The new admin tasks feature in Microsoft Intune aggregates high-impact IT actions, approvals, and remediation workflows into a single, prioritized queue in the Microsoft Intune admin center. This centralized feature helps you act quickly on critical decisions without navigating through multiple console areas, reducing response times while maintaining security oversight across endpoint management operations.

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Microsoft Purview Data Security Investigations became generally available in January, providing data security teams with AI-powered tools to identify, investigate, and mitigate sensitive data risks across Microsoft 365 environments. The solution addresses the challenge of managing 220 zettabytes of organizational data while facing over 12,000 confirmed breaches annually by streamlining investigations that previously took weeks or months into hours.

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Google Project Zero researcher James Forshaw discovered nine critical vulnerabilities in Windows 11's Administrator Protection feature during its preview phase in late 2025. The feature was disabled after its initial preview release in October 2025, but before the planned general availability rollout.

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Microsoft released Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26300.7733 (KB5074178) and Build 26220.7752 (KB5074177), to the Dev and Beta Channels, respectively. These updates introduce native System Monitor (Sysmon) functionality, expand Voice Access support, and include several fixes for File Explorer and cloud storage integration. The releases represent cumulative quality updates for Windows 11 version 25H2 through enablement packages.

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Microsoft announced the general availability (GA) of centralized RDP Shortpath configuration using Intune and Group Policy (GPO). RDP Shortpath is a UDP-based direct transport protocol that establishes connections between Remote Desktop clients and session hosts, reducing latency and improving reliability for Azure Virtual Desktop and Windows 365 Cloud PCs. You can now centrally configure this feature using Group Policy and Microsoft Intune, eliminating the need for manual per-host configuration.

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Microsoft announced a comprehensive roadmap to phase out the legacy NTLM (New Technology LAN Manager) authentication protocol in favor of more secure Kerberos-based alternatives. The company plans to disable NTLM by default in the next major Windows Server release and associated Windows client versions, marking a significant step toward enhancing Windows security after more than three decades of NTLM usage.

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Microsoft will improve how Conditional Access policies are enforced in Microsoft Entra ID starting March 27, 2026. This change addresses a security loophole in which policies targeting all resources with specific exclusions could be bypassed in certain authentication scenarios. The rollout continues through June 2026 and forms part of Microsoft's Secure Future Initiative. Because these sign-ins will no longer bypass Conditional Access, users may now be required to complete MFA, meet device compliance requirements, or satisfy other configured Conditional Access controls, such as approved apps, app protection policies, or authentication strength, before accessing the resource.

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Microsoft announced significant changes to its Teams licensing structure, effective April 1, 2026. The updates move several advanced capabilities from Teams Premium into core Teams Enterprise licenses, expand access to Microsoft Places features, and introduce new attendee capacity options for large-scale events. These changes aim to simplify licensing and provide broader access to powerful collaboration tools across organizations.

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Specops Secure Access is a multi-factor authentication solution that adds a second authentication layer to Windows logon, Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), and VPN connections in Active Directory environments. It is designed for on-premises or hybrid Active Directory environments and extends MFA to critical Windows access points without replacing Active Directory as the identity store. The solution addresses the growing vulnerability of password-based authentication and helps organizations fulfill compliance requirements for modern cybersecurity standards. It can also help organizations meet cybersecurity insurance requirements by strengthening access controls.

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Starting March 2026, Microsoft Entra ID will introduce passkey profiles and synced passkeys to general availability, enabling group-based authentication configurations with granular control over device-bound and synced passkeys. Microsoft will automatically enable passkey profiles for tenants that don't opt in during the initial rollout, with existing settings preserved to maintain their current security posture.

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Microsoft has introduced trust-based enhancements to the Teams Admin Center (TAC), designed to simplify app security and compliance management for IT administrators. These updates, known as Trust Through Certification, enable you to quickly identify trusted applications, enforce organizational standards, and streamline governance workflows through features such as "apps to consider allowing," security compliance filters, and Microsoft-certified app collections. The enhancements build on existing foundational features while adding dedicated trust indicators that consolidate security signals in a centralized dashboard. You can now evaluate apps based on industry-standard certifications without leaving the Teams Admin Center, reducing the time spent on manual reviews and cross-checking vendor documentation.

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Microsoft Entra Connect will enforce new security hardening measures starting March 2026 to prevent SyncJacking, a sophisticated attack technique that exploits synchronization mechanisms to hijack privileged accounts in hybrid identity environments.

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Microsoft is disabling hands-free WDS deployments that use unattend.xml answer files due to security concerns (CVE-2026-0386), with the feature first warning after January 2026 updates and then being turned off by default from April 2026. However, it can still be re‑enabled via a registry key, and alternative WinPE-based methods remain supported for Windows 11 deployments.

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Microsoft just announced the Security Baseline for Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise version 2512 ( (v2512, December 2025) as part of the Microsoft Security Compliance Toolkit. This security configuration package aligns with Administrative Templates released in version 5516 and introduces updated policies designed to strengthen protections in Excel, PowerPoint, and core Microsoft 365 Apps components. You can deploy these Microsoft-recommended security configurations through multiple methods including Office cloud policies, Microsoft Intune, or Group Policy to reduce configuration drift and ensure consistent protection across enterprise environments.

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Windows 11 26H1 is a platform update designed primarily for next-generation ARM processors rather than a traditional feature-rich release. This guide briefly outlines what version 26H1 offers, how to download it, and who should install it.

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Microsoft released version 1.2.0 of the Microsoft Entra PowerShell module, introducing production-ready support for Agent Identity Blueprints, enhanced application configuration parameters, and modernized invitation APIs. This update consolidates Agent Identity functionality into the main module and delivers new cmdlets for automated identity management across Microsoft Entra ID environments.

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Microsoft introduced a new PowerShell parameter, ExcludeFromAllHolds, that simplifies removing multiple retention holds from inactive mailboxes in Exchange Online. This capability enables you to remove various retention holds from inactive mailboxes while preserving essential compliance protections such as eDiscovery holds and litigation holds.

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Microsoft announces the general availability of the Azure Test Run Hub, which delivers a new interface for managing test execution in Azure DevOps Test Plans.

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Microsoft has initiated a critical security hardening phase for Windows Active Directory domain controllers to address CVE-2026-20833, a Kerberos vulnerability that enables Kerberoasting attacks by allowing attackers to exploit weak RC4 encryption. The January 2026 security updates mark the beginning of a phased transition that will disable RC4 encryption by default and enforce AES-SHA1 as the standard encryption method for Kerberos authentication.

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