CriticalAPT
New investments to reduce on-premises security risk
Microsoft Security·Source published ·1 min read
What happened?
On-premises servers can be essential to business operations, but they are increasingly attractive targets to attackers. AI can help less-skilled actors analyze software, develop malicious tools, and repeat attack workflows at greater speed and scale, shortening the window between exposure and exploitation. Organizations need to strengthen security faster without disrupting the critical workloads they rely on. Today, we’re announcing a new on-premises security initiative, initially focused on server workloads.
Key details
- Microsoft announces a new on-premises security initiative focused on server workloads to help customers understand risk, reduce footprint, and strengthen remaining workloads.
- On-Premises Baseline Security Mode will make supported on-premises products more secure by default, starting with Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Skype for Business Server.
- Baseline Security Mode provides a validated secure-by-default configuration from initial deployment and progressively maintains recommended security posture through automation.
- Microsoft has released Critical and Important security updates outside Patch Tuesday since September 2026 to help customers address vulnerabilities sooner.
Affected
- Supported Exchange Server, SharePoint Server, and Skype for Business Server workloads are the initial focus of On-Premises Baseline Security Mode.
Fixes and mitigations
- Critical and Important security updates released outside Patch Tuesday since September 2026 to accelerate vulnerability remediation.
- Microsoft recommends moving workloads to Microsoft 365 where possible, moving remaining workloads to supported releases, applying current security updates, and enabling available protections.
Summarised by SecOraLens from Microsoft Security. Always read the original source before acting. How SecOraLens verifies advisories.