Microsoft named a leader in the Frost Radar for cloud and application runtime security

**Executive summary:** The document summarizes Frost & Sullivan’s 2026 CARS analysis, arguing that cloud security is evolving from isolated visibility and posture checks to a unified, code-to-cloud runtime risk management model that correlates posture, runtime, identity, data, and application signals; it positions Microsoft Defender for Cloud (with Defender XDR) as a visionary platform to prioritize exploitable attack paths, validate vulnerabilities in runtime, and streamline SOC workflows across multicloud and AI-powered environments.