How artificial intelligence stopped an Emotet outbreak

Credit to Author: Windows Defender ATP| Date: Wed, 14 Feb 2018 14:43:26 +0000

At 12:46 a.m. local time on February 3, a Windows 7 Pro customer in North Carolina became the first would-be victim of a new malware attack campaign for Trojan:Win32/Emotet. In the next 30 minutes, the campaign tried to attack over a thousand potential victims, all of whom were instantly and automatically protected by Windows Defender

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A worthy upgrade: Next-gen security on Windows 10 proves resilient against ransomware outbreaks in 2017

Credit to Author: Windows Defender ATP| Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2018 14:00:31 +0000

Adopting reliable attack methods and techniques borrowed from more evolved threat types, ransomware attained new levels of reach and damage in 2017. The following trends characterize the ransomware narrative in the past year: Three global outbreaks showed the force of ransomware in making real-world impact, affecting corporate networks and bringing down critical services like hospitals,

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Detonating a bad rabbit: Windows Defender Antivirus and layered machine learning defenses

Credit to Author: Windows Defender ATP| Date: Mon, 11 Dec 2017 13:58:06 +0000

Windows Defender Antivirus uses a layered approach to protection: tiers of advanced automation and machine learning models evaluate files in order to reach a verdict on suspected malware. While Windows Defender AV detects a vast majority of new malware files at first sight, we always strive to further close the gap between malware release and

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Microsoft teams up with law enforcement and other partners to disrupt Gamarue (Andromeda)

Credit to Author: Windows Defender ATP| Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2017 23:06:44 +0000

Today, with help from Microsoft security researchers, law enforcement agencies around the globe, in cooperation with Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit (DCU), announced the disruption of Gamarue, a widely distributed malware that has been used in networks of infected computers collectively called the Andromeda botnet. The disruption is the culmination of a journey that started in

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Windows Defender ATP machine learning and AMSI: Unearthing script-based attacks that ‘live off the land’

Credit to Author: Windows Defender ATP| Date: Mon, 04 Dec 2017 14:00:07 +0000

Scripts are becoming the weapon of choice of sophisticated activity groups responsible for targeted attacks as well as malware authors who indiscriminately deploy commodity threats. Scripting engines such as JavaScript, VBScript, and PowerShell offer tremendous benefits to attackers. They run through legitimate processes and are perfect tools for living off the landstaying away from the

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