It happens 900 times every single second.
Microsoft (MSFT) said that its technology blocks so-called brute force attacks, where a hacker uses trial-and-error to guess login info- nearly 1,000 times with every tick of the clock.
Last year Microsoft Security blocked over 9.6 billion malware threats and more than 35.7 billion phishing and other malicious emails.
Microsoft Security is also actively tracking more than 35 ransomware families and 250 unique threat actors across observed nation-state, ransomware, and criminal activities.
"The security landscape has become increasingly challenging and complex for our customers," Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president, security, compliance, identity, and management, said in a recent blog post.
Jakkal said Microsoft was expanding its existing service capabilities under a new category called Microsoft Security Experts that "combines expert-trained technology with human-led services to help organizations achieve more secure, compliant, and productive outcomes."
The new services include Microsoft Defender Experts for Hunting, Microsoft Defender Experts for XDR, and Microsoft Security Services for Enterprise.
Security is proving to be a money maker for Microsoft.
Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella said in January that security generates $15 billion a year in revenue, up from $10 billion a year earlier.
Cybersecurity Workforce Gap
Cybercrime is taking a bigger financial bite.
Jakkal cited statistics that said cybercrime is expected to cost the world $10.5 trillion annually by 2025, up from $3 trillion a decade ago and $6 trillion in 2021.
And as if that isn't enough to worry about, there is also a shortage of cybersecurity experts.
A report by the nonprofit organization (ISC)² found that the global cybersecurity workforce needs to grow 65% to effectively defend organizations’ critical assets.
"Despite another influx of 700,000 professionals into the cybersecurity workforce, the 2021 study shows that global demand for cybersecurity professionals continues to outpace supply — resulting in the Cybersecurity Workforce Gap," the report said.
Among other things, the report encouraged companies to recruit people from different backgrounds who are attracted to the challenges and rewards of a cybersecurity career and are willing to learn.
"This approach also immediately creates a more diverse pool of talent and can bring new and fresh perspectives to an operation," the report said.
'Security is a Top Priority'
Microsoft itself has not been immune to hacking.
In March, the software giant said it had been one of the victims of the data extortion group Lapsus$, which claimed it had obtained source code for the Bing search engine and Cortana voice assistant.
The alleged ringleader of the group, a 16-year-old boy living with his mom, was arrested in Oxford, England at the end of March.
The company said that a single account had been compromised, “granting limited access.”
Lapsus$ has also targeted such companies as Samsung (SSNLF) and Nvidia (NVDA).
Microsoft is holding a security summit for May 12 that will include Jakkal, Nadella and Charlie Bell, executive vice president of security, a former Amazon (AMZN) executive, who came on board in October.
In April Microsoft forecast stronger-than-expected revenue growth for its key divisions.
"Security is a top priority for every organization undergoing a digital transformation," Nadella said during the quarterly earnings call. "To keep our customers secure, we build security by design into every product we sell."
