move is expected to significantly lower the barrier for game developers, particularly independent creators, to bring their titles to the Xbox platform. The guide offers a comprehensive breakdown of the entire process required to publish a game within the Xbox ecosystem, covering every stage from pre-production to final release. Backgr

Key Findings Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered critical remote code execution vulnerabilities in major AI inference engines, including those from Meta, Nvidia, Microsoft, and open-source projects like vLLM and SGLang. The vulnerabilities stem from the unsafe use of ZeroMQ (ZMQ) and Python's pickle deserialization, a pattern dubbed "ShadowMQ." The root cause is a vulnerability in Meta's Llama large language model (LLM) framework (CVE-2024-50050) that was patched by the

Key Findings Microsoft released its November 2025 Patch Tuesday, addressing a total of 68 vulnerabilities, including a high-priority zero-day flaw already being actively exploited in the wild. The most urgent patch is for CVE-2025-62215, a Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability that allows an authenticated attacker to gain SYSTEM privileges. In addition to the zero-day, four other flaws have been rated as Critical severity, posing a significant risk of Remote Cod

Key Findings: Microsoft set to receive $12.5 billion in tax breaks in 2026, enough to provide food assistance to 5.2 million people, Medicaid coverage for 1.6 million adults (or 3.8 million children), or reduce ACA premiums for 1.9 million Americans Amazon poised to receive $16 billion in tax reductions this year, which could fund SNAP benefits for 6.6 million people, Medicaid coverage for 2 million adults (or 5.4 million children), or reduce ACA premiums for 2.4 million Amer