Introduction
As we move towards 2026, cybersecurity feels a bit like weather in the UK: unpredictable, fast-moving and occasionally dramatic enough to knock out your weekend’s plans. Attackers are using automation to scan the internet at frightening speed and AI tools are lowering the barrier for entry from organised crime groups.
The time between a vulnerability being announced and actively exploited is now, in some cases, measured in hours. Not days. Not weeks. Hours and Minutes!
That is why vulnerability management has shifted from “important housekeeping” to a strategic discipline. And this is where Microsoft Defender Vulnerability Management has really developed over the past year. It now gives you a much clearer view of your exposure, helps you prioritise what matters and, crucially, makes it harder for attackers to find the easy wins.
This blog takes you through what is new, how to use MDVM properly and how a Managed Service Provider (MSP) helps organisations move from reactive patching to confident, controlled vulnerability management.
What’s new in MDVM heading into 2026
Microsoft has tightened and polished MDVM throughout 2025. Here are the developments:
Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures
Every organisation has at least one legacy system running something mission-critical that no one wants to touch. MDVM now allows you to formally exclude very specific CVEs when you know risk is low.
An MSP’s role is to help clients document these decisions so that exceptions stay sensible and do not turn into blind spots.
Smarter exposure scoring based on actual business risk
Say your internal portal and an employee’s occasional-use laptop both have the same Chrome vulnerability, they are not equal risks. One could disrupt your whole organisation, the other is far less serious. MDVM now recognises that difference.
Fordway helps by setting up your asset groups properly so important systems like your internal portal stand out and low-priority devices do not distract from the issues that genuinely matter.
Better integration with Intune and Configuration Manager
Ever tried rolling out urgent updates, only to find that half your devices refuse to install them because the settings don’t match? MDVM now makes it much easier to see what has been patched and what has not.
Fordway improves this by sorting out your update rings, fixing baseline settings, streamlining hybrid patching and making sure updates actually reach every device they are supposed to.
Authenticated scanning deprecation is finally here
Legacy scanning methods are now behind us. Many organisations used 2025 to modernise while others have had to catch up quickly.
Fordway supports this by designing updated coverage models and making sure your onboarding process picks up every device, even those that are often missed or sit outside the usual management tools.
Better visibility across mixed estates
More people work from different devices, different countries and occasionally different coffee shops with questionable Wi-Fi. MDVM is now better at spotting unmanaged macOS, Linux and mobile devices.
Fordway adds governance reviews that highlight gaps so your estate does not quietly expand beyond your line of sight.
Dashboard walkthrough
MDVM is not just a dashboard. Used well, it is a decision-making engine. Here’s how we help IT Teams drive real change with it.
High-severity vulnerabilities can be buried without filtering
If you look at all devices at once, the signal-to-noise ratio can be terrible.
But when you filter by a specific asset group, critical vulnerabilities often become obvious.
This is genuinely one of the biggest practical benefits of the MDVM dashboard.
Watch your exposure score like a heartbeat
If the score suddenly jumps, something has changed. Earlier this year a major UK software supplier released an emergency patch after a flaw was found in their authentication service. Organisations using that system saw their exposure scores climb almost immediately. Those keeping an eye on the score spotted the spike within hours and were able to act before it became a wider issue.
The top software list exposes slow-burning problems
One client discovered that an entire regional office had been stuck on a legacy Chrome version for months due to a misconfigured Intune policy. MDVM surfaced that pattern instantly.
Use device deep dives for your most important systems
When the Outlook zero-day appeared in 2025, many organisations immediately checked individual devices to see if there were any signs of compromise. MDVM allowed them to do this quickly and clearly without trawling through logs or pulling data from multiple systems.
Track remediation properly
Fixing vulnerabilities is only half the battle. The rest is confirming everything is actually installed correctly. MDVM’s remediation tracking is gold when paired with Fordway’s patch orchestration across Intune and hybrid estates.
Patch triage playbook for 2026
Here is the approach we use with customers entering a more chaotic, AI-driven 2026.
Step 1. Identify your critical assets
Domain controllers. Payment platforms. HR systems. Customer data stores. These drive your priority. Fordway helps you map these so MDVM reflects actual business reality.
Step 2. If it’s being exploited, drop everything
Some CVEs jump straight into attacker toolkits. When the 2025 VPN gateway exploit appeared, attackers were scanning the internet within hours. Fordway alerts you when this happens and helps accelerate remediation.
Step 3. Look at the blast radius
One vulnerable server is a problem. Four hundred vulnerable laptops is a potential news story with your name in it. Fordway helps quantify scale and risk.
Step 4. Patch efficiently and validate
Applying patches is one thing. Confirming they applied everywhere is another. Fordway handles deployment and checks MDVM to ensure nothing got stuck.
Step 5. Exceptions are fine. Neglect is not.
Some systems genuinely cannot be patched immediately. Fordway helps document exceptions, assess compensating controls and plan the eventual fix.
Step 6. Weekly reviews keep you ahead
The organisations that thrive are those that review their dashboard regularly. Fordway provides monthly and quarterly governance reviews to keep everything on track.
Looking towards 2026
2026 is shaping up to be a year where attackers move even faster. We are expecting more rapid exploitation, more supply-chain compromises and a rise in cloud-native attacks. AI will continue to help attackers stitch vulnerabilities together, meaning that something which looks like a small issue today can quickly become part of a much bigger breach tomorrow.
Gartner’s latest guidance backs this up. Its Top Technology Trends for 2026 highlights pre-emptive cybersecurity, AI-driven defensive platforms and digital provenance as strategic priorities. In other words, security is shifting from reacting to issues to actively predicting and preventing them.
This is exactly where MDVM fits in. It gives you the visibility and context you need to stay ahead of emerging threats.
And this is where Fordway strengthens that foundation. We provide the expertise, structure and hands-on support that turn that visibility into actual resilience.
With Fordway, you gain:
• Practical remediation support when vulnerabilities need fixing fast
• Solid endpoint and cloud governance that keeps your estate under control
• Better use of your Microsoft 365 E5 licensing and its advanced security features
• Regular posture reviews so you continually improve rather than fire-fight
• A team that can step in quickly when something breaks or a threat emerges
• Confidence that your estate is monitored and heading in the right direction month by month
In short: MDVM shows you what needs fixing. Fordway helps you get it fixed.
