Microsoft has updated the Windows 11 installation media available through the Media Creation Tool to include the July 2026 Patch Tuesday updates. This refresh applies to both the 24H2 and 25H2 editions, integrating security patches KB5101650 and KB5099414 directly into the bootable images. By using this updated media, administrators can perform clean installations that already contain the latest security intelligence updates for Microsoft Defender.

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ACR Stealer is a malware-as-a-service threat that targets enterprise environments by stealing browser credentials, session tokens, and sensitive documents. The infection begins with a social engineering technique called ClickFix, which tricks users into pasting malicious commands into the Windows Run dialog or a terminal. Once executed, the malware targets Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Edge to decrypt passwords and cookies using the Windows Data Protection API (DPAPI).

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Moonshot AI has unveiled Kimi K3, a massive 2.8 trillion-parameter model that currently stands as the largest open-weight artificial intelligence system available. The model utilizes a mixture-of-experts architecture with 896 experts, though it only activates 16 experts per token to maintain computational efficiency. It features a 1 million-token context window and native vision support, allowing it to process vast amounts of data and visual information in a single prompt.

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The newly discovered Spirals ransomware, written in Rust, utilizes a rapid attack timeline to move from initial breach to full network encryption in less than a day. Attackers gain entry by compromising internet-facing IIS web servers to deploy web shells and establish interactive sessions through the IIS worker process. Once inside, the threat actors escalate privileges by bypassing User Account Control and enabling the Remote Desktop Protocol for persistent access.

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Microsoft is developing a next-generation security tool called Project Perception designed to identify and remediate software vulnerabilities using artificial intelligence. This initiative follows a massive surge in security fixes, with recent Patch Tuesday updates addressing a record 570 flaws. The system aims to compete with Anthropic’s Mythos model, which has already been credited with uncovering thousands of industry-wide bugs, including long-standing zero-day exploits.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently criticized the restrictive nature of Anthropic’s high-end Fable 5 AI model during an internal meeting with engineers. He described the model as being "editorially controlled," arguing that its frequent refusal of user requests hinders its effectiveness as a creative tool. These remarks highlight growing friction between Microsoft and its partner, despite a $5 billion investment and a $30 billion agreement for Anthropic to use Azure cloud services.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, advocating for a collaborative international approach to AI development. He characterized the technology's growth as a "symphony of international cooperation" rather than a solo performance by any individual nation. This keynote marks his first appearance at the event, highlighting the strategic importance of AI to China’s national policy.

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GitHub has introduced a new moderation feature that allows repository administrators to archive pull requests instead of permanently deleting them. This capability is designed to help maintainers manage low-quality, spammy, or abusive contributions while preserving the data for internal records. When an administrator archives a pull request, the system automatically closes and locks the item to prevent further interaction.

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Microsoft is increasing the list price for M365 E5 to $60 per user while eliminating volume discounts, creating a significant financial hurdle for enterprise renewals. The value of the E5 "step-up" primarily rests on two pillars: the Defender security suite and Purview compliance tools. While Microsoft bundles additional features like Power BI Pro and Teams Phone, these often provide marginal value for organizations that do not require enterprise-wide telephony or advanced data visualization.

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A cybersecurity researcher demonstrated that open-weight AI models can be compromised with a backdoor for less than $100 in under an hour. By using as few as ten malicious training examples, the researcher successfully manipulated a model to generate code vulnerable to remote code execution. This type of attack, known as data poisoning, involves injecting targeted adversarial data into the training process to steer the model toward specific malicious behaviors.

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Microsoft Teams will soon automatically generate AI meeting archive files with a .meeting extension to enhance Copilot and Facilitator responses. These archives capture structured insights rather than raw transcript snippets and are stored in a secure, tenant-owned SharePoint Embedded container. Administrators can manage this feature through a new organization-wide policy setting, which is enabled by default for all eligible meetings.

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OpenAI has confirmed a critical bug in GPT-5.6 Codex that causes the unexpected deletion of user files on macOS and Linux systems. The issue occurs when the model is granted full-access mode without the protection of sandboxing or auto-review features. While the company describes the frequency of these incidents as rare, the resulting data loss is severe for affected users.

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The July 2026 mandatory update for Windows 11 introduces Point-in-time Restore, a robust recovery tool using the Volume Shadow Copy Service. This feature creates block-level snapshots of the entire system, including personal files and settings, allowing users to roll back to a known good state within a 72-hour window. It operates entirely offline and requires at least 200GB of total disk space to enable by default, utilizing up to 50GB for snapshot storage.

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Microsoft has issued a formal 90-day reminder that mainstream support for Windows Server 2022 will conclude on October 13, 2026. After this date, the operating system enters an extended support phase that is scheduled to last until October 14, 2031. During this five-year period, the vendor will continue to provide critical security patches at no additional cost to customers.

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CISA has added two critical vulnerabilities affecting FortiSandbox to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog following reports of active exploitation. The flaws, identified as CVE-2026-39808 and CVE-2026-25089, allow unauthenticated attackers to execute arbitrary operating system commands. These vulnerabilities impact the FortiSandbox threat detection platform, which organizations use to analyze suspicious files and URLs in isolated environments.

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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has added CVE-2026-58644 to its Known Exploited Vulnerabilities catalog following evidence of zero-day exploitation. This critical flaw allows authenticated attackers with Site Owner permissions to execute arbitrary code on vulnerable on-premises SharePoint Server instances. The vulnerability stems from the deserialization of untrusted data, a process where a program improperly parses malicious data to recreate an object, leading to unauthorized command execution.

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Microsoft has extended the deadline for removing the Credential parameter from Exchange Online PowerShell modules following feedback from the administrator community. Originally scheduled for retirement in July 2026, the parameter will now remain supported on the client side until December 2026. This change specifically impacts the Connect-ExchangeOnline and Connect-IPPSSession cmdlets, which are frequently used to manage automated tasks.

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Moonshot AI has announced Kimi K3, a massive large language model featuring nearly three trillion parameters. This release marks a significant milestone as the first open-weight system to reach this scale, challenging the dominance of proprietary models. The model is specifically designed to handle high-end tasks including complex software development, multi-step reasoning, and advanced research.

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Anthropic and Blackstone have partnered with other major investment firms to launch Ode, a $1.5 billion joint venture focused on AI deployment. The company was formed through the acquisition of Fractional AI, a boutique engineering firm that previously collaborated with OpenAI. This initiative addresses a critical market gap where enterprises struggle to move AI projects from experimental pilots into full-scale production environments.

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