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In its 2026 Digital Defense Report, Microsoft warns that threat actors are currently benefiting from artificial intelligence faster than security teams, particularly in vulnerability discovery, malware development, and accelerating post-compromise activity. The company believes that the time needed to turn a discovered vulnerability into a weapon has fallen to less than 24 hours, although real-world campaigns still rely heavily on human direction.
Government agencies warn of an espionage campaign linked to Iranian entities that uses Windows malware called CHOSEN BRICK to steal email and Telegram and WhatsApp data, capture images, and record audio. The campaign relies on impersonation messages and malicious files disguised as well-known applications, while using Telegram and cloud storage services for communication and data exfiltration.