Microsoft rebuilds its cybersecurity business around AI, cutting hundreds of jobs

Microsoft rebuilds its security business around AI

Microsoft is overhauling its security business around AI and cutting several hundred jobs, as it races to win back spending flowing to OpenAI and Anthropic. Microsoft is the biggest seller of cybersecurity software on the planet. Now it is tearing that business up and rebuilding it around AI. The overhaul means more AI security tools, fewer traditional products, and merged engineering teams. It has already cost several hundred jobs, The Information reported. The driver is fear, and money. Companies are worried about AI-powered hacks, and much of their new security spending now goes to Anthropic and OpenAI. Microsoft wants it back. A new chief, a hard reset Hayete Gallot leads the changes. She took over Microsoft's security business in February and reports to Satya Nadella. Before that she spent 15 years at Microsoft, then ran customer experience at Google Cloud. Her message to staff was blunt. "The entire industry is getting reimagined from the ground up," she wrote in an internal memo, reported by PYMNTS. "A few months ago, we made those choices. Now we must execute." She has also pushed out several senior executives. What it is building The focus is on tools that fight AI with AI. Gallot is pushing Security Copilot, software that scans code for flaws, and products that let firms watch their own AI agents for trouble. That last one matters. As companies hand more work to autonomous agents, each one becomes a fresh way in for attackers. Microsoft wants to sell the guardrails. The push is already visible. On the same day, Microsoft folded its threat-intelligence tools into a single Defender portal and rolled out new expert-led Defender services, it said. Aimed at the AI labs The retreat from older products is deliberate. Microsoft is pitching itself as a cheaper, more secure, all-in-one alternative to the AI labs, and it has coached its salespeople to say so. The pitch lands in a nervy moment. AI now finds software flaws faster than people can, as OpenAI showed with its in-house AI hacker, and Nadella keeps arguing that AI is rewriting the whole business. Microsoft is betting it can sell the cure faster than its rivals sell the disease.

Microsoft Reshapes Cybersecurity Unit to Battle Anthropic and OpenAI | PYMNTS.com

The company is making these changes to better respond to customer demand for solutions to the threat of AI-powered hacks, and to capture some of the spending that is going to AI firms Anthropic and OpenAI, according to the report. Reached by PYMNTS, Microsoft declined to comment on the report. According to The Information's report, the overhaul is being led by Hayete Gallot, who took over the security business in February. Gallot is prioritizing AI-powered tools such as Microsoft Security Copilot, products that scan code for vulnerabilities and products that help companies monitor their own AI agents. "The entire industry is getting reimagined from the ground up," Gallot wrote in an internal Microsoft memo, per the report. "And it will reward the companies that see the shift early, make the hard choices, and execute with discipline. A few months ago, we made those choices. Now we must execute." Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a Feb. 4 blog post that Gallot rejoined Microsoft as executive vice president, security, and would report to him. Gallot had held senior leadership roles at the company for 15 years before moving to Google, where she served as president, customer experience for Google Cloud. "She brings an ethos that combines product building with value realization for customers, which is critical right now," Nadella said in the post. "As we shared during our quarterly earnings last week, we have great momentum in security, including progress with Security Copilot agents, strong Purview adoption, and continued customer growth, and we will build on this." It was reported Wednesday that Microsoft is intensifying its competitive strategy against OpenAI and Anthropic by positioning its services as a more secure and cost-effective end-to-end alternative for corporate clients. The PYMNTS Intelligence report "Where Payments Decisions Happen: How Issuer Data Is Powering the Next Era of Commerce" found that 42% of issuers said AI has helped them save more than $5 million from fraud attempts in recent years.

Microsoft's New Security Chief Replaces Top Execs to Force an AI Overhaul | PYMNTS.com

The company is making these changes to better respond to customer demand for solutions to the threat of AI-powered hacks, and to capture some of the spending that is going to AI firms Anthropic and OpenAI, according to the report. Reached by PYMNTS, Microsoft declined to comment on the report. According to The Information's report, the overhaul is being led by Hayete Gallot, who took over the security business in February. Gallot is prioritizing AI-powered tools such as Microsoft Security Copilot, products that scan code for vulnerabilities and products that help companies monitor their own AI agents. "The entire industry is getting reimagined from the ground up," Gallot wrote in an internal Microsoft memo, per the report. "And it will reward the companies that see the shift early, make the hard choices, and execute with discipline. A few months ago, we made those choices. Now we must execute." Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella wrote in a Feb. 4 blog post that Gallot rejoined Microsoft as executive vice president, security, and would report to him. Gallot had held senior leadership roles at the company for 15 years before moving to Google, where she served as president, customer experience for Google Cloud. "She brings an ethos that combines product building with value realization for customers, which is critical right now," Nadella said in the post. "As we shared during our quarterly earnings last week, we have great momentum in security, including progress with Security Copilot agents, strong Purview adoption, and continued customer growth, and we will build on this." It was reported Wednesday that Microsoft is intensifying its competitive strategy against OpenAI and Anthropic by positioning its services as a more secure and cost-effective end-to-end alternative for corporate clients. The PYMNTS Intelligence report "Where Payments Decisions Happen: How Issuer Data Is Powering the Next Era of Commerce" found that 42% of issuers said AI has helped them save more than $5 million from fraud attempts in recent years.