Microsoft has made its Disc to Digital feature available to every Xbox Series X and Xbox One owner, letting them convert eligible physical game discs into digital licenses tied to their profile. Players can then install and run those games without inserting the disc, though not all titles qualify and eligibility can shift due to licensing or publishing changes. Microsoft says losing, selling, or giving away the qualifying disc can limit or revoke the digital license.
tomshardware.com
· 2026-09-30
Microsoft researchers say the Russian state-linked group Star Blizzard is using a new technique called RedFlick to deploy its CosmicPulse backdoor. The chain starts with phishing emails leading victims to open a VHDX virtual disk containing a disguised LNK file, which triggers hidden commands, a decoy PDF, and an MSI installer that sets up three scheduled tasks to reconnoiter the system and fetch further payloads, including a downloader called NOROBOT/BAITSWITCH that ultimately installs CosmicPulse.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-30
Microsoft has expanded its disc-to-digital licensing program beyond Xbox Insiders to all users, letting owners of physical Xbox Series X and Xbox One games convert them into digital licenses. Players simply insert a disc while signed in, and a pop-up confirms when a digital license has been created for that title. The feature does not yet support Xbox 360 or original Xbox discs, and Microsoft has not specified how many current-gen titles qualify.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-30
Microsoft Threat Intelligence reported on Sept. 29 that Russia-linked APT group Star Blizzard has replaced its ClickFix social-engineering technique with a new malware delivery method called RedFlick. The group, also known as ColdRiver or Callisto, has used RedFlick since January to install its CosmicPulse backdoor via scheduled tasks, requiring only a single victim interaction instead of multiple steps.
darkreading.com
· 2026-09-30
Xbox CEO Asha Sharma told the New York Times that Microsoft is not selling Xbox, pushing back on earlier reports that CEO Satya Nadella and CFO Amy Hood had weighed spinning off the gaming unit. Instead, Sharma says leadership backs her restructuring plan, which includes cutting up to 3,200 jobs by mid-2027, moving Halo and other studios under Activision, and streamlining Xbox Game Studios.
theverge.com
· 2026-09-30
In an op-ed, Token Security co-founder and CEO Itamar Apelblat argues that AI has moved through three waves—chat sessions, task-scoped agents, and now persistent 'AI coworkers'—each carrying different security risks. He notes that companies like Microsoft and OpenAI already describe agents as digital colleagues, signaling a shift toward AI systems that operate independently rather than under case-by-case human approval.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-30
Microsoft confirmed it will begin enforcing a Content Security Policy on Entra ID sign-in pages starting mid-October 2026, allowing only scripts hosted on trusted Microsoft CDN domains to run during authentication. The rollout, first announced in November 2025, is expected to complete by late October 2026 and applies automatically without tenant configuration.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-30
Microsoft has released WSL Containers to general availability, letting Windows 11 developers build, run and deploy Linux containers natively through Windows Subsystem for Linux. The update adds a wslc.exe management tool, GPU support, networking improvements, health checks, storage mounts, and integration with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint and Intune. Microsoft says file access from Linux environments to Windows storage can now run up to twice as fast, though Compose support is still missing and listed as a priority.
linux.slashdot.org
· 2026-09-29
Microsoft has released WSL Containers as a generally available feature, letting users run Linux containers on Windows via the wsl --update command. The update adds a new wslc.exe command-line tool (aliased as container.exe), a WSL Containers API for Windows apps, and previously-missing features like container restarts, file copying, health checks, and network commands.
bleepingcomputer.com
· 2026-09-29
OpenAI unveiled new ChatGPT features at its Dev Day conference, including Space, a shared workspace where coworkers and AI agent personas called Dots can collaborate on tasks; Pages, a document editor for writing and generating charts or images; and collaborative slides that can be created and edited by voice command with multiple users and agents. CEO Sam Altman demonstrated the tools during Tuesday's presentation in San Francisco.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-09-29
OpenAI introduced ChatGPT Spaces, a shared workspace where colleagues, ChatGPT and new AI agents called Dots can access common files and generated content. The company also unveiled a meeting-notes plugin, Slack and Microsoft Teams integrations, and document tools called Pages, alongside a data-protection system called Private Intelligence.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-29
Microsoft has restructured Xbox Game Pass into four tiers—Essential ($9.99/month), Premium ($14.99/month), PC Game Pass ($13.99/month) and Ultimate ($22.99/month)—each offering different game libraries and features. Throughout 2026, Microsoft adjusted subscription prices and altered cloud gaming access, including new streaming limits, changing what subscribers get at each price point.
engadget.com
· 2026-09-29
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