Week in brief

Integrate Qualys data connector in Microsoft Security Exposure Management leads 292 Defender updates

Week of 20 July 2026 recorded 11 new, 268 updated, 12 removed Microsoft Defender documentation changes and 1 relevant Message Center announcement. The most active areas were Endpoint, Office 365, Sentinel.

For Defender administrators

Review the linked Microsoft Learn changes that apply to your managed platforms, policies, applications, and rollout plans. The archive preserves the source diff for verification.

This period briefing was assembled from the tracked Microsoft Learn and Message Center changes.

Updates this week

6

Microsoft Purview | Insider Risk Management triage agent summaries available in Microsoft Defender

New

Microsoft Purview Insider Risk Management triage agent summaries will appear in Microsoft Defender alerts, providing AI-generated insights to streamline investigations. This feature rolls out from mid-August to December 2026, enabling easier alert review without changing existing configurations. No action is needed if prerequisites are met.

24 July 2026
Message CenterMC1438568 on mc.merill.net ↗Stay informed

Ai Agent Detection Protection

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-xdr/security-for-ai/ai-agent-detection-protection.md.

20 July 2026

Microsoft 365 Defender

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-xdr/microsoft-365-defender.md.

20 July 2026
2

Top Scoring Industry Tests

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-xdr/top-scoring-industry-tests.md.

20 July 2026

Whats New

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-xdr/whats-new.md.

20 July 2026
1

Alert Policies

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-xdr/alert-policies.md.

20 July 2026
1
100

Manage Security Policies

Removed

Removed Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/manage-security-policies.md.

20 July 2026

Manage event-based forced updates

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/manage-event-based-updates-microsoft-defender-antivirus.md.

20 July 2026

Schedule Antivirus Scans

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/schedule-antivirus-scans.md.

20 July 2026

Investigate Behind Proxy

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/investigate-behind-proxy.md.

20 July 2026

Respond File Alerts

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/respond-file-alerts.md.

20 July 2026

Manage Auto Investigation

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/manage-auto-investigation.md.

20 July 2026

Supply chain attacks

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/malware/supply-chain-malware.md.

20 July 2026

Indicators Overview

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/indicators-overview.md.

20 July 2026

Mde Linux Deployment On Sap

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/mde-linux-deployment-on-sap.md.

20 July 2026

Switch To Mde Phase 2

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/switch-to-mde-phase-2.md.

20 July 2026

Admin Submissions Mde

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/admin-submissions-mde.md.

20 July 2026

Behavior Monitor

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/behavior-monitor.md.

20 July 2026

Edr In Block Mode

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/edr-in-block-mode.md.

20 July 2026

Indicator Certificates

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/indicator-certificates.md.

20 July 2026

Indicator File

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/indicator-file.md.

20 July 2026

Indicator Ip Domain

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/indicator-ip-domain.md.

20 July 2026

Indicator Manage

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/indicator-manage.md.

20 July 2026

Linux Exclusions

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/linux-exclusions.md.

20 July 2026

Machine Tags

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/machine-tags.md.

20 July 2026

Microsoft Defender Endpoint

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/microsoft-defender-endpoint.md.

20 July 2026

Run Detection Test

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/run-detection-test.md.

20 July 2026

Isolation Exclusions

Removed

Removed Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/isolation-exclusions.md.

20 July 2026

Managing Exclusions

Removed

Removed Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/managing-exclusions.md.

20 July 2026
7

Troubleshoot ASR rules

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/troubleshoot-asr.md.

20 July 2026

Troubleshoot Settings

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/troubleshoot-settings.md.

20 July 2026
4
3
2
1

Defender Endpoint Plan 1

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-endpoint/defender-endpoint-plan-1.md.

20 July 2026
83

Zero Hour Auto Purge

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/zero-hour-auto-purge.md.

22 July 2026

Preset Security Policies

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/preset-security-policies.md.

20 July 2026

Quarantine Policies

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/quarantine-policies.md.

20 July 2026

User reported settings

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/submissions-user-reported-messages-custom-mailbox.md.

20 July 2026

Submissions Admin

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/submissions-admin.md.

20 July 2026

Anti Spam Policies Configure

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/anti-spam-policies-configure.md.

20 July 2026

Mdo Sec Ops Guide

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/mdo-sec-ops-guide.md.

20 July 2026

Anti Phishing Policies About

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/anti-phishing-policies-about.md.

20 July 2026

Connectors Remove Blocked

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/connectors-remove-blocked.md.

20 July 2026

Tenant Allow Block List About

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/tenant-allow-block-list-about.md.

20 July 2026

Quarantine End User

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/quarantine-end-user.md.

20 July 2026

Mdo Portal Permissions

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/mdo-portal-permissions.md.

20 July 2026

Tune anti-phishing protection

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/anti-phishing-protection-tuning.md.

20 July 2026

Message Trace Defender Portal

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/message-trace-defender-portal.md.

20 July 2026

Mdo Ices Vendor Ecosystem

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/mdo-ices-vendor-ecosystem.md.

20 July 2026

Submissions Teams

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-office-365/submissions-teams.md.

20 July 2026
2
1
1
1
4

Migrate To Sensor V3

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-for-identity/deploy/migrate-to-sensor-v3.md.

20 July 2026

Manage and update sensors

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-for-identity/sensor-settings.md.

20 July 2026
2
3

Investigate Risky Oauth

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-for-cloud-apps/investigate-risky-oauth.md.

20 July 2026

Discovery Docker Windows

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-for-cloud-apps/discovery-docker-windows.md.

20 July 2026

In Browser Protection

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-for-cloud-apps/in-browser-protection.md.

20 July 2026
4

Defender For Sql Usage

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in defender-for-cloud/defender-for-sql-usage.md.

20 July 2026
1
24

Sentinel Integration Guide

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/isv/sentinel-integration-guide.md.

20 July 2026

Audit Track Tasks

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/audit-track-tasks.md.

20 July 2026

Create Analytics Rules

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/create-analytics-rules.md.

20 July 2026

Customer Managed Keys

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/customer-managed-keys.md.

20 July 2026

Entity Behaviors Layer

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/entity-behaviors-layer.md.

20 July 2026

Normalization Ingest Time

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/normalization-ingest-time.md.

20 July 2026

Sap Btp Solution Overview

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/sap/sap-btp-solution-overview.md.

20 July 2026

Skill Up Resources

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/skill-up-resources.md.

20 July 2026

Threat Detection

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in sentinel/threat-detection.md.

20 July 2026
3
3
14

Codename Mdash Faq

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in exposure-management/codename-mdash-faq.md.

20 July 2026

Whats New

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in exposure-management/whats-new.md.

20 July 2026
2
1
10
1
1
2

Mto Endpoint Security Policy

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in unified-secops-platform/mto-endpoint-security-policy.md.

20 July 2026

Submission Guide

Updated

Updated Microsoft Defender documentation in unified-secops-platform/submission-guide.md.

20 July 2026
1
1