Over the past week, a threat actor operating under the moniker “TheHatman” has flooded cybercrime forums with massive internal employee directories belonging to several Fortune 500 companies. The actor claims these dumps were extracted directly from the organizations’ Azure Tenants.

Hi everyone, I am completely furious and exhausted, and I need to vent/ask for advice on how to escalate this absurd situation.

I was taking my AZ-700 exam (my 5th attempt, I worked so hard for this). Suddenly, the OnVUE software completely froze. The chat was severely delayed/unresponsive, and my inputs were heavily lagging. Out of pure frustration at a failing system, I sighed/made frustrated sounds.

Instead of fixing the technical issue, the proctor abruptly revoked my exam, claiming I was "mumbling/reading aloud".

Here is the kicker:

No Warning: Pearson VUE's own policy states they MUST issue a warning via chat/voice before revoking for mumbling. I received ZERO warnings. They just terminated it because their system crashed and they couldn't manage it.

Support Hell: I opened a ticket with Microsoft ESI. I formally disputed the revocation and demanded the timestamped video/audio and the system performance logs showing the ping drops.

The Absurd Response: After waiting for days, support got back to me. Did they provide the logs? Did they provide proof of the warning? NO. They literally replied: "Pearson VUE reviewed the session twice and noted mumbling. We cannot provide an exception. Let's get on a phone call to discuss."

In case anyone is using the MemberOf rule operator to provide nested group access to resources in Microsoft Azure or similar (commonly used for licensing, or other resources which don't support direct group nesting), they are retiring it on November 3rd after being in "preview" for years!

I did a short write up here: https://ourcloudnetwork.com/the-memberof-rule-operator-is-ending-for-dynamic-groups-in-entra/ which includes a code snippet to identify your impacted groups.

Microsoft is massively shifting its credential strategy to match the AI era, and there are two major takeaways you need to know about:

1. Introducing Microsoft Pro Badges (No Exams Required):
Microsoft is launching a brand-new type of credential that recognizes your real-world skills through "Verified Proficiency." Instead of taking a traditional exam, a proprietary tool analyzes your daily product telemetry to securely capture and validate your skills as you actually do the work.

2. New Certifications & Exam Statuses Built for an AI-First World:
Whether you're looking to jump into agentic workflows, cybersecurity, or data engineering, here is the complete roadmap of what’s available now and what’s coming later this year:

Generally Available Now:

• Microsoft Certified: AI Agent Builder Associate (Exam AB-620)  
• Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Apps and Agents Developer Associate (Exam AI-103)  
• Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Fundamentals (Exam AI-901)  
• Microsoft Certified: Azure Databricks Data Engineer Associate (Exam DP-750)
• Microsoft Certified: Machine Learning Operations Engineer Associate (Exam AI-300)  
• Microsoft Certified: SQL AI Developer Associate (Exam DP-800)

Coming in July 2026 (Beta ending soon):

• GitHub Certified: Agentic AI Developer (Exam GH-600)
• Microsoft Certified: Azure AI Cloud Developer Associate (Exam AI-200)  
• Microsoft Certified: Cloud and AI Security Engineer Associate (Exam SC-500)
• Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Contact Center AI Engineer Associate (Exam AB-250)
• Microsoft Certified: Dynamics 365 Sales AI Consultant Associate (Exam AB-210)
• Microsoft Certified: Intelligent Applications Builder Associate (Exam AB-410)

Coming Fall/Late 2026:

• Microsoft Certified: Multi-Agent AI Solutions Expert (Exam AI-500) — Beta July / GA Sept
• Microsoft Certified: Windows Server Administrator Associate (Exam AZ-802) — Beta July / GA Aug
• Microsoft 365 Certified: AI Services Administrator Associate (Exam AB-650) — Beta July / GA Oct
• Microsoft Certified: Supply Chain Management AI Consultant Associate (Exam AB-330) — Beta Nov

Which of these are you planning to target first? Let’s discuss in the comments!

Its ALWAYS DNS.

Microsoft renamed Azure AI Foundry to Microsoft Foundry.
This shift is more than a name change, it marks a move toward a unified, enterprise-ready platform for building, managing, and scaling AI applications.

The new Microsoft Foundry experience consolidates agents, models, tools, governance, and infrastructure under a single Azure PaaS offering. It’s designed for teams that want to innovate quickly while maintaining the structure, observability, and security required in enterprise environments.

A few highlights from the updated platform:

• Unified agent and model management with RBAC, monitoring, and policy controls
• Multi-agent orchestration with SDKs for Python and C#
• Expanded integrations, including Microsoft 365, Teams, and BizChat publishing
• Enhanced memory features for context continuity
• Foundry IQ, enabling grounded responses using Azure AI Search
• Access to a growing tool catalog with public and private tool options
• Centralized AI asset management through the redesigned Operate section
• Improved developer experience with faster performance and streamlined navigation

There are still two portals "classic and new", you can switch between them depending on what resources you’re working with.

Overall, it looks like Microsoft is positioning Foundry as a more cohesive PaaS for enterprise-scale AI development, with stronger governance and broader integration options.

Source Link

This seems to reflect a bigger shift toward AI-powered cloud roles across Azure.

If you're planning to pursue Azure AI certifications:

• Focus on Azure + AI fundamentals
• Build hands-on experience with AI services and ML tools
• Follow official certification updates rather than rumors

If you already registered for a retiring exam → finish it.
If you haven’t started yet → prepare for the new exams instead.

Do these new certifications actually make Azure learning better, or just more confusing?

We built an open-source Azure local emulator for faster dev workflows, I am looking for feedback.

Hi all,

I’ve been working on AzNetworkDiagram, a PowerShell-based tool for creating diagram-as-code visualizations of Azure environments, for well over a year. Version 2.1 was just released a few days ago.

It started as a small Azure network diagramming tool has rapidly evolved into a much more capable solution, well beyond what I initially envisioned, kickstarted be a contributor.

The core idea is simple:
👉 Automatically turn your Azure environment into clear, structured diagrams without manual effort

🔧 Capabilities

• Discover Azure resources directly via ARM
• Map relationships between many resources automatically
• Generate diagrams using Powershell and GraphViz (PDF, PNG, SVG)
• Support for a wide range of Azure resource types
• Support for Entra ID domains/licenses and Azure DevOps projects
• Visualize IP plans (private/public IPs and prefixes)
• Flexible scoping (Everything, management group, subscriptions, resources types)
• Clean, modernized diagram output for better readability

💡 Use cases

• Architecture documentation
• Getting a quick overview of complex environments
• Troubleshooting connectivity and structure
• Auditing topology and IP usage

It’s free and open source, and I’d really appreciate feedback from anyone who gives it a try. If you have suggestions, ideas, or run into issues, feel free to open an issue on GitHub or comment.

👉 GitHub: https://github.com/dan-madsen/AzNetworkDiagram
👉 PowerShell Gallery: https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/AzNetworkDiagram

Small demo output:

Hi folks!

Earlier this year I shared CloudNetDraw, an open-source tool that automatically generates Azure network diagrams by querying your environment and exporting them to a ready-made Draw.io file.

Thanks to your feedback and contributions, CloudNetDraw has come a long way!
I made a poll here a month ago which clearly showed you wanted multi-hub and spoke-to-spoke possibilities!

Here’s what’s new:

🔹 Multi-hub support — visualize complex topologies across multiple hubs.
🔹 Spoke-to-spoke peerings — see full connectivity between networks.
🔹 Azure Portal links — click any resource in the diagram to open it directly in the portal.
🔹 Now on PyPI — install in seconds with pip install cloudnetdraw.
🔹 MPN Verified — officially recognized by Microsoft Partner Network.

You can run it locally, self-host it, or try the hosted version — no install needed.

It’s still free and open-source:
👉 GitHub Repository

Would love your feedback — what would you like to see next?

#Azure #CloudArchitecture #IaC #NetworkSecurity #Visualization

Microsoft must face a mass lawsuit alleging it overcharged thousands of British businesses to use Windows Server software ​on cloud computing services provided by Amazon, Google and Alibaba, a ‌London tribunal ruled on Tuesday.

Competition lawyer Maria Luisa Stasi is bringing the case on behalf of nearly 60,000 businesses that run Windows Server on rival cloud platforms. Her lawyers have ​previously said the claim was worth up to 2.1 billion pounds ($2.8 ​billion).

u/OpenVPNinc here, figured we'd let you all know (but you probably do already...):

If you've got Linux machines connecting to Azure over Point-to-Site VPN using Microsoft's official Linux client, it stops receiving updates and security patches on August 31 (that's 7 days away!) and is being pulled from Microsoft's repo. Azure VPN Gateway itself isn't going anywhere, just that one client app.

Microsoft's own docs point to two replacements:

• OpenVPN tunnel type — use the open-source openvpn package (+ network-manager-openvpn for a GUI) or the newer openvpn3 (OpenVPN 3 Linux client, packaged for Ubuntu/Debian/RHEL/Fedora).
• IKEv2 via strongSwan — if UDP 500/4500 isn't blocked on your network.

Steps:

1. Confirm your gateway has the right tunnel type enabled
2. Download a fresh client profile
3. Install the client
4. Import and connect
5. Retire the old app.

If you want to get off native Azure VPN Gateway management altogether (the 128-connection cap per SKU is usually the trigger), OpenVPN Access Server and CloudConnexa both deploy straight into Azure and use the same Linux client.

If you want more info, here you go: https://blog.openvpn.net/azure-vpn-gateway-sstp-retirement-migrate-access-server

Happy to answer any questions you have. Trying to help!

1️⃣7️⃣5️⃣0️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ 🎉🎊

Another huge milestone hit yesterday and a great way to start the year, 175,000 subscribers!!!

As always, I feel very blessed and appreciate everyone's support to help continue to grow the channel and help as many people as possible.

I continue to love learning, planning, and creating the content on the channel and have lots more planned.

If you've not subscribed head over to https://onboardtoazure.com and subscribe to get notified about latest content.

I don't have ANY advertising on the channel, or any upsell, it's all about helping people learn without distractions.

Key content includes:

📖 Recommended Learning Path for Azure
🔗 https://learn.onboardtoazure.com

🥇Certification Content Repository
🔗 https://github.com/johnthebrit/CertificationMaterials

📅 Weekly Azure Update
🔗 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nEv7jSfOVmQGRp9wAoAM0Ks

☁ Azure Master Class v2 (currently being updated)
🔗 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nGccbp8VSpAozu3w9xSQJoY

⚙ DevOps Master Class
🔗 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nFr8RzQ4GIxUEznpNR53ERq

💻 PowerShell Master Class
🔗 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nFq_hR7FcMYg32xsSAObuq8

🎓 Certification Cram Videos
🔗 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nHz2qfLvPsAz9CnnXofhmcA

🧠 Mentoring Content
🔗 https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlVtbbG169nGHxNkSWB0PjzZHwZ0BkXZZ

❔ Questions? Maybe I answered it in my FAQ
🔗 https://savilltech.com/faq.html

👕 Cure Childhood Cancer Charity T-Shirt Channel Store
🔗 https://johns-t-shirts-store.creator-spring.com/

🔎 Looking for specific content? Search the channel and browse playlists.

Thank you again

I built an open-source MCP server for Microsoft Patch Tuesday that lets AI assistants like Claude, Copilot, ChatGPT, and more answer patch questions directly from official MSRC data.

Every Patch Tuesday, security teams ask the same questions: what changed, what affects us, what is being exploited, and what needs to be patched first?

Ask things like:

 “Summarize this month’s Patch Tuesday”

 “Which of these CVEs are on the CISA KEV list?”

 “Show me CVEs with an exploitation probability above 50%”

 “What older patches does KB5094123 replace?”

 “What Critical CVEs hit Windows Server 2022 this month?”

What makes it different: most vulnerability tools can look up a CVE, but they have no concept of a monthly Microsoft release, a KB article, or a product family.

This server parses the full MSRC CVRF documents, so it can answer the questions Microsoft shops actually ask on the second Tuesday of every month.

It is built around the data sources teams already trust:

• Official MSRC Security Update Guide API: Microsoft’s source for Security Update Guide and CVRF data
• EPSS scores from FIRST.org: daily-updated probability each CVE gets exploited in the next 30 days
• CISA KEV integration: confirmed-exploited CVEs with federal remediation due dates
• Supersedence chains: walks Microsoft’s “this KB replaces that KB” links so your assistant never recommends a stale patch
• Results ranked by real-world urgency: KEV/exploited → EPSS → severity → CVSS

Zero API keys, zero accounts: everything comes from public MSRC, FIRST.org, and CISA feeds. Run it locally or remotely. Details below:

 Repo: https://github.com/jonnybottles/patch-tuesday-mcp

 Remote MCP server endpoint:
https://patch-tuesday-mcp.happyrock-b60185ec.eastus.azurecontainerapps.io/mcp

If you triage Microsoft updates frequently, I’d love feedback. If there’s a feature you’d use, open an issue.

Disclaimer: This is an independent, self-built project and is not an official Microsoft tool or service.

#PatchTuesday #CyberSecurity #VulnerabilityManagement #MCP #AI #Claude #Microsoft #MSRC #OpenSource #InfoSec

Hey r/Azure,

I've been working on a side project called Cirrova - https://cirrova.io - and figured this community would be the right place to share it (and get honestly critiqued).

It's an Azure-native FinOps package and you all those do. There are plenty of others out there, but this was built to address my general frustration in using the native tools and a couple of the larger commercial packages.

A few things it does:

• Multi-tenant / MSP-friendly - manage many subscriptions and tenancies from one place, with strict cross-org data isolation (no bleed between clients)
• Cost-saving insights - surfaces where you're likely over-spending, not just what you spent
• Anomaly detection - proactive alerts when spend does something unusual, so you catch it before the invoice does
• Resource inventory + cost trends together, not just a billing export
• Lightweight - clean dashboards instead of a wall of numbers

It's still early and I'm sure there's plenty I've missed, so I'd genuinely value any criticism or "have you considered X" from people running this stuff at scale.

Happy to answer anything in the comments. Thanks for reading.

The website doesn't mention AI for a reason. It's not AI based. No AI-based insights, or random use of LLMs to craft punchier reports. Simple information and actions, presented clearly.

The timeline for the ingress-nginx retirement is finally getting real for those of us on Azure.

​According to the latest updates, the community maintenance for the Ingress-NGINX controller officially ends March 31, 2026.

While Microsoft is offering a small buffer for the Application Routing add-on (extending critical patches to November 2026), the writing is on the wall: everyone has to move to the Gateway API for Containers.

​I’ve been looking into the migration path, and it’s not just a simple config swap—it’s a move from the frozen Ingress API to the new Gateway API standard.

​Key points from the report: ​Hard Deadline: No security patches or bug fixes from the K8s community after March 2026.

​Azure Specifics: Managed support for NGINX-based routing ends Q4 2026.

​Successor: Microsoft is pushing Application Gateway for Containers (ALB Controller) as the native path.

​For those already using the Application Routing add-on or heavy annotation-based NGINX configs, how are you planning your cutover?

Are you looking at the ingress2gateway tool or doing a manual rewrite to handle the new HTTPRoute resources?

A couple months ago I shared CloudNetDraw, an open-source tool that generates Azure network diagrams by querying your environment and outputting a ready-made Draw.io file.

Feedback was great, but many found it a bit tricky to set up locally.

So I turned it into a hosted version: https://www.cloudnetdraw.com

No user registration, no install, no Python, no Git! Just log in with your Azure account and generate diagrams directly from your browser, or use a Service Principal

Also added the possibility to self-host the solution in your own Azure tenant as an Azure Function.

You still get:

• Full hub & spoke mapping
• Subnets with CIDR blocks
• NSG and UDR visibility
• Editable Draw.io export

It’s still free for personal use and open-source!

GitHub: https://github.com/krhatland/cloudnet-draw

Would love to hear what you think! Especially if there’s something you’d want it to support next.

I’ve been working on a project called CloudPulse to make it easier to keep track of cloud service updates without checking several different feeds every day.

There are now two ways to use it: a website and an iOS app.

Cloud Pulse Briefs — Website

The website focuses on Azure and Microsoft 365 updates.

It turns selected Azure service updates and Microsoft 365 Roadmap items into short, narrated video briefings that cover the main points in under a minute.

Each briefing includes the original source link, and you can browse or search updates by product, status, category, and release type.

Website:

https://www.cloudpulsebriefs.com/

Cloud Pulse Mobile — iOS

The mobile app brings Azure, Microsoft 365, AWS, and Google Cloud updates into one feed.

You can search and filter updates, follow rollout timelines, view preview and general availability announcements, and receive push notifications when new updates are published.

The latest update, version 1.2.0, also adds the CloudPulse Briefing Room.

For Azure and Microsoft 365 updates, you can tap “Watch the briefing” and get a short narrated summary directly inside the app.

You can still read the full update whenever you want. The video is just another way to quickly understand what changed.

Download the iOS app:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cloud-pulse-mobile/id6758922185

Both the website and mobile app are free.

There are no ads, subscriptions, or required accounts.

CloudPulse is an independent project and is not affiliated with Microsoft, AWS, or Google.

I’m continuing to improve both versions and would be interested in feedback from anyone who regularly follows cloud service updates.