Browse All Posts (116)

Microsoft Security Research, Microsoft Defender Experts and Parth Jomadkar document a malware campaign that uses look-alike software download sites and regenerated installer archives to compromise Windows systems. The post breaks down the attack chain, provides Defender XDR detections and KQL hunting queries, and lists practical mitigations and IOCs defenders can apply.

Microsoft Developer demonstrates how to turn a deployed model into a reusable AI agent using the Microsoft Foundry SDK in Python, including adding instructions, running a multi-turn conversation, and wiring in MCP tools so the agent can take actions while maintaining context.

Allison announces general availability of Enterprise Live Migrations (ELM), a GitHub Enterprise feature for near-zero-downtime migrations from GitHub Enterprise Server to GitHub Enterprise Cloud with Data Residency, including cutover behavior, monorepo support, and CLI-based lifecycle management.

GitHub introduces a GitHub CLI update that lets developers attach local images or videos to issues, pull requests, and comments using a repeatable --attach flag, making it easier to share visual context directly in GitHub discussions.

Allison announces a generally available GitHub billing update that lets admins set an expiration date on individual user budgets, so temporary budget overrides are removed automatically and users fall back to the next applicable budget.

Michaela Isaacs explains the GA transition in Power BI and Microsoft Fabric from embedded ODBC drivers to Apache Arrow Database Connectivity (ADBC) drivers, why it improves large-result performance and security posture, and how to validate the change ahead of the tenant-wide cutover.

Allison announces a public preview update to GitHub Copilot code review that adds approval assessments on pull requests and, when enabled by admins, allows Copilot to submit an approval that can count toward required-approvals rules.

Microsoft Developer presents a student-focused course that uses the GitHub Copilot app to turn a resume into a live portfolio site, while teaching Git fundamentals, GitHub Pages deployment, Copilot modes, context/tokens, MCP servers, skills, and bring-your-own-model with Azure AI Foundry.

bgautam announces general availability of the Microsoft Fabric Admin API for listing workspace networking communication policies tenant-wide, aimed at improving security auditing, compliance monitoring, and governance reporting across Fabric workspaces.

Microsoft Defender Experts Cybersecurity Incident Response describes Microsoft DART’s Cybersecurity Incident Response Readiness Workshop, a scenario-driven engagement that stress-tests incident response plans with realistic attack simulations, threat hunting exercises, and feedback on how people, process, and telemetry hold up under pressure.

Nimrod Shalit introduces a new set of Microsoft Learn resources for implementing CI/CD in Microsoft Fabric, covering platform concepts, best practices, and hands-on tutorials for deploying Fabric items across dev/test/prod using Git integration, Azure DevOps pipelines, Terraform, the Fabric CLI, and the fabric-cicd library.

GitHub runs a beginner-friendly virtual training on the GitHub Copilot SDK, focusing on how developers can programmatically interact with Copilot and build custom agent capabilities that fit their team’s workflows across multiple languages.

Jonah Andersson explains how to take AI agents from prototype to production by building MCP servers on Azure Functions, using .NET to expose tools that agents can discover and invoke at runtime. The session uses a DevOps CI/CD scenario where agents detect deployment issues, diagnose failures, and create rollback PRs in Azure DevOps.

Allison announces an update to GitHub Discussions that lets owners of personal repositories block or unblock users directly from a discussion comment, matching the in-context controls already available for issue and pull request comments.

Aaron Powell walks through reviewing GitHub pull requests directly inside Visual Studio, from opening the PR list and navigating diffs to leaving inline comments, approving, and merging. He also shows how to bring GitHub Copilot into the review by adding a PR as chat context using the UI or the #pullrequest: command.

Visual Studio Code shares a trailer for “The Story of VS Code,” a documentary-style look at how VS Code evolved from early web editor experiments into a widely used open-source editor and extension ecosystem, and how the team is adapting as AI changes what a code editor can be.

Karen Lopez explains how Dynamic Data Masking in Microsoft SQL can protect sensitive fields while keeping data usable for day-to-day work. She focuses on the new regex-based masking support, how masking works in practice, and the trade-offs versus encryption, including common pitfalls like ad hoc query access.

Virginia_R announces a Preview feature in Fabric data agents that upgrades natural-language-to-DAX translation for Power BI semantic models using an agentic, iterative approach. The post explains how planning, tool use, intermediate-result inspection, and instance value indexing improve filter accuracy, consistency across Microsoft experiences, and overall query reliability.

GitHub introduces canvases in the GitHub Copilot app and shows how beginners can use the /create-canvas skill to generate custom, interactive workflow surfaces like release checklists, kanban boards, and triage views, then iterate on them and share state in real time.

Allison announces that Anthropic’s Claude Fable 5.1 is now available as a selectable model in GitHub Copilot, including details on where it’s available, how admins enable it for Business/Enterprise, how it’s billed under usage-based pricing, and the default data-retention requirement plus ZDR options for eligible enterprises.

Rafia Aqil explains how to diagnose and resolve Azure Databricks “capacity” incidents by separating true regional VM SKU shortages from subscription quota limits and Databricks platform ceilings, then applying practical mitigations like SKU swaps, off-peak retries, instance pools, and capacity reservation groups.

Allison announces a GitHub CLI update that lets you attach local images and videos directly from the command line when creating or commenting on issues and pull requests, keeping Markdown intact and supporting common auth tokens and plan-based size limits.

John Edward covers a Copilot Studio authentication update that adds Microsoft Entra ID-based identity for both delegated user access and service-to-service (S2S) scenarios, aimed at making enterprise agent deployments easier to secure and integrate with existing applications.

John Edward summarizes Microsoft’s warning that firewall, proxy, and TLS inspection setups can break Windows Update connectivity, leaving devices without security patches. The post explains the certificate trust model behind Windows Update, why wildcard FQDN allowlists matter, and how admins can use PowerShell and audit logs to confirm the issue before changing network rules.

Andrew Lock digs into .NET 11 preview 7’s new union types and closed class hierarchies, focusing on where System.Text.Json serialization and deserialization fall over. He shows the default behavior, the exceptions you’ll hit with inferred polymorphism, and the workarounds using JsonDerivedType and custom union type classifiers.

Authorised Territory shows how to use Git worktrees in the Visual Studio 2026 August update to pause half-finished work without stashing, by creating a separate working directory tied to a new branch while keeping current changes intact.

Allison explains a GitHub Copilot change for GitHub Team plans: when a user has Copilot seats in multiple organizations, model access is now determined only by the organization that is billed for the user’s Copilot usage, aligning governance and billing.

Microsoft Developer shares a quick developer news roundup covering Bring Your Own Model entering preview in Visual Studio, updates to the model router in Microsoft Foundry Models (including region expansion and refreshed model pool), and the announced date for .NET Conf 2026.

Allison announces that several AI models are deprecated across GitHub Copilot experiences as of September 1, 2026, and outlines the replacement models plus the admin steps Copilot Enterprise customers may need to take to enable alternatives via model policies.

meghasony shares guidance on structuring dbt jobs in Microsoft Fabric, focusing on how to place Bronze/Silver/Gold layers across Lakehouse and Warehouse, and how to separate architecture decisions from orchestration choices using Fabric pipelines or native scheduling.

bytecascade explains how Microsoft Fabric Eventstream can securely ingest private operational data (like factory MQTT telemetry) for real-time analytics by using an Azure virtual network bridge and a Fabric streaming virtual network data gateway, without exposing public endpoints.

FabSubhojit announces the general availability of Fabric Migration Assistant for SQL database, a guided workflow for assessing schema compatibility, provisioning SQL database in Fabric, deploying schema with fix suggestions, and copying data. The update adds a Validate step that analyzes a DACPAC before any Fabric resources are created.

anishta announces GA support for sending Azure Service Bus messages directly from Azure API Management using the send-service-bus-message policy, turning APIM into a governed HTTP front door for asynchronous workloads. The post explains message property controls, failure-handling options, and securing access with Microsoft Entra managed identity and Azure RBAC.

Lily Ma explains how to extend Azure SRE Agent with operational tools by hosting Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers on Azure Connector Namespace. The post walks through deploying an Azure SQL MCP server with azd, wiring it into SRE Agent as an MCP connector, and securing access using managed identity.

Naorbt announces a preview feature that lets you embed a Fabric Map as a reusable tile inside Microsoft Fabric Real-Time Dashboards, so teams can add geospatial context to operational monitoring without duplicating map queries, layers, filters, or styling across dashboards.

Sudha Mahajan introduces Azure Multicloud Interconnect, a jointly engineered Microsoft and AWS managed service for private, high-throughput connectivity between Azure and AWS, aimed at reducing the operational complexity of stitching together ExpressRoute, Direct Connect, routers, BGP peering, and encryption.

sbaynes announces a Microsoft/AWS collaboration that streamlines private, high-performance connectivity between Azure and AWS using standardized OpenAPI-based interoperability, with an emphasis on operational simplicity, predictable bandwidth, and built-in security features like MACsec.

Filisha Shah explains what to focus on as more application logic shifts into AI agents, highlighting why observability and evaluation become core skills and how Azure AI Foundry brings datasets, evaluations, and monitoring together for keeping agentic systems healthy.

robece-msft continues the Microsoft Fabric Business Events series by outlining five real-world business event scenarios and the shared event-driven pattern used to turn business moments into trusted signals and downstream actions across Fabric.

Visual Studio Code announces MCP Live (September 9) and invites developers to register to hear updates and learn what’s new across the Model Context Protocol (MCP) ecosystem.