Starting in April 2026, Windows updates will change the default Kerberos ticket issuance behavior to AES-SHA1 for accounts without explicit encryption settings, while RC4 can still be used where explicitly enabled. This change, driven by CVE-2026-20833, affects every Windows Server environment where service accounts or devices still rely on RC4. Any service account, NAS device, or legacy application not explicitly configured for AES-SHA1 encryption may lose authentication capability. This article explains what Kerberos and RC4 are, what will break in April 2026, and what you must do to prevent outages.

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Microsoft Defender for Cloud Apps is a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) solution that delivers comprehensive security for Software as a Service (SaaS) applications across your organization. This security platform provides visibility into shadow IT, threat protection, data loss prevention capabilities, and security posture management for cloud-based applications. The tool integrates with Microsoft Defender XDR to offer extended detection and response across the full attack chain. Recent updates include March 2026 changes to Secure Score category calculations that reclassify some recommendations from the Cloud apps category to Identity, more accurately reflecting where controls apply without changing the overall Secure Score.

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Exchange Online now lets you choose, per outbound connector, whether SMTP DANE and MTA-STS are enforced opportunistically, mandatorily (for DANE), or not at all. These new connector modes give you granular control over how strictly Exchange Online enforces modern email security standards when sending mail to external domains.

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Microsoft announced several new Defender features at the RSA Conference 2026, most of which are in preview and have minimal technical documentation. The primary additions include AI-powered triage agents in Security Copilot that automatically classify security alerts, a new dashboard that consolidates identity-related security events, automated hardening actions based on attack predictions, and voice-call monitoring in Microsoft Teams.

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Microsoft has introduced external Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) as the new, fully integrated OpenID Connect (OIDC)-based way to connect third-party MFA providers, replacing the Custom Controls mechanism that previously enabled external MFA in a more limited way. Custom Controls will be deprecated on September 30, 2026.

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Microsoft is developing Priority Cleanup V2, an updated data-purging feature in Microsoft Purview that deletes Exchange Online mailbox content even when protected by retention policies or eDiscovery holds. This proposed version is designed to reduce the number of approval stages from three to two, accelerate deletion from days to hours, and introduce batch-processing safeguards.

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The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source standard for connecting AI agents to external resources such as database systems. MCP extensions are modular, optional additions to the Model Context Protocol that enable specialized capabilities without modifying the core specification. These extensions support features like interactive user interfaces, custom authentication flows, and industry-specific functionality while maintaining compatibility with the base protocol.

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At RSA Conference 2026, Microsoft announced a comprehensive set of updates to Microsoft Sentinel, its cloud-native Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) platform. The announcements focus on AI-driven automation, simplified multi-tenant management, and enhanced data integration capabilities designed to help security operations centers (SOCs) operate more efficiently at scale.

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VS Code transitioned to a weekly stable release schedule starting with version 1.111 in March 2026, moving away from its previous monthly cadence. Versions 1.112 and 1.113 are the second and third releases under this new schedule, introducing integrated browser debugging, MCP (Model Context Protocol) server sandboxing, Copilot CLI agent permissions, and chat workflow improvements. This article details the most significant technical changes in both releases.

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Microsoft has launched departmental billing for Microsoft 365 Backup, effective March 2, 2026, enabling organizations to configure billing policies, delegate administration, and implement chargeback models across different business units. This enhancement addresses enterprise demands for decentralized backup management while maintaining centralized IT governance and visibility.

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PowerShell 7.6 introduces several new features as part of Microsoft's latest Long-Term Support (LTS) release. With three years of support, it's a strong choice for production servers. Among the key new features in PowerShell 7.6 are improvements that address long-standing annoyances with autocomplete and enhance reliability for common administrative tasks. If you've ever been frustrated by tab completion not working in certain situations or noticed that PowerShell is missing obvious suggestions, this release addresses many of those issues. This article also covers installing PowerShell 7.6 on Windows and upgrading from earlier versions using winget or the MSI installer.

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This article breaks down the three main categories of AI chips—GPUs, ASICs, and NPUs—and compares the leading hardware defining the future of artificial intelligence. You might think of NVIDIA as the undisputed king of artificial intelligence hardware, but the reality is far more complex. While NVIDIA's graphics processing units (GPUs) currently power the majority of AI model training, a diverse ecosystem of specialized chips is rapidly emerging. Tech giants like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft are designing their own custom silicon to cut costs and improve efficiency, while mobile chipmakers are racing to bring powerful AI capabilities directly to your laptop and smartphone.

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Microsoft's original Secure Boot certificates from 2011 begin expiring in June 2026. Windows devices that still rely on these certificates will no longer receive security updates for boot components, leaving them out of compliance. To address this, Microsoft is rolling out new 2023 certificates for the UEFI Secure Boot Signature Database (DB). Administrators can deploy these certificates to domain-joined machines using Group Policy, PowerShell, or the Windows Configuration System (WinCS). This article covers the technical background, the registry-based deployment mechanism, and Microsoft's sample automation framework for enterprise rollouts.

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Starting April 2026, Microsoft Registration Campaigns in Entra ID will support Passkeys (FIDO2) as an authentication method, enabling organizations to deploy phishing-resistant credentials. The update introduces significant configuration changes, particularly for tenants using the Microsoft-managed state, where several campaign settings become non-configurable. This rollout is part of Microsoft's broader strategy to eliminate passwords and aligns with the introduction of Windows Hello passkey support for Entra accounts.

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Seven protocols have emerged to standardize communication between AI agents, models, and external systems: Anthropic Model Context Protocol (MCP), Google Agent2Agent (A2A), Google Agent Gateway Protocol (AGP), Cisco AGNTCY, IBM Agent Communication Protocol (ACP), and Zed Agent Client Protocol (AGP). This article provides an overview of these AI protocols and compares their use cases.

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Microsoft released a new dedicated upgrade tool called Windows 11 Installation Assistant 25H2 that lets you perform an in-place upgrade from Windows 10 or older Windows 11 versions directly to Windows 11 25H2 (the 2025 Update). The assistant automates the hardware compatibility check, download, and installation, preserving your files, applications, and most settings. It is available from the Microsoft Download Center and works only on x64-based PCs. Understanding the requirements and process before you start helps you avoid common pitfalls.

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Azure Copilot Migration Agent is a new AI agent built into the Azure portal that assists with planning migrations from VMware, Hyper-V, and bare-metal servers to Azure. It works on top of Azure Migrate data and goes beyond answering questions: it can actively create business cases and assessments, apply tags to discovered servers, and generate deployable landing zone templates — all through natural language prompts. What it cannot do is execute the actual migration. Replication, test migrations, and cutover are performed in the Azure Migrate portal, not through the agent. The agent is currently in public preview.

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Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26300.8068 (KB 5079464) to the Dev Channel and Build 26220.8062 (KB 5079458) to the Beta Channel. Both updates are based on Windows 11 version 25H2 and are delivered via an enablement package. The releases introduce a stricter kernel-level driver trust policy, expanded enterprise app-removal controls, improvements to point-in-time restore, and a renamed Drop Tray feature. Most changes are initially available to Insiders who enable the early-update toggle in Settings > Windows Update.

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Microsoft Defender for Endpoint now includes an effective settings feature, generally available as of March 2026, that shows which security configurations are actually enforced on a device.

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