Endpoint administrators need to keep elevated access accountable at scale. Security teams also need a clearer view of expert-led protection and a simpler way to deploy SQL Server protection in Azure Government. As AI agents gain access to business data and tools, organizations need ways to limit their authority and adapt protection as risk changes. This month’s Microsoft Intune and Microsoft Defender updates introduce capabilities across these areas, alongside new Secure AI capabilities for agent access. A recent Secure Now update in Microsoft Security Exposure Management also connects information on recent threats to focused initiatives for reducing exposure.

Here’s what’s new:

Limit agent authority to the task with Dynamic Permissions

Give agents task-scoped authority and adapt access as risk changes

As agents gain access to business data and tools, organizations need ways to manage what each agent is allowed to do. Dynamic Permissions provides an agent its own permissions and authority, scoped to its current task and for only as long as the task requires. As the agent works, Dynamic Agent Risk assesses whether the agent’s authority aligns with changing behavior and context. Dynamic Conditional Access can then respond proportionately by narrowing permissions, restricting access to resources, or requiring human approval for higher-impact actions. Together, these capabilities are designed to help organizations tailor agent authority before an agent acts and adjust access as risk changes. See how security can respond when an agent steps outside its task.

Contain local AI agents with Microsoft Execution Containers

Apply least-privilege boundaries to help limit access on Windows

Microsoft Execution Containers (MXC), now generally available, gives organizations an operating system-enforced containment layer for AI agents, designed to limit what an agent can access. Rather than relying on the agent to behave within intended boundaries, MXC applies least-privilege controls across files, networks, processes, and user interactions, with additional isolation options for higher-risk scenarios. Organizations can tune and validate policies before enforcing them broadly, while upcoming integration with Microsoft Intune, Microsoft Entra, and Microsoft Agent 365 is intended to extend governance and attribution across the enterprise. Discover more about this policy-driven containment for AI agents.

Scale least privilege with Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management

Expand least-privilege scenarios with new system settings support and simpler tenant onboarding

Microsoft Intune Endpoint Privilege Management continues to expand the tasks standard users can complete without broad administrator rights. With new system settings support, standard users can change IPv4, IPv6, and DNS server values on their device’s network adapters through Endpoint Privilege Management, while administrators determine how those changes are elevated. For user-confirmed changes, administrators can require a business justification, Windows authentication, or both before the change is applied. Along with tenant onboarding updates, these improvements support organizations as they get started with and expand their use of Endpoint Privilege Management. Explore how to get started with system settings support in Endpoint Privilege Management.

Simplify security operations with Defender Experts

See what Defender Experts are investigating in a consolidated experience

As threats move faster and security environments grow more complex, security teams need to quickly understand what matters and when to act. New Microsoft Defender Experts MDR experiences in the Microsoft Defender portal bring ongoing expert work into focus with a consolidated overview page with updated navigation and visibility into hunts. Teams can review active and completed hunts, see findings from Defender Experts, and identify items that may require follow-up. Learn more about the new Defender Experts MDR experiences.

Extend protection and discover local agents with Microsoft Defender

Simplify deployment and expand SQL protection

The enhanced agent for Defender for SQL Servers on machines is now generally available for resource- and subscription-level enablement in Azure Government cloud. The enhanced agent uses existing SQL infrastructure, eliminating the need to deploy the Azure Monitor Agent for this scenario. Security teams can spend less time on deployment and extend protection across their SQL Server environments. Learn more about the enhanced agent and how to get started.

Discover local AI agents and their configured MCPs on Windows and macOS

On endpoints, Microsoft Defender is extending discovery capabilities for supported local AI agents and their configured model context protocols (MCPs) across Windows and macOS. Now generally available, Defender discovers more than 50 supported local AI agents by observing their activity and brings the agent, device, account, and configured MCP context together to help security teams understand local AI agent activity in their environment. Learn more about local agents.

Improve security posture with Microsoft Security Exposure Management

Prioritize foundational security controls with Secure Now

AI-enabled attacks can take advantage of familiar weaknesses, including excessive permissions, unprotected authentication flows, and exposed systems. Secure Now now pairs information about recent threats with focused initiatives across security domains. Security teams can use that context to identify foundational controls that need attention, review the recommended actions, and prioritize work intended to reduce exposure. The update helps connect information about observed attack patterns with security improvements teams can consider in their own environments.

Learn how to address agentic AI’s security challenges

From agentic inventory and observability to stopping AI runtime threats

An inventory is only the starting point for managing Al agent risk. Organizations also need to consider ownership, limits on what agents can access, how risk is reassessed as agents operate, and protections against emerging threats. “Don’t Leave AI Exposed” provides security professionals, IT administrators, and developers with actionable guidance on managing risk across the agent lifecycle. Download the guide for considerations spanning agent inventory, ownership, access, monitoring, and runtime protection.

Stay in the Loop

Security teams need a clear account of what is changing across the portfolio and where those changes can strengthen their operations. In the Loop brings together the latest Microsoft Security updates and their implications for your security strategy. Explore earlier editions and check back for the next drop.

See Microsoft Security innovations in action at Microsoft Ignite, November 17-20, 2026, in San Francisco or online.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

The post ​​​​What’s new in Microsoft Security: November 2026 appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

Microsoft has been named a Leader in the inaugural 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for AI Agent Management Platforms. We believe this recognition reflects Microsoft’s approach to helping organizations manage, secure, and scale their AI investments through Microsoft Agent 365. 

When we introduced Agent 365, we started with a simple concept: agents should be managed with the same rigor you already apply to users, apps, and devices, using the infrastructure and protections that already run your business. Since then, more than 50 million agents have been registered in Agent 365.¹

Here’s what we believe made the difference. 

We started with identity, not monitoring 

Many approaches to managing agents focus on monitoring after an agent is running. Microsoft’s approach begins with identity. With Microsoft Entra Agent ID, every agent in the organization is assigned a unique agent ID, associated with an owner and purpose, and the right access controls based on its needs. 

This enables organizations to apply established identity and access policies to both people and agents. Agent access policies are dynamically adjusted as risk signals and conditions change. Organizations can manage agent access through the Microsoft identity infrastructure they already use for their workforce. 

We built on what you already trust 

Rather than building a separate platform, Agent 365 extends the tools IT and security teams already use every day: Microsoft Entra, Microsoft Defender, Microsoft Purview, Microsoft Intune, and the Microsoft 365 admin center. 

That decision shapes the experience. Microsoft data protection, compliance, and security capabilities can help organizations extend familiar controls to supported agent scenarios.²  

We meet agents where they are 

Agents won’t come from one platform, so Agent 365 is designed to support a broad ecosystem. It brings supported agents from Microsoft, customer-built agents, local agents found on devices, and partner clouds and frameworks into one registry. Current integrations include Agentforce, Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic, Databricks, Google Gemini, and Google Vertex, with more planned integrations coming soon, including OpenAI, ServiceNow, and Snowflake. Agent 365 also integrates agents built using supported open-source frameworks with the Agent 365 software development kit (SDK).  

For additional agent patterns, including local and previously unknown agents discovered through Microsoft Security sensors, Agent 365 supports fit-for-purpose identity types so they can be represented in the registry with appropriate ownership, activity, and risk context. Microsoft is also previewing discovery of cloud agents, extending visibility beyond known and integrated agents. Together, native integrations, connectors, and security sensors help organizations discover and govern more of their agent estate across cloud and device environments.  

There’s more to do 

Agent 365 moved quickly from introduction to general availability, and we haven’t slowed down. We’re proud of this recognition, and we know there’s more work ahead. We are expanding discovery to 35 additional local agent types, bringing the total to 60, along with adding support to discover unknown agents, bringing these agents under management, as well as extending policy coverage and controls for both managed and unmanaged agents, including third-party agents.  

But, visibility and controls are only the beginning. Customers have asked for more automated support for agent governance and security. The new Agent 365 Action Center helps IT and security leaders move from reactive alerts to prescriptive actions, like cleaning up inactive agents, reassigning ownerless agents, or automatically blocking agents based on risk. 

We’re also advancing cost management, task classification, and value calculation to help organizations understand how agents are being used, what they cost, and the value they deliver.  

Our promise hasn’t changed: to help every organization move from experimenting with agents to running them confidently, with the same rigor, protections, and accountability that already run the enterprise. We believe Agent 365 enables any organization to deploy AI at scale. 

Get started 

• Get your copy of the Gartner Magic Quadrant for AI Agent Management Platforms.
• Learn more about Microsoft Agent 365. 
• Get Agent 365 with Microsoft 365 E7, or as an add-on to Microsoft 365 E5. 

Attending Microsoft Ignite 2026? Join us to learn more about what’s next for Agent 365.  

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

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Gartner, Magic Quadrant for AI Management Platforms, Andrei Razvan Sachelarescu, Lucas Kobat, Gilbert van der Heiden, Max Goss, October 27, 2026.

Gartner and Magic Quadrant are trademarks of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Gartner does not endorse any company, vendor, product or service depicted in its publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s business and technology insights organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this publication, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This graphic was published by Gartner, Inc. as part of a larger research document and should be evaluated in the context of the entire document. The Gartner document is available upon request from Microsoft.

The post Microsoft named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for AI Agent Management Platforms   appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

Every organization needs security that protects end to end with the speed and scale of AI. Microsoft’s vision is simple: security should be ambient and autonomous, just like the AI it protects.

As organizations scale AI and expand across environments, security teams need protection that covers every surface. This month’s updates help security and IT teams secure their AI environments, use AI to defend at speed and scale, and strengthen the foundations that AI-powered operations depend on. Here’s what’s new:

Project Perception brings agentic defense to security operations

Project Perception, newly announced, is a coordinated system of specialized agents, cybersecurity-focused models, and enterprise-wide signals that transform how security operates. The agents work as a team: red team agents expose weaknesses, blue team agents investigate cyberthreats, and green agents harden what’s found. These multi-agent autonomous workflows work as a team to operate in continuous loops to execute end-to-end security workflows.

Microsoft Defender secures the full AI attack surface, from inbox to cloud

Expanded Microsoft Defender protections are designed to reduce risks associated with day-to-day AI interactions, from email inboxes to cloud agent environments. New prompt injection protection in Microsoft Defender, now in preview, identifies and isolates emails containing malicious AI instructions before delivery, reducing the risk of prompt injection attacks reaching the inbox. Unified Defender posture and runtime protection for cloud agents in Microsoft Agent 365 consolidates security posture assessment and runtime protection for Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and third party-managed agents, helping teams reduce AI-specific risk across the agent estate.

Accelerate detection, prioritization, and response with AI embedded in SecOps workflows

Security teams can accelerate detection, prioritization, and response to cyberthreats with AI embedded directly into security operations (SecOps) workflows through Microsoft Defender. Threat intelligence enhancements, including Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence convergence and an enhanced Threat Intelligence Agent, bring more out-of-the-box intelligence and automation into the unified SecOps workflow, so teams can move from summary to action.

Strengthen the cloud, code, and identity foundations AI depends on

Microsoft Defender is strengthening the foundational protections that AI-era operations depend on across cloud, code, and identity. Cloud Security Posture Management extends coverage to serverless containers, giving teams visibility and continuous posture assessment across containerized workloads running on Azure Container Apps, Azure Container Instances, and Amazon Web Services Elastic Container Service (AWS ECS) on Fargate. New interconnected experiences between Defender and Microsoft Entra empower the security operations center (SOC) to disable compromised identities directly using a role-based access control (RBAC) mode that maintains least privilege. Microsoft Defender Experts services are also expanding: Microsoft Defender Experts Threat Intelligence delivers human-led, curated insight into the cyberthreats most relevant to each organization, and Microsoft Defender Experts MDR extends expert-run detection and response beyond the Microsoft estate into third-party and multicloud signals through Microsoft Sentinel.

Microsoft Entra strengthens identity across the AI-powered enterprise

Strengthen identity foundations for AI-powered operations

New capabilities in Microsoft Entra are designed to strengthen the identity foundations that AI-powered operations depend on. Tenant governance helps organizations discover, manage, and govern tenants across their environment with centralized policies and cross-tenant delegated administration. Microsoft Entra ID is making passkeys the default authentication experience, which helps reduce reliance on SMS and voice, strengthens phishing-resistant security, and makes for an easier transition away from Microsoft-provided telecom delivery, which will retire in 2027. Through new interconnected Entra and Defender experiences, identity and access management and SOC teams share user experience, RBAC, and agentic workflows that eliminate product seams so identity and security operations can work together.

Protect sensitive data in motion across software as a service (SaaS) and AI apps with Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Entra

Microsoft Purview now integrates with Microsoft Entra Internet Access to extend data security to the network layer, enabling real-time protection of sensitive data shared with unmanaged cloud and AI apps over the network. For example, when an employee attempts to upload sensitive customer data or proprietary information, including text and files, into shadow AI apps, sharing is detected and blocked before the data is leaked from the organization. Organizations now have a unified Microsoft solution to gain visibility into where organizational data is shared externally, to detect and block sensitive data in transit, and to enable consistent data protection across their environment without relying on third-party solutions.

Microsoft Purview strengthens data security, compliance, and investigation for AI

A new Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Microsoft 365 Copilot protection, available in preview, now gives data security teams greater control over how Copilot leverages email content, given external sources can introduce sensitive, third-party, or unvetted information that organizations may not want to rely on. Now admins can exclude emails from external senders from being referenced, summarized, or used as grounding data for Copilot. For example, with this DLP policy in place, an employee working with an external collaborator can still rely on Copilot to leverage internal insights, while external conversations are automatically excluded from Copilot-generated responses. With the native integration between Microsoft Purview and Microsoft 365 Copilot, organizations can extend controls to AI interactions with minimal additional configuration, resulting in a more predictable and policy-aligned AI environment.

A new centralized Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management alert experience simplifies the prioritization of the most pressing data risks by bringing agentic alert triage, enriched user details, and expanded analysis capabilities (such as notes infused on the Insider Risk Management case) into a single view. Helping power this experience, the Data Security Triage Agent includes an advanced AI reasoning layer, now generally available, that performs deeper, multi-step analysis across user, device, and data activity signals to surface the incidents most likely to require investigation while reducing noise. Analysts can filter across classic and Data Security Triage Agent attributes on a single page, preview agent summaries and user details without switching views, and document findings while the system automatically records status changes and escalations to maintain a clear investigation history. Together, the Insider Risk Management alert experience and Data Security Triage Agent help security teams investigate faster and with greater confidence.

Advanced endpoint management now broadly available

As of July 1, 2026, the capabilities of the Microsoft Intune Suite are included in Microsoft 365 E5, with select capabilities also available in Microsoft 365 E3, bringing advanced endpoint management to more organizations without added cost. IT and security teams can now apply advanced endpoint management capabilities to reduce standing admin rights, modernize certificate management, resolve issues quickly, streamline app delivery, and bring AI into workflows with Microsoft Security Copilot in Intune. Together, these capabilities strengthen the endpoint foundations that AI-powered operations depend on. See everything that’s now included in your plan and how to start putting it to work.

Stay In the Loop

Microsoft Security is focused on delivering innovations across our portfolio, along with research-driven insights and reports for the security community. In the Loop posts are your reliable source of what’s new across Microsoft Security and what it means for your security strategy. Check back for the next drop.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

The post ​​​​What’s new in Microsoft Security: July 2026 appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.

Every organization needs security that protects end to end with the speed and scale of AI. Microsoft’s vision is simple: security should be ambient and autonomous, just like the AI it protects.

As organizations scale AI and expand across environments, security teams need protection that covers every surface. This month’s updates help security and IT teams secure their AI environments, use AI to defend at speed and scale, and strengthen the foundations that AI-powered operations depend on. Here’s what’s new:

Project Perception brings agentic defense to security operations

Project Perception, newly announced, is a coordinated system of specialized agents, cybersecurity-focused models, and enterprise-wide signals that transform how security operates. The agents work as a team: red team agents expose weaknesses, blue team agents investigate cyberthreats, and green agents harden what’s found. These multi-agent autonomous workflows work as a team to operate in continuous loops to execute end-to-end security workflows.

Microsoft Defender secures the full AI attack surface, from inbox to cloud

Expanded Microsoft Defender protections are designed to reduce risks associated with day-to-day AI interactions, from email inboxes to cloud agent environments. New prompt injection protection in Microsoft Defender, now in preview, identifies and isolates emails containing malicious AI instructions before delivery, reducing the risk of prompt injection attacks reaching the inbox. Unified Defender posture and runtime protection for cloud agents in Microsoft Agent 365 consolidates security posture assessment and runtime protection for Microsoft Foundry, Microsoft Copilot Studio, and third party-managed agents, helping teams reduce AI-specific risk across the agent estate.

Accelerate detection, prioritization, and response with AI embedded in SecOps workflows

Security teams can accelerate detection, prioritization, and response to cyberthreats with AI embedded directly into security operations (SecOps) workflows through Microsoft Defender. Threat intelligence enhancements, including Microsoft Defender Threat Intelligence convergence and an enhanced Threat Intelligence Agent, bring more out-of-the-box intelligence and automation into the unified SecOps workflow, so teams can move from summary to action.

Strengthen the cloud, code, and identity foundations AI depends on

Microsoft Defender is strengthening the foundational protections that AI-era operations depend on across cloud, code, and identity. Cloud Security Posture Management extends coverage to serverless containers, giving teams visibility and continuous posture assessment across containerized workloads running on Azure Container Apps, Azure Container Instances, and Amazon Web Services Elastic Container Service (AWS ECS) on Fargate. New interconnected experiences between Defender and Microsoft Entra empower the security operations center (SOC) to disable compromised identities directly using a role-based access control (RBAC) mode that maintains least privilege. Microsoft Defender Experts services are also expanding: Microsoft Defender Experts Threat Intelligence delivers human-led, curated insight into the cyberthreats most relevant to each organization, and Microsoft Defender Experts MDR extends expert-run detection and response beyond the Microsoft estate into third-party and multicloud signals through Microsoft Sentinel.

Microsoft Entra strengthens identity across the AI-powered enterprise

Strengthen identity foundations for AI-powered operations

New capabilities in Microsoft Entra are designed to strengthen the identity foundations that AI-powered operations depend on. Tenant governance helps organizations discover, manage, and govern tenants across their environment with centralized policies and cross-tenant delegated administration. Microsoft Entra ID is making passkeys the default authentication experience, which helps reduce reliance on SMS and voice, strengthens phishing-resistant security, and makes for an easier transition away from Microsoft-provided telecom delivery, which will retire in 2027. Through new interconnected Entra and Defender experiences, identity and access management and SOC teams share user experience, RBAC, and agentic workflows that eliminate product seams so identity and security operations can work together.

Protect sensitive data in motion across software as a service (SaaS) and AI apps with Microsoft Purview and Microsoft Entra

Microsoft Purview now integrates with Microsoft Entra Internet Access to extend data security to the network layer, enabling real-time protection of sensitive data shared with unmanaged cloud and AI apps over the network. For example, when an employee attempts to upload sensitive customer data or proprietary information, including text and files, into shadow AI apps, sharing is detected and blocked before the data is leaked from the organization. Organizations now have a unified Microsoft solution to gain visibility into where organizational data is shared externally, to detect and block sensitive data in transit, and to enable consistent data protection across their environment without relying on third-party solutions.

Microsoft Purview strengthens data security, compliance, and investigation for AI

A new Microsoft Purview Data Loss Prevention (DLP) for Microsoft 365 Copilot protection, available in preview, now gives data security teams greater control over how Copilot leverages email content, given external sources can introduce sensitive, third-party, or unvetted information that organizations may not want to rely on. Now admins can exclude emails from external senders from being referenced, summarized, or used as grounding data for Copilot. For example, with this DLP policy in place, an employee working with an external collaborator can still rely on Copilot to leverage internal insights, while external conversations are automatically excluded from Copilot-generated responses. With the native integration between Microsoft Purview and Microsoft 365 Copilot, organizations can extend controls to AI interactions with minimal additional configuration, resulting in a more predictable and policy-aligned AI environment.

A new centralized Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management alert experience simplifies the prioritization of the most pressing data risks by bringing agentic alert triage, enriched user details, and expanded analysis capabilities (such as notes infused on the Insider Risk Management case) into a single view. Helping power this experience, the Data Security Triage Agent includes an advanced AI reasoning layer, now generally available, that performs deeper, multi-step analysis across user, device, and data activity signals to surface the incidents most likely to require investigation while reducing noise. Analysts can filter across classic and Data Security Triage Agent attributes on a single page, preview agent summaries and user details without switching views, and document findings while the system automatically records status changes and escalations to maintain a clear investigation history. Together, the Insider Risk Management alert experience and Data Security Triage Agent help security teams investigate faster and with greater confidence.

Advanced endpoint management now broadly available

As of July 1, 2026, the capabilities of the Microsoft Intune Suite are included in Microsoft 365 E5, with select capabilities also available in Microsoft 365 E3, bringing advanced endpoint management to more organizations without added cost. IT and security teams can now apply advanced endpoint management capabilities to reduce standing admin rights, modernize certificate management, resolve issues quickly, streamline app delivery, and bring AI into workflows with Microsoft Security Copilot in Intune. Together, these capabilities strengthen the endpoint foundations that AI-powered operations depend on. See everything that’s now included in your plan and how to start putting it to work.

Stay In the Loop

Microsoft Security is focused on delivering innovations across our portfolio, along with research-driven insights and reports for the security community. In the Loop posts are your reliable source of what’s new across Microsoft Security and what it means for your security strategy. Check back for the next drop.

To learn more about Microsoft Security solutions, visit our website. Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us on LinkedIn (Microsoft Security) and X (@MSFTSecurity) for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.

The post ​​​​What’s new in Microsoft Security: July 2026 appeared first on Microsoft Security Blog.