msrc-blog

Welcome to the third installment in our series on transparency at the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). In this ongoing discussion, we talk about our commitment to providing comprehensive vulnerability information to our customers. At MSRC, our mission is to protect our customers, communities, and Microsoft, from current and emerging threats to security and privacy.

Congratulations to all the researchers recognized in this quarter’s Microsoft Researcher Recognition Program leaderboard! Thank you to everyone for your hard work and continued partnership to secure customers. The top three researchers of the 2024 Q3 Security Researcher Leaderboard are wkai, VictorV, and Zhihua Wen! Check out the full list of researchers recognized this quarter here.

34 sessions from 54 presenters representing 20 organizations! We are thrilled to reveal the lineup of speakers and presentations for the 23rd BlueHat Security Conference, in Redmond WA from Oct 29-30. This year’s conference continues the BlueHat ethos and Secure Future Initiative mission of “Security Above All Else”. Security researchers and responders from inside and outside of Microsoft will gather on the Microsoft campus in Redmond, WA to share, debate, and challenge each other, with the shared goal of creating a safer and more secure world for all.

The 23rd edition of Microsoft’s BlueHat security conference will be hosted by the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) at the Redmond, WA corporate campus, October 29 and 30, 2024. BlueHat brings together security researchers and responders from both inside and outside of Microsoft, who come together as peers to exchange ideas, experiences, and best practices, all in the interest of creating a safer and more secure world for everyone.

The Microsoft Researcher Recognition Program offers public thanks and recognition to security researchers who help protect our customers through discovering and sharing security vulnerabilities under Coordinated Vulnerability Disclosure. Today, we are excited to recognize this year’s 100 Most Valuable Researchers (MVRs), based on the total number of points earned for each valid report.

We are excited to announce that this year the Microsoft Bounty Program has awarded $16.6M in bounty awards to 343 security researchers from 55 countries, securing Microsoft customers in partnership with the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC). Each year we identify over a thousand potential security issues together, safeguarding our customers from possible threats through the Microsoft Bounty Program.

Microsoft partners with the global security researcher community to surface and report security vulnerabilities to protect all users of Microsoft products and services. Researcher submissions help us address immediate threats while also identifying trends and insights to holistically improve the security of our products and services. We’re always looking for ways to build upon this partnership, and with that goal in mind, we are excited to announce the creation of the MSRC Researcher Resource Center.

Congratulations to all the researchers recognized in this quarter’s [Microsoft Researcher Recognition Program](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/msrc/researcher-recognition-program) leaderboard! Thank you to everyone for your hard work and continued partnership to secure customers. The top three researchers of the 2024 Q2 Security Researcher Leaderboard are Yuki Chen, Lewis Lee & Ver & Zhiniang Peng, and Wei!

At the Microsoft Security Response Center, we are committed to continuously improving the security and performance of our services to meet the evolving needs of our customers. We are excited to announce the rollout of the latest version of our Common Vulnerability Reporting (CVRF) API. This update brings improvements in both security and performance, without requiring any changes to your existing invocation methods.

The Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) has always been at the forefront of addressing cyber threats, privacy issues, and abuse arising from Microsoft Online Services. Building on our commitment, we have introduced several key updates to the Report Abuse Portal and API, which will significantly improve the way we handle and respond to abuse reports.