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Microsoft 365 Exchange Web Services retiring, with traffic migrating to the Microsoft Graph API ahead of the August 2026 action deadline

12 min read

Exchange Web Services Retires: The August 2026 Deadline

Microsoft begins blocking Exchange Web Services on October 1, 2026 and disables it permanently on April 1, 2027. For financial institutions still depending on it for archiving, eDiscovery or backup, the operative deadline is the end of August.

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Microsoft 365 and Copilot Studio agent authentication: end-user credentials versus maker-provided credentials

10 min read

Copilot Studio Agent Authentication: The August 25 Question

Microsoft is shipping an admin control that stops Copilot Studio agents from authenticating with their builder's stored credentials. It is off by...

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Microsoft Entra ID legacy risk policies deactivated with an October 1 2026 deadline, replaced by Conditional Access protecting bank accounts

14 min read

Entra Risk Policies Retire Oct 1, 2026: What Banks Must Do

In This Article What actually changes on October 1 The self-service loop that goes away first The detections keep firing. No risk policy acts on...

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Microsoft Entra ID External Identities panel showing four external guest accounts with MFA, beside an Anyone with the link card outside the directory perimeter

14 min read

Microsoft 365 Guest Access for Financial Institutions

In This Article What changed in your tenant this summer Guest access, external access, and Anyone links are three different doors The blind spot...

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Hotel conference room laptop showing a captive portal sign-in, with a stolen Microsoft 365 session token flowing to an attacker past Microsoft Entra ID controls

14 min read

Hotel Wi-Fi Is Stealing Microsoft 365 Sessions

In This Article What Microsoft Found on Hotel and Conference Wi-Fi Two Attack Paths, and Why the Difference Decides Your Controls The Part That...

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Microsoft Entra ID access reviews console replacing a manual access review spreadsheet, showing that a 500 member group reviewed by 3 owners requires 503 licenses

13 min read

Entra ID Access Reviews for Financial Institutions

Your examiner expects two layers of user access review: resource owners verifying that access matches job roles, plus a periodic independent check....

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Where is your Microsoft 365 data stored, showing four services with a durable United States commitment and four without

11 min read

Where Is Your Microsoft 365 Data Stored? Data Residency for US Financial Institutions

A vendor questionnaire asks where your Microsoft 365 data is stored. For a United States tenant, four services carry a durable commitment and four do...

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Three-stage diagram showing a password-protected closing package that Microsoft Defender for Office 365 cannot scan, moving to a quarantine folder with an off-by-default admin toggle

15 min read

Defender's New Password-Protected Attachment Quarantine: What Lenders Should Decide

Microsoft is adding an opt-in Safe Attachments setting that quarantines password-protected attachments Defender cannot scan or detonate. It is off by...

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Microsoft 365 identity security concept illustrating AD FS federation token signing key protection for financial institutions

13 min read

AD FS Key Container Hardening: What Changes for Financial Institutions on October 13

The October 2026 Windows security update changes permissions on the AD FS Distributed Key Manager container by default. Here is what it removes,...

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ABT's 30-Day Copilot Sprint for financial institutions: kickoff, champions, office hours, and the Day 30 ROI readout

9 min read

The 30-Day Copilot Sprint for Financial Institutions

In This Article Why Copilot Rollouts Stall Inside the 30-Day Copilot Sprint Readiness Comes Before Day 1 What You Walk Away With The Day 30 ROI...

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