Microsoft wants to introduce smartphone-style app permission prompts in Windows 11 to request user consent before apps can access sensitive resources such as files, cameras, and microphones.

The “Windows Baseline Security Mode” and “User Transparency and Consent” initiatives represent a major shift for the operating system that now powers more than 1 billion devices.

Windows Platform engineer Logan Iyer said that this new security model was prompted by applications increasingly overriding settings, installing unwanted software, or even modifying core Windows experiences without obtaining user consent.

After the transparency and consent changes roll out, Windows will prompt for permission when apps try to install unwanted software or access sensitive resources, as on smartphones, allowing users to change their choices at any time after accepting or denying access requests.

Windows Baseline Security Mode will enable runtime integrity safeguards by default, ensuring that only properly signed apps, services, and drivers can run, but still allowing users and IT administrators to override these safeguards for specific apps when needed.

“Just like they do today on their mobile phones, users will be able to clearly see which apps have access to sensitive resources, including file system, devices like camera and microphone, and others. If they see an app that they don’t recognize, they will be able to revoke access,” Iyer said.

“Users will have transparency and consent control over how apps access their personal data and device features. They will receive clear prompts to grant or deny apps permission to access protected data and hardware. Users will also be able to revoke permissions they have previously granted.”

The changes will roll out as part of a phased approach developed “in close partnership” with developers, enterprises, and ecosystem partners, with Microsoft planning to adjust the rollout and the controls based on feedback.

The action is part of Microsoft’s Secure Future Initiative (SFI), launched in November 2023 after the Cyber Safety Review Board of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security tagged the company’s security culture as “inadequate.” The board’s report was issued following an Exchange Online breach by Storm-0558 Chinese hackers who stole a Microsoft consumer signing key in May 2023 to gain widespread access to Microsoft cloud services.

As part of this initiative, Microsoft also announced plans to secure Entra ID sign-ins against script-injection attacks, has disabled all ActiveX controls in Microsoft 365 and Office 2024 Windows apps, and has updated Microsoft 365 security defaults to block access to SharePoint, OneDrive, and Office files via legacy authentication protocols.

“Apps and AI agents will also be expected to meet higher transparency standards, giving both users and IT administrators better visibility into their behaviors,” Iyer added. “These updates raise the bar for security and privacy on Windows, while giving you more control and confidence in how your system and data are accessed.”

Modern IT infrastructure moves faster than manual workflows can handle.

In this new Tines guide, learn how your team can reduce hidden manual delays, improve reliability through automated response, and build and scale intelligent workflows on top of tools you already use.

Get the guide

Cloud infrastructure is messy. When an alert fires “EC2 instance unresponsive” or “High CPU utilization”, the initial triage often feels like an archaeological dig. Analysts have to leave their ticketing system, authenticate into the AWS console (cue the MFA prompts), hunt for the specific resource ID, and remember the correct CLI syntax to get the ground truth.

This context-switching tax is heavy. It extends Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR) and burns out analysts who spend more time gathering data than fixing problems.

This article explores a pre-built Tines workflow—Investigate AWS issues with CLI data using agents—that eliminates this manual data gathering by bringing the CLI directly to the case.

The problem: The “context gap” in incident response

In many organizations, there is a disconnect between where work is tracked (Jira, ServiceNow) and where the data lives (AWS, Azure, internal logs).

A “simple” investigation often involves:

• Access Friction: Logging into multiple consoles and assuming roles.
• Syntax Struggles: Wasting cycles figuring out the correct CLI syntax and flags to look up information, rather than simply retrieving the answer.
• Security Risks: Giving analysts broad read-access to production environments just to check a status.

Manual processes like these are the enemy of scale. As noted in a recent Tines case study, for a major crowdfunding platform, moving from manual spreadsheets to orchestration reduced unpatched vulnerabilities by 83% in just 90 days.

The lesson? “Focus on security work rather than the mundane tasks behind it.”

The solution: automated CLI execution via agents

The Investigate AWS issues with CLI data workflow bridges the gap between your ticket and your cloud environment. It uses Tines agents—secure, lightweight runners that can send commands to AWS using secure credentials—to execute CLI commands safely within an intelligent workflow and return the results to the analyst.

Instead of the analyst going to the CLI, the CLI comes to the analyst.

Here is an overview of how the workflow operates:

1. The trigger – The workflow initiates when a new case or ticket is created regarding an AWS resource. This could be triggered automatically by a CloudWatch alarm or manually by an analyst noticing an anomaly.

2. The Agent intermediary – Tines doesn’t need direct, over-privileged access to your cloud. Instead, it instructs a Tines agent running with specified read-only access to AWS. This ensures your cloud credentials stay local and secure.

3. Dynamic command generation – The workflow doesn’t rely on rigid, pre-defined scripts. Instead, the “magic” lies in the agent’s ability to construct the necessary CLI command from scratch based on the context of the ticket. Whether you need to inspect an S3 bucket policy or check an EC2 instance’s security group, the agent intelligently forms the correct syntax and executes it, providing a level of flexibility that static automation can’t match.

4. AI formatting & enrichment – Raw CLI output (often dense JSON) is difficult for humans to parse quickly. The workflow uses Tines’ transformation capabilities (or an optional AI step) to parse this data into a clean, readable summary or table.

5. Case update – The formatted findings are appended directly to the Tines Case or your ITSM tool. The analyst opens the ticket and immediately sees the current state, security groups, and public IPs of the instance—no login required.

The benefits

Implementing this workflow drives efficiency across the entire incident lifecycle:

• Zero-touch context: Analysts start their investigation with the data already in front of them. There is no “gathering phase,” only a “solving phase.”
• Secure access: You don’t need to grant every junior analyst read access to the AWS console. The Tines agent handles the privilege, acting as a secure proxy for specific, approved commands.
• Standardized documentation: Every investigation has the exact same data snapshot attached. This creates a perfect audit trail, which Tines Cases captures automatically.
• Collaborative resolution: By pulling data into Tines Cases, teams can comment, tag, and collaborate in real-time on the “new or unknown,” preventing the siloed communication that happens when data is stuck in a terminal window.

How to build it

This workflow is available as a template to jumpstart your intelligent workflow journey.

Step 1: Import the story Visit the Tines Library and search for Investigate AWS issues with CLI data using agents. Click “Import” to add it to your tenant.

Step 2: Connect Your AWS Credential To allow the agent to interact with your environment, connect a secure AWS credential (like an IAM role or access key) directly within the Tines tenant. No complex infrastructure deployment or external runners are required.

Step 3: Modify Recommended Commands The template includes a list of example commands to help guide the agent, but these aren’t the only ones it can use. You can edit this list to steer the agent’s behavior, specifying commands you would like it to use more frequently based on your team’s most common tickets

Step 4: Review Case Format The workflow is already pre-wired to send findings to Tines Cases, so no manual connection is needed. However, you should review the Case layout to ensure it suits your analysts. You might want to adjust the order of fields or how the AI summary is presented to ensure the most critical data is visible at a glance.

Step 5: Test and define Run the workflow with a dummy ticket. Verify that the agent executes the command and that the output is formatted correctly in the Case view.

Conclusion

The difference between a stressed SOC and an efficient one is often the “mundane tasks.” When analysts have to manually fetch data for every alert, they drown in noise.

By orchestrating these routine checks with Tines and Tines agents, you flip the script. You give your team the context they need instantly, allowing them to focus on the high-value decision-making that actually protects the organization.

As the crowdfunding tech company discovered, intelligent workflows don’t just save time. When implemented properly, they fundamentally change the security posture.

For a deeper look at how Tines Cases can centralize your investigation data, check out this product spotlight: Tines Cases | Product Spotlight. This video demonstrates how the Cases interface consolidates data, making it the perfect destination for the automated AWS insights generated by this workflow.

Sponsored and written by Tines.

Microsoft is investigating an outage that blocks some administrators with business or enterprise subscriptions from accessing the Microsoft 365 admin center.

While the company has yet to disclose which regions are affected by this ongoing service degradation, it is tracking it on its official service health status page to provide impacted organizations with up-to-date information.

“Some users in the North America region may be unable to access the Microsoft 365 admin center. We’re reviewing service monitoring telemetry to isolate the root cause and develop a remediation plan,” Microsoft said when it acknowledged the issue.

“Initial reports indicate that the issue is occurring in the North America and Canada regions. We’ll provide more information once identified.”

Although Microsoft didn’t disclose how many customers are impacted, the company has classified this issue as an incident, which usually involves noticeable user impact.

On the outage-tracking website DownDetector, thousands of Microsoft customers have reported issues, including connection problems and an extremely slow admin portal.

In an update to the original incident report, Microsoft said that the outage also affects the M365 app and that it’s now collecting telemetry data to identify the root cause.

“Users able to access the admin center may be experiencing degraded functionality. As functionality is degraded, users may be unable to raise support tickets through the Microsoft 365 admin center. Additionally, users may be unable to access the M365 app,” Microsoft noted.

“We’re continuing to analyze diagnostic data from the Microsoft 365 admin center infrastructure, with a current focus on usage patterns and Central Processing Unit (CPU) utilization levels. Additionally, we’re reviewing HTTP Archive (HAR) files provided by impacted users to support our investigation.

More than a year ago, in January, Microsoft addressed another critical service issue that blocked login attempts and prevented users and administrators from accessing Microsoft 365 services and the admin center.

In July 2025, it mitigated a similar outage that triggered ‘Runtime Error’ messages, preventing access to the admin portal.

Over the weekend, the company restored Microsoft Store and Windows Update services that had been taken down after a data center power outage, causing “failures or timeouts when installing or updating Microsoft Store apps, or when downloading Windows updates.”

This is a developing story …

Modern IT infrastructure moves faster than manual workflows can handle.

In this new Tines guide, learn how your team can reduce hidden manual delays, improve reliability through automated response, and build and scale intelligent workflows on top of tools you already use.

Get the guide

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 FE, priced at $450 (was $650), delivers the performance of a high-end model at a much lower price. The phone measures 161.3 by 76.6 by 7.4 millimeters, making it the thinnest and lightest Fan Edition device you’ve seen thus far, weighing in just 190 grams.

The frame is extremely sturdy, thanks to its improved Armor Aluminum construction and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus+ on both the front and back. In addition, the IP68 water and dust resistance grade provides all of the necessary protection. Four premium colors are available: Navy, Jetblack, Icyblue, and White, all finished in a stunning Premium Haze appearance.

Sale

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The design is clean and modern, with minimal bezels and a camera module that adds some lift to the back. The 6.7-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X display is in a class of its own, with FHD+ resolution, a snappy 120Hz refresh rate that adapts to the scenario (either 60Hz or 120Hz, depending on your needs), and screen brightness that can reach 1,900 nits. You get vibrant colors, deep blacks, and as much HDR10+ awesomeness as you can manage. Oh, and the Vision Booster keeps the screen looking fantastic even when you’re outside in direct sunshine.

Under the hood, you’ll find a top-tier Exynos 2400 processor (made on the same 4nm process as other high-end phones this year) teamed with 8GB of memory. That’s a marriage made in heaven, especially for gamers, multitaskers, and anyone who simply enjoys using their phone without becoming upset. You’ll also be glad to learn that there is a larger-than-before vapor chamber to keep the temperature under control, which is important if you enjoy playing games for extended periods of time.

The battery capacity is remarkable at 4,900mAh, allowing for up to 28 hours of video playback in ideal conditions. In the real world, you can easily get a full day out of it, and if it runs out, a quick 45W wired charge will get it back up to speed. When you don’t have a power outlet nearby, there’s 15W wireless charging and some useful reverse wireless PowerShare features.

The rear camera has three sensors: a 50-megapixel main sensor with optical image stabilisation and a lovely f/1.8 aperture, a 12-megapixel ultra-wide sensor that can capture some amazing views (a 123-degree field of view, to be specific), and a telephoto lens that can zoom in on your subject three times (optical zoom, nice and steady). The front-facing camera gets a welcome bump to 12 megapixels, allowing you to shoot some amazing selfies.

Then there’s Samsung’s ProVisual Engine, which uses some serious AI magic to boost your low-light photographs (Nightography), allows you to juggle things in and out of photos with Generative Edit, and adds new choices for generating slow-motion recordings with the Instant Slow-mo feature. Last but not least, the Exynos chip can still produce excellent 8K video footage with superb colors and detail regardless of lighting conditions.

Honorable Mentions

There are so many good TVs available, we can’t add them all to our top list. Here are some great options that either missed the cut or got knocked off our top list by their replacements.

Hisense U7: Hisense’s latest U7 series TV is the brightest TV in its class, with blazing punch for baseline SDR video and high-end 4K HDR Blu-rays. If you don’t need all that power, it’s easy enough to tame, and most importantly, it’s balanced by stark contrast thanks to tight blooming control. You’ll also get vibrant quantum dot colors and a uniform screen that steers clear of unsightly blotches for an overall picture that goes beyond what we expect at this level. The Hisense U75QG stacks up the features, including every major HDR format, and HDMI 2.1 support for top-line gaming features across all four HDMI ports—something even some flagship TVs lack. Like most TVs at this level, it’s got a few flaws, including mediocre off-axis performance and an odd Disney Plus streaming issue (which Hisense claims to be fixing), but you can’t beat the price for this kind of knock-your-socks-off performance.

Panasonic Z95B: The Panasonic Z95B is one of the best-performing TVs I’ve ever tested. The follow-up to last year’s Z95A utilizes LG’s breakthrough RGB tandem panel to brilliant effect, providing stunning brightness, perfect black levels, and colors so striking and realistic you’ll find yourself staring at inane details even in HD sitcoms. One of the traits that really makes this TV special is how naturally it renders lighting and shadow detail, letting you virtually feel the season or even the time of day in a properly lit scene as if you were there.

Sony Bravia 5: Sony’s Bravia 5 QLED TV doesn’t offer the brightest punch or best blooming control in its class, but its mini-LED backlighting does a solid job at both, while Sony’s excellent picture processing spiffs up everything you watch. This leads to impressive detail and a cinematic touch that outclasses plenty of similarly priced models, especially noticeable for Blu-rays or high-quality streaming via Sony Pictures Core. The Bravia 5’s gaming features are solid, with two ports offering HDMI 2.1 support for 4K gaming in VRR at up to 120Hz, and Google TV makes navigation intuitive. This won’t be your top option for bright rooms, but those who appreciate the kind of clarity upon which Sony stakes its name, the Bravia 5 is an affordable way to grab it.

Sony Bravia 8 II: Sony’s top OLED for 2025 once again transfixed me with its beautifully immersive picture. Replacing the bewitching A95L, the oddly dubbed Bravia 8 II adds some sweet new skills, including higher HDR brightness courtesy of Samsung’s most advanced QD-OLED panel yet. This TV is a dazzler, offering natural yet vivid colors, near-perfect screen uniformity, and perhaps the best picture processing I’ve ever evaluated, rendering 4K and even HD scenes so clearly you’ll feel like they’re going to spill into your living room. Lighter black levels and lower peak brightness than the knockout LG G5 are its main downsides, along with Sony’s miserly distribution of just two full-bandwidth HDMI ports. Otherwise, this is a regal experience with a kingly cost.

Sony Bravia 9: You may think your current premium TV is bright enough, but Sony’s masterful Bravia 9 QLED TV begs to differ. Its powerful mini-LED backlighting system is wonderfully punchy, while maintaining excellent light control. Add in Sony’s prized picture processing for vivid detail and vibrant yet restrained quantum dot colors, and you get a stunningly realistic viewing experience across content.

Samsung QN90D: The Samsung QN90D isn’t the brightest TV in its class, but its still-fiery mini-LED backlight system outshines similarly priced OLEDs, combining with its stealthy anti-reflection tech for fabulous performance in the full light of day. It adds full and natural colors, premium picture processing, and oily black levels for a killer way to waste a good Sunday watching basketball, especially now that its price has dropped dramatically.

Hisense U8QG: The U8QG is a great buy at its lowest price (around $1,000 for a 65-inch model) and a solid pick above that price, especially if you want eye-searing brightness above all else. I noticed some SDR color accuracy issues (some images looked way too red) and found it difficult to keep it from wildly over-brightening some content. Thankfully, you can always turn it down, and its nuclear power plant is paired with excellent black levels, deep contrast, and plenty of features. I actually prefer last year’s similarly punchy U8N, but it’s getting harder to find in stock.

TCL QM7K: I’ve had a love/hate relationship with the QM7K. Part of TCL’s new Precise Dimming series, its opulent black levels and contrast reach toward OLED heights, matched by good brightness for some spectacular moments. The problem? My review model’s colors were off-kilter, with an odd green tint in select black and grayscale content. Thankfully, I confirmed that TCL’s latest firmware update fixed the issue. The TV’s picture processing and colors still don’t catch premium TVs, and this is the second year in a row I’ve found a troubling performance issue with the QM7. You shouldn’t buy it at full price, but if you can get the 65-inch model for $1,000 or less, it’s a pretty enticing choice.

Samsung S90D (2024): Samsung’s S90D QD-OLED is still a great value, with a similar design to the latest S90F and only slightly lower brightness. The new model is the better buy at this point, but if you can find the previous model on a killer sale, I wouldn’t think twice.

Samsung S95D (2024): Samsung’s previous S95 matte-screen marvel is still a fabulous QD-OLED TV that would be adored in virtually any TV room. We like the newer version better, which begs fewer compromises when it comes to deep black levels, but if you can find the previous version on a killer deal, you won’t be sorry.

Hisense U7N (2024): If you’re after a TV at similar pricing to the QM6K but with some extra eye tingle, Hisense’s 2024 U7N offers a serious brightness boost over our top pick and still ranks among our favorite options for your money. Its blooming control and screen uniformity aren’t as refined as the QM6K’s but it’s got plenty of features, including great gaming credentials and a streamlined Google TV interface. It’s still a great buy while stock lasts, especially at $700 or less.

Sony A95L: Sony finally replaced this sweet screen with the 2025 Bravia 8 II, which offers similarly incredible picture processing and upscaling alongside enhanced colors and higher HDR brightness. That shouldn’t deter you from considering the A95L (9/10, WIRED Recommends) at a lower price. With fabulously immersive image quality and an intuitive Google TV interface, this is a premium package that’s very enticing on a good sale.

Sony Bravia 7: The Bravia 7 is a gorgeous display, offering brilliant brightness, naturalistic colors, and suave finesse in the subtle details. Its biggest knock is very poor off-axis viewing, which could be tough to swallow at its high list price. Otherwise, it’s worth considering for fans of that Sony glow, especially since Sony seems to be discounting its best QLED TVs much more liberally than its OLED models.

Other TVs We’ve Tested

Samsung The Frame Pro: I put the Frame Pro through our full review process and came away both in limbo due to software issues and (so far) unimpressed with the performance. The matte screen looks slick when displaying art, especially if you purchase one of the add-on frames (a frame for the Frame?) from Samsung or Deco TV Frames. Picture performance was otherwise middling at best. It’s much brighter than the traditional Frame, and the colors pop, but its edge-lit mini-LED system does not look good with dark 4K HDR content, even in the day. Moreover, I had trouble with its very sluggish operating system (which others have reported) and stuttering Blu-ray playback. We’re awaiting a second model, which we hope relieves the software issues, but steer clear for now.

TCL QM7 (2024): There’s only one thing holding back 2024’s beautifully balanced QM7: a software glitch. During my review, I experienced an issue where adjusting SDR backlight levels affected HDR, which can lead to severe brightness limitations. While TCL fixed the issue in a firmware update for me, I never got confirmation on a broader OTA fix. Most folks probably won’t have this issue, so the QM7 is still worth considering, but make sure and check it before throwing out the box.

TVs We’re Testing Next

LG C5: The follow-up to our favorite OLED for most people looks primed to another top offering, even if our initial hands-on time with the TV didn’t reveal any major differences. We’ll be testing it shortly to see how it compares with the previous C4.

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YouTube Music has reportedly started nudging its free listeners toward a paid subscription by, you guessed it, limiting access to full song lyrics. Free users seemed to be capped at five complete song lyrics per month, post which, only the first few lines of a song’s lyrics are visible, while the rest are blurred.

Full access, as far as I can tell, is only available if you cough up for the YouTube Music Premium ($10.99 per month) or YouTube Premium ($13.99 per month) subscriptions.

A new restriction for free users

Upon being asked about the development by Android Authority, Google has played it cool by stating that it’s merely testing the paywall.

“We are running an experiment with a small percentage of ad-supported users that may impact their ability to access the lyrics feature repeatedly,” clarifies Google.

It also notes that the experimenting isn’t affecting “the majority” of its global users; they shouldn’t see any changes to the lyrics feature.

While the company’s statement about routinely running experiments on YouTube Music to improve users’ experience is quite generic, there are plenty of user reports about the inaccessibility of lyrics, suggesting that this might not be a trial after all.

If it’s an experiment, it should go away soon

As mentioned in the report, free YouTube Music users can still access the Lyrics tab, but only with a warning at the top that reminds them about the remaining views and a message that says “Unlock lyrics with Premium.”

While we won’t go so far as to say that Google is intentionally hiding lyrics from users to force them into paying for the subscription, it is concerning that the company is calling it an “experiment.”

If it starts showing up for more people in the near future, it would be considered less of an experiment and more of a calculated push to convert free YouTube Music users into paid ones.