Alice Chambers |
Microsoft outlined how it is prioritising cybersecurity through its Secure Future Initiative (SFI) at Microsoft Ignite in Chicago, USA.
The aim of the SFI is to apply lessons learned from security incidents to improve methods and practices.
First, Microsoft is expanding its custom silicon portfolio with a new in-house security chip, the Azure Integrated hardware security module (HSM). This is designed to harden key management for encryption and so sign-on keys remain within the bounds of the HSM without compromising performance.
“Azure Integrated HSM will be installed in every new server in Microsoft’s data centres starting next year to increase protection across Azure’s hardware fleet for both confidential and general-purpose workloads,” said Omar Khan, vice president of Azure infrastructure marketing at Microsoft, in a blog post titled ‘Scale your AI transformation with a powerful, secure and adaptive cloud infrastructure’.
Second, Microsoft Security Exposure Management is now generally available. The solution tracks the relationship between devices, data, identities and other connections to provide customers with a comprehensive, dynamic view of their IT assets and potential cyberattack paths.
Exposure Management also helps security and IT teams measure the effectiveness of their cyber hygiene and security initiatives, such as zero trust and cloud security.
“Powered by our security graph, and now with third-party connectors for Rapid 7, ServiceNow, Qualys and Tenable in preview, Exposure Management provides customers with a comprehensive, dynamic view of their IT assets and potential cyberattack paths,” said Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of security, compliance, identity and management at Microsoft, in a blog post titled ‘AI innovations for a more secure future unveiled at Microsoft Ignite’.
Finally, Microsoft will host the largest public security research event in history: the Zero Day Quest. This new competition, on the 19 January 2025, aims to attract the world’s best security experts to tackle high-impact scenarios critical to Microsoft and its partners’ customer security. It will also focus on discovering any vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s own products.
Discover more news from the event on our dedicated Microsoft Ignite page