Microsoft Sentinel: Defender portal required from March 2027

Microsoft Sentinel in the Defender portal - 2027 deadline

Microsoft is bringing Microsoft Sentinel and Defender XDR closer together in the Microsoft Defender portal. For existing Sentinel environments, this is more than a new interface: Microsoft documents a clear deadline. After March 31, 2027, Microsoft Sentinel will no longer be supported in the Azure portal and will be available only in the Defender portal. … Read more

Entra Global Secure Access: Zero Trust beyond VPN sprawl

Entra Global Secure Access - Zero Trust for every resource

In its Microsoft Entra blog post from 12 August 2026, Microsoft explains how organizations can extend Zero Trust controls beyond Microsoft 365 to AI apps, SaaS, internet destinations, and private applications. This matters for small and midsize companies because many environments now combine Microsoft 365 services, a few line-of-business systems, remote access, and selected AI … Read more

Entra ID memberOf operator ends in November 2026

Entra ID - memberOf operator for dynamic groups

Microsoft is ending the public preview of the memberOf operator for dynamic membership in Microsoft Entra ID. After 3 November 2026, dynamic membership groups, dynamic administrative units, and access package auto-assignment policies that use this operator stop updating. For companies, the practical question is not whether the feature was convenient, but where it is already … Read more

August 2026 Patch Tuesday: Windows flaw is exploited

Patch Tuesday - exploited Windows flaw CVE-2026-68820

Microsoft has released the August 2026 Security Updates. For small and midsized businesses, the key point is not the sheer number of vulnerabilities but one Windows issue that Microsoft already marks as exploited: CVE-2026-68820 in the Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock. In the Security Update Guide, Microsoft lists it as “Exploitation Detected”. That moves … Read more

DeadLock ransomware: Microsoft lists Defender protections

DeadLock ransomware – Defender protections

Microsoft Threat Intelligence describes DeadLock as a ransomware operation observed since July 2025 that combines encryption, data theft, and a resilient recovery and leak infrastructure. The new Microsoft report matters for organizations that protect Windows endpoints with Microsoft Defender and Defender XDR: it does not only describe malware internals, but also lists concrete settings that … Read more