Microsoft warns hackers are exploiting password resets to gain access to user accounts - here's how to stay safe
Microsoft has issued a warning about a hacking group named Storm-2949 that is exploiting the password reset feature in its services. The group uses social engineering tactics to trick victims into approving multi-factor authentication prompts, allowing them to reset passwords and access sensitive information. Microsoft advises users to implement stricter role-based access controls and monitor high-risk operations to mitigate these attacks.
- ▪Storm-2949 is abusing the Self-Service Password Reset flow to hijack accounts.
- ▪Attackers trick victims into approving MFA prompts via phone calls before resetting passwords.
- ▪The campaign targets Microsoft 365 and Azure environments, prompting Microsoft to recommend tighter security measures.
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Story provenance
Attribution is not the same as permission. This drawer separates discovery metadata, excerpts, WeSearch-generated summaries, reuse status, and whether the publisher receives the visit. Nothing here claims a legal grant the publisher has not made.
Record
| Original publisher | TechRadar |
| Canonical URL | https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/microsoft-warns-hackers-are-exploiting-password-resets-to-gain-access-to-user-accounts-heres-how-to-stay-safe |
| Publication time | Wed, 20 May 2026 18:05:00 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-20T18:10:02.948Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-20T18:10:02.948Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
| Excerpt method | First ~120 words (~800 chars) of extracted publisher body, fair-use limited. |
| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | mR473fUnH8Tl |
| Cluster logic | Grouped by semantic title/content similarity across sources within a rolling window. Same-publisher template collisions are excluded from coverage comparison. |
| Ranking reason | Story pages are not engagement-ranked. Hub feeds use recency, with optional source-diversified chronological ordering (cap consecutive stories per source). No personalized ranking. |
| Publisher visit | Yes — open original |
| Substitutes article? | No — link-out required for full text |
Rights status (four layers)
WeSearch handling by dimension
| Indexing | May the item be indexed (stored, ranked, made findable)? | Allowed |
| Snippet | May a short excerpt of the publisher's text be shown? | Allowed |
| AI summary | May WeSearch generate its own short summary of the article? | Limited |
| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
| Model training | May the content be used to train AI models? | Not asserted |
| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
Basis: Derived from the published RSS/Atom feed. Contact: [email protected]. Reviewed: 2026-07-24.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Pro Security Microsoft warns hackers are exploiting password resets to gain access to user accounts - here's how to stay safe News By Sead Fadilpašić published 20 May 2026 Storm-2949 is engaged in a "methodical, sophisticated, and multi-layered" campaign When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Shutterstock / JarTee) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Microsoft researchers warn Storm‑2949 is abusing the Self‑Service Password Reset flow to hijack accountsAttackers trick victims into approving MFA prompts via phone calls, then reset passwords and…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at TechRadar.
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