This week in Microsoft, security, and AI: what changed and what it means for your business
Week of August 3, 2026 | A plain-English roundup for busy leaders.
Welcome back to This Week in Microsoft, Security, and AI. Every Monday, Covenant rounds up the handful of changes actually worth knowing about, so staying current is something you can do over coffee, not another chore you keep putting off.
This week’s theme is useful: Microsoft has quietly handed many organizations more security, governance, and AI capability inside plans they may already pay for. There is also a phishing trend worth a two-minute read, and a few dates to keep on your radar.
How to read this: no jargon, no scare tactics, and no attempt to turn every headline into a project. Just what changed, why it matters, and what to do next if it applies to you.
This week’s quick list
You may already own more security than you think.
Microsoft’s 2026 Microsoft 365 pricing and packaging updates are now in effect. The price changes began July 1, 2026, packaging changes began rolling out in June, and Microsoft says the rollout of several added capabilities is complete by August 1, 2026. Those additions include Microsoft Defender for Office 365 Plan 1 in select plans, URL time-of-click protection in Business Basic and Business Standard, Copilot Chat enhancements, Copilot Chat Analytics, expanded Intune capabilities in eligible suites, and additional mailbox storage in Business plans.
Sent an email to the wrong company? Recall is getting better.
Microsoft is rolling out cross-tenant message recall in Exchange Online. In plain English, that means an email sent from one Microsoft 365 organization may be recallable from another Microsoft 365 organization when the receiving tenant allows it. Microsoft says rollout starts in mid-August 2026 and is expected to complete by mid-September 2026.
Source: Microsoft Exchange Team Blog.
Microsoft 365 apps stop gaining new features on Windows 10.
Windows 10 reached end of support on October 14, 2025. Microsoft says Microsoft 365 Apps on Windows 10 continue receiving security updates until October 10, 2028, but feature updates and Microsoft 365 Copilot support phase out by update channel. For the Current Channel, that feature cutoff is Version 2608, expected in August 2026.
Source: Microsoft Learn: Windows 10 end of support and Microsoft 365 Apps.
Purview can help control what Copilot is allowed to use.
Microsoft Purview continues to extend data loss prevention, insider risk, data security, and compliance protections into Copilot and AI-agent experiences. Recent Purview updates include policy controls for Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot Chat, protections for Microsoft Agent 365, and visibility into generative AI activity.
Sources: Microsoft Purview updates and Microsoft Purview for AI agents.
Security Copilot is becoming a team of AI agents.
Microsoft is adding Security Copilot agents across Microsoft security products, including Defender, Entra, Intune, and Purview. For eligible Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 customers, these AI-assisted security capabilities are designed to help triage alerts, investigate issues, and reduce repetitive security work.
Source: Microsoft Learn: Security Copilot for Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 customers.
Your AI assistants need identities and guardrails too.
As AI moves from answering questions to taking action, Microsoft is shifting more AI-agent governance into Microsoft Agent 365, Defender, Entra, and Purview. The idea is straightforward: if an AI agent can act on behalf of the organization, it needs identity, permission boundaries, monitoring, and a record of what it did.
The phishing that steals your session, not your password.
Recent Microsoft 365 phishing campaigns are abusing device-code flows and session tokens. Instead of only trying to steal a password, attackers trick users into authorizing access through a real Microsoft sign-in flow, then use the resulting token to access accounts and data.
Source: The Hacker News: device-code phishing targeting Microsoft 365.
August patches land August 11, and July’s record batch is still worth checking.
Microsoft’s next Patch Tuesday is August 11, 2026. It follows a large July 2026 release that addressed hundreds of vulnerabilities, including flaws reported as exploited in the wild in SharePoint Server and Active Directory Federation Services.
Sources: Tenable July 2026 Patch Tuesday analysis and JPCERT July 2026 Microsoft security updates.
Passkeys just got easier to roll out.
Microsoft Entra continues to improve passkey support, including synced passkeys, passkey profiles, Microsoft Authenticator passkey improvements, and expanded profile storage. The practical direction is clear: passwordless sign-in is becoming easier to manage.
The bigger picture
Wouldn’t it be better if staying current on Microsoft, security, and AI did not mean doing the homework yourself every week? That is the point of this series. Covenant watches the changes so your team can spend attention on the work only you can do.
If any of this raised a question for your organization, the simplest next step is a clear baseline: what you own, what you actually use, what is exposed, and what should be handled before the next renewal, support deadline, or AI rollout.
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Explore FortifySources and further reading
Want a second set of eyes on your Microsoft, security, and AI readiness?
Book time with Covenant. We will help you understand what changed, what matters, and where to start.
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