How Microsoft Stays Ahead of the World’s Most Dangerous Hackers

In this episode of the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast, host⁠ ⁠⁠Sherrod DeGrippo is joined by Aarti Borkar, Simeon Kakpovi, and Andrew Rapp for a behind-the-scenes look at how Microsoft Threat Intelligence and Microsoft Incident Response teams collaborate as part of a closed-loop system, the emotional toll of breaches, and how organizations of any size can build resilience through preparation and psychological safety. By listening to this segment, you’ll get a preview of what this group brought to the main stage of Black Hat this year.  Later, Sherrod chats with Snow, co-founder of the Social Engineering Community Village at DEF CON, about her journey from special effects makeup to elite social engineer, and how empathy, creativity, and even a ladder can be powerful tools in physical security testing.  In this episode you’ll learn:       How Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit uses legal tactics to disrupt threat actors  Why rehearsing your incident response plan can save weeks of recovery time  How AI is being trained to make social engineering phone calls on its own  Some questions we ask:      How would you describe the overall health of the global cybersecurity landscape?  Why does tailoring AI prompts sometimes feel like social engineering?  What is the feedback loop between incident response, intelligence, and product protections?    Resources:   View Aarti Borkar on LinkedIn  View Simeon Kakpovi on LinkedIn   View Andrew Rapp on LinkedIn    View Sherrod DeGrippo on LinkedIn   Microsoft at Black Hat USA 2025    Related Microsoft Podcasts:                    Afternoon Cyber Tea with Ann Johnson  The BlueHat Podcast  Uncovering Hidden Risks        Discover and follow other Microsoft podcasts at microsoft.com/podcasts     Get the latest threat intelligence insights and guidance at Microsoft Security Insider    The Microsoft Threat Intelligence Podcast is produced by Microsoft and distributed as part of N2K media network.