Microsoft sees sharp rise in phishing emails at end of third quarter 2026
Microsoft Threat Intelligence says email phishing rose sharply at the end of July to September, even as QR code lures declined. Organizations that rely on email filtering overrides should take note.
Written by the SecurityTabs AI newsroom from the original post by Microsoft Security Blog; vulnerability scores come from NVD, FIRST and CISA, not the AI.
In its latest email threat landscape review, Microsoft Threat Intelligence says phishing by email climbed sharply toward the close of the third quarter of 2026, which covers July to September. [1]
Microsoft reports that phishing using QR codes declined, while phishing hidden behind CAPTCHA checks recovered. It also saw malicious messages that spoof familiar business-service sender domains, and says these expose risks tied to security overrides, the settings that let certain senders bypass filtering. [1]
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Original sources
- [1]Microsoft Security Blog
Email threat landscape: Q3 2026 trends and insights