The 2026 Microsoft Digital Defense Report is out today, examining a threat landscape increasingly defined by interdependence. Read the full report: msft.it/6018alHd6 Connections among identities, AI systems, cloud services, software supply chains, edge infrastructure, and critical systems can create points of leverage where one compromise has effects far beyond the initial target. AI is accelerating familiar threat actor tradecraft rather than replacing it. Identity compromise, credential reuse, social engineering, and exploitation remain prevalent, but automation enables adversaries to conduct these activities with greater speed and scale. In 52.2% of intrusions involving valid accounts, attackers pursued additional credential theft, creating opportunities for one compromised identity to fuel further unauthorized access. These operations leave signals across identities, endpoints, infrastructure, applications, cloud environments, email, and networks. Individually, those signals may provide only a partial view. When correlated with threat intelligence, they can reveal threat actor activity across campaigns, clarify how an intrusion is progressing, and surface risks that isolated investigations may miss. For defenders, success increasingly depends on connecting telemetry quickly enough to understand adversary operations and act before threats can escalate. Get more insights on this year’s report from Terrell Cox: msft.it/6017alHjh