Security News
During the Hybrid work event, Microsoft officially teased new features coming to the operating system this year. This new feature uses Microsoft Defender SmartScreen to alert users when they try to store passwords in plain texts in apps like Notepad. The feature will also warn users if they accidentally enter the Microsoft account passwords on phishing sites.
Microsoft announced that Windows Autopatch, a service designed to automatically keep Windows and Office software up to date, will be released in July 2022. Windows Autopatch is a new managed service offered for free to all Microsoft customers who already have a Windows 10/11 Enterprise E3 or above license.
Microsoft has reminded customers today that multiple editions of Windows 10 20H2 and Windows 10 1909 are reaching the end of service on May 10, 2022. In a support document, Microsoft says that Windows 10 20H2 will reach EOS for Windows 10 Home, Pro, Pro Education, and Pro for Workstations users.
While there are some malicious drivers that are deliberately crafted to compromise PCs, the most problems come from a small number of legitimate drivers with accidental flaws in, said David Weston, VP of Enterprise and OS Security at Microsoft. "Think about some of the driver cases recently where a certificate leaked from a giant vendor. If we revoke that, everyone's devices may stop working. We need more of a precision mechanism to do blocking while we work towards the longer approach of revocation. The Vulnerable Driver Block List allows the user to do that with a very precise list that Microsoft has validated. We look at things like how many devices would stop working? Have we worked with a vendor to have a fix? We think the list is a good balance for folks who want security, but also want the confidence that Microsoft has done the telemetry and analysis."
"In a future release of Windows 11 you're going to see significant security updates that add even more protection from the chip to the cloud by combining modern hardware and software," said David Weston, VP for Enterprise & OS Security. One of the new security features Microsoft is adding in Windows 11 is enhanced phishing protection against targeted phishing attacks with the help of Microsoft Defender SmartScreen, a cloud-based anti-phishing and anti-malware service.
Microsoft has unveiled new Windows 11 features at today's 'Windows Powers the Future of Hybrid Work' event, including a redesigned File Explorer, new accessibility features, Focus for Windows 11, and more. To help Windows users increase productivity, Microsoft has revealed new features and enhancements to Windows 11, including a revamped File Explorer, App Folder in the Start Menu, new Focus features, and the new Live Captions accessibility features.
It allows businesses to stream Windows 10 or Windows 11 Cloud PCs to end-users under Windows 365 Business or Windows 365 Enterprise subscriptions. Users will be able to quickly switch between their own desktop and the Cloud PC using the Windows Task Switcher once the cloud-based service gets upgraded with a new feature dubbed Windows 365 Switch.
Microsoft has resolved a newly acknowledged issue causing Windows apps that use WebView2 to render Internet content incorrectly outside their windows after installing the March optional preview cumulative updates. The WebView2 control allows developers to embed and render web content in native apps using the Microsoft Edge web browser, including JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. According to a new entry added to the Window Health dashboard, "Some apps might render content incorrectly or outside of the app's window" on systems where the March non-security preview releases have been installed.
Microsoft has removed a compatibility hold blocking Windows 11 upgrades for Windows 10 customers after fixing a known issue leading to problems importing Internet Explorer 11 data into Microsoft Edge. The only customers impacted by the now-fixed known issue were those who didn't import their IE11 information into Microsoft Edge before starting the Windows 11 upgrade process.
Microsoft now allows enterprise admins to re-enable the MSIX ms-appinstaller protocol handler disabled after Emotet abused it to deliver malicious Windows App Installer packages. App Installer allows users to install Windows applications directly from a web server using an MSIX package or App Installer file without first downloading the installers to their computer.