Tag Archives: microsoft
Join the Viva Customer Showcase: Wallenius Wilhelmsen
Join us for the Viva Customer Showcase: Wallenius Wilhelmsen with Mitty Leong, the End User Experience Manager at Wallenius Wilhelmsen, as she unveils how WW uses Viva to drive their Copilot adoption. WW has seen early success in onboarding Copilot users, driving consistent and targeted messages, and has visibility into their Copilot adoption process by using the Copilot Dashboard. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insights into their early triumphs and learn how you can replicate their success.
Join us for the Viva Customer Showcase: Wallenius Wilhelmsen with Mitty Leong, the End User Experience Manager at Wallenius Wilhelmsen, as she unveils how WW uses Viva to drive their Copilot adoption. WW has seen early success in onboarding Copilot users, driving consistent and targeted messages, and has visibility into their Copilot adoption process by using the Copilot Dashboard. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insights into their early triumphs and learn how you can replicate their success. Read More
Custom Roles – Operating System Recovery Configurations, what is this?
Hi,
I’m working on creating a custom role for local device administrators. To this end I’m going through each permission and deciding on a case-by-case basis what to grant. I’ve come across this permission category in a few built-in roles, with the permissions listed as Assign Profiles, Create Profiles etc. The information box simply says these are for use on Operating System Recovery Profiles, but I cant find any information on what those are or what granting those permissions will allow. Can someone point me to a doc or a link to an explanation of what an Operating System Recovery Configuration or Profile is?
Thanks.
Hi,I’m working on creating a custom role for local device administrators. To this end I’m going through each permission and deciding on a case-by-case basis what to grant. I’ve come across this permission category in a few built-in roles, with the permissions listed as Assign Profiles, Create Profiles etc. The information box simply says these are for use on Operating System Recovery Profiles, but I cant find any information on what those are or what granting those permissions will allow. Can someone point me to a doc or a link to an explanation of what an Operating System Recovery Configuration or Profile is? Thanks. Read More
How can I make non-recurring meetings in Bookings?
I want to utilize Bookings to set up a way for people to schedule training sessions. They occur randomly and are non-recurring..
I want to utilize Bookings to set up a way for people to schedule training sessions. They occur randomly and are non-recurring.. Read More
Hybrid joined devices – convert to entra Joined
how to convert/migrate +5.000 devices/laptops from Hybrid joined devices to Entra joined Only devices (the users are not in scope) – so this is all about the devices and to get this working within a existing infrastructure.
Or can someone confirm there’s no conversion path for hybrid joined devices to Entra join only?
how to convert/migrate +5.000 devices/laptops from Hybrid joined devices to Entra joined Only devices (the users are not in scope) – so this is all about the devices and to get this working within a existing infrastructure. Or can someone confirm there’s no conversion path for hybrid joined devices to Entra join only? Read More
Win 32 App Failure
Hi,
I deployed BitDefender Gravity Zone as win 32 app around a year ago and when setting up laptop though autopilot or other means it has always installed never had any errors. However Recently without any changes to app it has started failing and I get the following error:
I have repackaged the app using ‘Microsoft-Win32-Content-Prep-Tool’ and uploaded the app onto intune again with the same settings and it still fails.
I have also been onto BitDefender website and followed the instructions on there as the uninstall and detection rules were different to what I originally had but still no success.
Install security agents – use cases (bitdefender.com)
When I used this method I get Unknown error code as it suggests to take out all the error codes on the link above
I have had to install this on the last couple of devices manually because of this, could anyone shed some light on how I would get this sorted.
Thanks
Hi, I deployed BitDefender Gravity Zone as win 32 app around a year ago and when setting up laptop though autopilot or other means it has always installed never had any errors. However Recently without any changes to app it has started failing and I get the following error: I have repackaged the app using ‘Microsoft-Win32-Content-Prep-Tool’ and uploaded the app onto intune again with the same settings and it still fails. I have also been onto BitDefender website and followed the instructions on there as the uninstall and detection rules were different to what I originally had but still no success. Install security agents – use cases (bitdefender.com) When I used this method I get Unknown error code as it suggests to take out all the error codes on the link above I have had to install this on the last couple of devices manually because of this, could anyone shed some light on how I would get this sorted. Thanks Read More
Ibid.
I’m using Word 365 version 2403 on Win 11. I’m writing a paper/book using the Turabian 9th edition style for my footnotes. However, I want to use Ibid. instead of restating the author’s name and article title. How do I edit this style to do that?
I’m using Word 365 version 2403 on Win 11. I’m writing a paper/book using the Turabian 9th edition style for my footnotes. However, I want to use Ibid. instead of restating the author’s name and article title. How do I edit this style to do that? Read More
Tech Talks Presents: Introducing Power Fx in desktop flows | Apr. 25th
Join us on Thursday, April 25th at 8am PT as James Papadimitriou, Sr. Product Manager presents Power Fx in desktop flows.
In this session, we’ll give a Power Fx in desktop flows overview – current state and next steps.
We hope you’ll join us!
Call to Action:
Click on the link to save the calendar invite: https://aka.ms/TechTalksInvite
View past recordings (sign in required): https://aka.ms/TechTalksRecording
Get started with the adoption tools here
Join us on Thursday, April 25th at 8am PT as James Papadimitriou, Sr. Product Manager presents Power Fx in desktop flows.
In this session, we’ll give a Power Fx in desktop flows overview – current state and next steps.
We hope you’ll join us!
Call to Action:
Click on the link to save the calendar invite: https://aka.ms/TechTalksInvite
View past recordings (sign in required): https://aka.ms/TechTalksRecording
Get started with the adoption tools here Read More
Change value of a cell based on the date in another cell.
Hello,
I am trying to set up an Excel sheet for work. In column E, there is a date for each row. If that cell’s date is less than or equal to one year from today’s date, I need it to change the value of column C to “1”. If it is greater than one year away, column C needs to be “2”
Is this possible to do?
Hello, I am trying to set up an Excel sheet for work. In column E, there is a date for each row. If that cell’s date is less than or equal to one year from today’s date, I need it to change the value of column C to “1”. If it is greater than one year away, column C needs to be “2” Is this possible to do? Read More
AI: A game-changer for the employee experience
On April 18th, I had the pleasure of speaking with Alexia Cambon (Senior Director of Research, Modern Work at Microsoft) about the impact that AI will have on us as employees.
This was a thought-provoking conversation, during which I shared some predictions on the topic from our Viva People Science team. These included how AI would impact our skills, our use of time, our need for more humanity and empathy amongst others.
Alexia shared fascinating research undertaken by her team, demonstrating the impact that AI is already having on saving us time and energy in our daily work lives, something that is hugely in deficit today. She presented us with the idea of AI as a ‘third work dimension’ alongside time and space, magnifying the potential impact it will have on how we work in the future. The conversation raised many questions about how organizations and leaders should think about AI, how we as employees and organizations should decide how our time savings are best used and allocated, and how this is likely to positively impact the employee experience.
In case you missed the live event, you can watch it HERE.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Microsoft celebrates Earth Month
What does a young workforce need to thrive in a new green economy?
The Green Skills Passport (GSP), launched by EY, Microsoft and UNICEF, is a free, on-demand learning program focused on sustainability, entrepreneurship and skills for employment. The program is part of INCO Academy’s mission to boost equality in future-driven industries.
With support from Microsoft and LinkedIn, INCO Academy is committed to equipping 40,000 professionals and jobseekers in non-green sectors and fields, especially digital and IT careers, with a complementary accelerated course that stacks green-specific competencies upon their experiences. Through this program, learners are empowered to build careers that can positively contribute to our evolving, greening economy.
INCO Academy aims to give everyone the ability to learn the skills to succeed in the digital economy. Since its founding, it’s helped thousands around the world unlock technical skills and reach their full potential through tech. It is more important than ever to upskill and reskill people for the jobs of the future, to ensure equitable opportunities can be accessed by all.
How can AI prevent wildlife crime?
Peace Parks Foundation uses AI solutions to protect, restore, and rewild south African ecosystems. Using funds secured through Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power BI, Peace Parks, in partnership with Microsoft partner Cloudlogic, developed technology to analyze camera trap activity and minimize the time rangers need to react to poachers.
New green learning pathways
Join Amy Luers, Global Director, Sustainability Science at Microsoft to learn about the promise of AI for sustainability now part of Career Essentials in Sustainable Tech by Microsoft and LinkedIn.
Environmental justice is social justice
On April 6, 2024, at J. Cole’s Dreamville Fest Nonprofit Village, The EARTHGANG Foundation, unveiled a new Microsoft-powered portal that centralizes global climate change data.
Based in Atlanta, GA, EARTHGANG raises awareness and promotes carbon reduction efforts in Black, Brown, and low-income communities where the impacts of climate change are felt most acutely.
Continue the conversation by joining us in the Nonprofit Community! Want to share best practices or join community events? Become a member by “Joining” the Nonprofit Community. To stay up to date on the latest nonprofit news, make sure to Follow or Subscribe to the Nonprofit Community Blog space!
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
About Talk Selection for POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2024
As promised in the CFP for POSETTE: An Event for Postgres 2024, all of the talk selection decisions were emailed out on April 17th. Our talk selection work has now concluded, with the possible exception of accepting proposals from the Reserve list.
So what’s next? First I want to thank all of you Postgres people who submitted such amazing talk proposals into the CFP for POSETTE, now in its 3rd year. I was so impressed by the submissions and wish we could have accepted more of them.
And I also want to thank Alicja Kucharczyk, Daniel Gustafsson, and Melanie Plageman from POSETTE’s Talk Selection Team for contributing their time and expertise to collaborate with me to select the talks for this year’s virtual POSETTE event. It’s not easy to carefully read through and review 184 talk proposals—in just 8 days—to come up with the program for an event like #PosetteConf.
That’s right, 184 talk proposals—from 120 unique speakers. (The CFP had a maximum of 4 submissions per speaker.) With just 38 talks to accept this year, that means POSETTE 2024 has a ~20% talk acceptance rate. Bottom line, we had some difficult decisions to make.
So many great talk proposals we had to lengthen the POSETTE schedule to make space
The original POSETTE plan for 2024 was to have 4 livestreams with 9 talks each. The math looked like this:
Each livestream would have:
1 invited keynote—not selected through the CFP talk selection process, but rather an invited keynote speaker
8 unique talks selected via the CFP process
Hence, 36 talks total:
32 talks selected via the CFP process + 4 unique keynotes
However, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that, we had to throw that math out the window. There were too many good talk proposals.
Luckily the talk production team led by Teresa Giacomini was able to rejigger their recording schedules to make room for 6 more talks.
So the final POSETTE 2024 schedule will have:
42 talks total: 38 talks selected via the CFP process + 4 unique keynotes
And yes, we’ve already started discussions to figure out how we could support more talks in the schedule next year, for POSETTE 2025.
Here is POSETTE’s “CFP hockey stick” as evidence that many are deadline driven
Below is a chart of the CFP submissions by Day, so those of you who are deadline driven (I’m guilty as charged too) will see you’re not alone. In fact, more than 50% of the talk proposals were submitted in the last week of the CFP.
Side-note: When a talk proposal was submitted had zero bearing on the talk selection process. We didn’t start reviewing and voting until after the CFP was closed and all proposals were in the system.
Transparency into talk selection for Postgres conferences
Transparency into the process used for talk selection can be helpful for Postgres conference speakers which is why I’m writing this post. And in particular, it helps to remind yourself that many of the Postgres conference CFPs are competitive. So if your talk proposal was one of the submissions that was declined (or placed on the reserve list) for this year’s POSETTE, please remember:
even the best speakers get rejected sometimes
even great talk proposals get rejected sometimes
don’t give up: please continue to submit your talk proposals—and if you want to be accepted in the future, do the work to get feedback, and make sure the submissions are on point for whatever each event is looking for
Speaking of which, there are probably some Postgres CFPs that are open right now! One big one that comes to mind is PGConf NYC 2024, happening in midtown Manhattan from Sep 30th to Oct 2nd 2024. The PGConf NYC 2024 CFP will be open until Jun 5th 2024.
About the 2-phase POSETTE talk selection process
Our talk selection team used a 2-phase process for doing talk selection.
During Phase 1
I sent the talk selection team guidance for talk selection, which was basically just a refresher about the CFP: what the goal of the event is, what types of talks and speakers we were looking for, reminders that new speakers are welcome, clarifying that it’s OK to accept a talk from a speaker who had spoken at a previous Citus Con… since after all, a good speaker is a good speaker.
We each (separately, individually) reviewed all 184 talk proposals, along with any other information and links the Speakers provided about the proposal in the Additional Notes sections and the Speaker Experience section.
We used the “Comparison evaluation method in Sessionize to rank 3 sessions at a time. This technique is based on the Elo rating system used in the world of chess. What’s good about it is that at any given point, you’re only looking at 3 proposals. You don’t have to remember how you voted on similar talk proposals 5 hours beforehand. Rather, at any point, you’re just ranking 3 talk proposals against each other.
After completing our Comparison Evaluation, we had a rough draft Phase 1 ranking to start applying holistic considerations to.
What’s a holistic consideration?
Holistic considerations are when we look at the “whole” of the schedule, and the desire to have a balanced and diverse set of topics, teaching styles, and speakers.
For example, we knew we wanted speakers from around the globe and didn’t want to accidentally end up with speakers from just one corner of the world.
And we knew we didn’t want 50% of the talks to be about AI in Postgres. But clearly AI is a hot topic, which is why there will be a handful of super-interesting talks about the role of AI in the Postgres ecosystem.
And we knew we wanted at least a few Postgres talks that were Django-focused or Rails-focused.
We also knew there is an expectation that Postgres experts who work at Microsoft will share their expertise at this event, particularly as it relates to the Azure managed services for PostgreSQL.
However, we also wanted to make space for Postgres users and open source community members outside of Microsoft too. After all, Postgres is a global community that spans countries, companies, and timezones! The final schedule is not yet published, but I predict that over 65% (or even 70%) of the sessions will have speakers from outside of Microsoft.
During Phase 2 of POSETTE talk selection
First I needed to know how many slots we had to fill, so I reached out to the POSETTE organizing team to find out whether we could accept more than the original plan for 32 talks! So glad they said yes and we were able to accept 38 talks.
I categorized the talk proposals in a spreadsheet so we could filter and view all of the Phase 1 rankings in a few different ways, to look at the holistic considerations. Then I made a few adjustments to balance the set of accepted talks—and delivered the Talk Selection Team a proposed draft of Phase 2 rankings, with all 184 of the talk proposals in the various states of Accept / Reserve / Decline DUP1 / Decline.
Phase 2 voting involved a ~3.5 hour meeting to decide on specific changes we each wanted to make to the final roster of accepted talks/speakers. To make a change to the Phase 2 rankings, we had to make a case for the change. As a team, we would discuss the proposed change, ask questions, advocate, and then vote. I abstained from voting during this part unless I was needed as a tie-breaker (but I did not abstain from discussion.) We did this over and over, about 12 times, until landing on the final schedule.
Thanks for all your CFP submissions!
Thank you again to everyone who submitted proposals into the CFP for POSETTE.
And big welcome to those of you whose talks are accepted to POSETTE. And to those of you whose talk proposals are on the Reserve list, we’ll reach out to you right away if a spot opens up in POSETTE for your proposal.
When will the POSETTE Schedule be announced?
As for the schedule, it gets announced on May 1st 2024. That’s when you’ll be able to see all the talks in each of the 4 livestreams for this year’s POSETTE: An Event for Postgres, happening virtually on Jun 11-13.
We hope you will be as excited about these speakers and these Postgres talks as we are.
In the meantime if you want to proactively mark your calendar for the livestreams which are most convenient for your schedule, here you go:
Add Livestream 1 to your calendar: Tue Jun 11, 2024 | 8:00am-1:30pm PDT (UTC-7)
Add Livestream 2 to your calendar: Wed Jun 12, 2024 | 8:00am-1:30pm CEST (UTC+2)
Add Livestream 3 to your calendar: Wed Jun 12, 2024 | 8:00am-1:30pm PDT (UTC-7)
Add Livestream 4 to your calendar: Thu Jun 13, 2024 | 8:00am-1:30pm CEST (UTC+2)
You can also subscribe to POSETTE news if you want email notifications as things happen, such as when the schedule is announced or when the videos are published, or when next year’s event is announced and the CFP opens for 2025.
And of course you can always follow @PosetteConf on Threads or on X/Twitter, or on Mastodon by following @posetteconf@mastodon.social. The event hashtag is #PosetteConf.
Shout-out to transparency from other Postgres program committees
Several other PostgreSQL events this year have also shared info about their CFP submissions and talk selection processes. A few recent examples:
PGConf.dev 2024: I loved this blog post by Paul Ramsey about Building the PGConf.dev Programme about how the PGConf.dev talk selection was done, to pick 33 talks out of over 180 submissions.
pgDay Paris 2024 Program committee feedback: This PDF from the pgDay Paris 2024 program committee also sheds light into the talk selection process used to pick 12 talks out of 116 CFP submissions. A daunting task I’m sure.
PGConf.EU 2023: During the “So long and thanks for all the fish” session at the very end of PGConf.EU 2023 in Prague, Dave Page and Magnus Hagander put a slide up on the big screen that showed the number of CFP submissions by day over the course of the CFP, from CFP open to CFP close—not just for the 2023 event, but for every PGConf.EU since 20092. As you might imagine, the number of talk proposals has grown over the years commensurate with the size of PGConf.EU: The 2023 conference had over 360 submissions. With just 51 talks accepted, that’s a ~14% acceptance rate for PGConf.EU 2023.
Footnotes
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Disconnects and limited functionality messages when using DNS servers with DOH enabled
Hello everyone,
For some time now, two DNS servers with DOH enabled have been added to our company’s local network.
Both servers are equipped with a valid SSL certificate issued by a trusted certificate authority.
However, if we use our Windows 11 clients with DOH enabled on DNS we encounter some anomalous behavior with Microsoft 365 components.
For example:
1) When started, the OneDrive client does not connect and remains in “connecting”. If you try to unlink your company account and re-enter it you receive a proxy error 2606
2) A message appears on Teams saying that the program can be used but some features are limited due to communication problems with the servers
3) Outlook shows the inbox correctly but if you open a new message the text does not load in the window
By deactivating the DOH everything works again.
No other problems have been reported with other software or with normal web browsing
Both DNS have both Google and Cloudlfare public DNS as forwarders.
Both local DNS are running Bind9 updated to the latest version/build.
Hello everyone,For some time now, two DNS servers with DOH enabled have been added to our company’s local network.Both servers are equipped with a valid SSL certificate issued by a trusted certificate authority.However, if we use our Windows 11 clients with DOH enabled on DNS we encounter some anomalous behavior with Microsoft 365 components.For example: 1) When started, the OneDrive client does not connect and remains in “connecting”. If you try to unlink your company account and re-enter it you receive a proxy error 2606 2) A message appears on Teams saying that the program can be used but some features are limited due to communication problems with the servers 3) Outlook shows the inbox correctly but if you open a new message the text does not load in the windowBy deactivating the DOH everything works again.No other problems have been reported with other software or with normal web browsingBoth DNS have both Google and Cloudlfare public DNS as forwarders.Both local DNS are running Bind9 updated to the latest version/build. Read More
New Blog | Trusted Signing is in Public Preview
By Rakia Segev
Trusted Signing has launched into Public Preview! The Trusted Signing service (formerly Azure Code Signing) is a Microsoft fully managed end-to-end signing solution for developers.
What is the Trusted Signing service?
Trusted Signing is a complete code signing service with an intuitive experience for developers and IT professionals, backed by a Microsoft managed certification authority. The service supports both public and private trust signing scenarios and includes a timestamping service. With Trusted Signing, users enjoy a productive, performant, and delightful experience on Windows with modern security protection features enabled such as Smart App Control and SmartScreen.
The service offers several key features that make signing easy:
We manage the full certificate lifecycle – generation, renewal, issuance – and key storage that is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 HSMs. The certificates are short lived certificates, which helps reduce the impact on your customers in abuse or misuse scenarios.
We have integrated into popular developer toolsets such as SignTool.exe and GitHub and Visual Studio experiences for CI/CD pipelines enabling signing to easily integrate into application build workflows. For Private Trust, there is also PowerShell cmdlets for IT Pros to sign WDAC policy and future integrations with IT endpoint management solutions.
Signing is digest signing, meaning it is fast and confidential – your files never leave your endpoint.
We have support for different certificate profile types including Public Trust, Private Trust, and Test with more coming soon!
Trusted Signing enables easy resource management and access control for all signing resources with Azure role-based access control as an Azure native resource.
To learn more about the service go to: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/trusted-signing.
Read the full post here: Trusted Signing is in Public Preview
By Rakia Segev
Trusted Signing has launched into Public Preview! The Trusted Signing service (formerly Azure Code Signing) is a Microsoft fully managed end-to-end signing solution for developers.
What is the Trusted Signing service?
Trusted Signing is a complete code signing service with an intuitive experience for developers and IT professionals, backed by a Microsoft managed certification authority. The service supports both public and private trust signing scenarios and includes a timestamping service. With Trusted Signing, users enjoy a productive, performant, and delightful experience on Windows with modern security protection features enabled such as Smart App Control and SmartScreen.
The service offers several key features that make signing easy:
We manage the full certificate lifecycle – generation, renewal, issuance – and key storage that is FIPS 140-2 Level 3 HSMs. The certificates are short lived certificates, which helps reduce the impact on your customers in abuse or misuse scenarios.
We have integrated into popular developer toolsets such as SignTool.exe and GitHub and Visual Studio experiences for CI/CD pipelines enabling signing to easily integrate into application build workflows. For Private Trust, there is also PowerShell cmdlets for IT Pros to sign WDAC policy and future integrations with IT endpoint management solutions.
Signing is digest signing, meaning it is fast and confidential – your files never leave your endpoint.
We have support for different certificate profile types including Public Trust, Private Trust, and Test with more coming soon!
Trusted Signing enables easy resource management and access control for all signing resources with Azure role-based access control as an Azure native resource.
To learn more about the service go to: https://learn.microsoft.com/azure/trusted-signing.
Figure 1: Creating a Trusted Signing Account
Read the full post here: Trusted Signing is in Public Preview
New Blog | Microsoft Events RSAConference 2024
By Quy Nguyen
Join us at the Microsoft Security Leaders Lounge at RSAC
Are you gearing up for RSAC 2024? As the excitement builds for this year’s cybersecurity event in San Francisco, California, we at Microsoft have some exciting news to share! Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a first-time attendee, make sure to mark your calendars and join us at the Microsoft Security Leaders Lounge. We have a lineup of compelling events planned, including an executive panel on threat intelligence, discussions on AI safety, insights into Zero Trust for AI learning, and much more. These are just a few of the topics we’ll explore at the Microsoft Security Hub @ the Palace Hotel. Don’t miss out on these opportunities to network, learn, and engage with industry experts.
Join us for various sessions from May 6th to May 8th and select the session that best fits your interests. You can find several sessions listed below and we look forward to seeing you there!
Threat intelligence trends and insights breakfast panel
Hear from our Microsoft Threat Intelligence panel of experts: Sherrod DeGrippo, Amy Hogan-Burney, Fanta Orr, and Jeremy Dallman as they share insights on the threats, they are seeing from analyzing 78 trillion signals daily and learn how to stay ahead of ransomware, social engineering, nation state attacks, and cyber influence operations.
(May 7th, 8:00AM – 9:15AM)
Read the full post here: Microsoft Events RSAConference 2024
By Quy Nguyen
Join us at the Microsoft Security Leaders Lounge at RSAC
Are you gearing up for RSAC 2024? As the excitement builds for this year’s cybersecurity event in San Francisco, California, we at Microsoft have some exciting news to share! Whether you’re a seasoned veteran or a first-time attendee, make sure to mark your calendars and join us at the Microsoft Security Leaders Lounge. We have a lineup of compelling events planned, including an executive panel on threat intelligence, discussions on AI safety, insights into Zero Trust for AI learning, and much more. These are just a few of the topics we’ll explore at the Microsoft Security Hub @ the Palace Hotel. Don’t miss out on these opportunities to network, learn, and engage with industry experts.
Join us for various sessions from May 6th to May 8th and select the session that best fits your interests. You can find several sessions listed below and we look forward to seeing you there!
Threat intelligence trends and insights breakfast panel
Hear from our Microsoft Threat Intelligence panel of experts: Sherrod DeGrippo, Amy Hogan-Burney, Fanta Orr, and Jeremy Dallman as they share insights on the threats, they are seeing from analyzing 78 trillion signals daily and learn how to stay ahead of ransomware, social engineering, nation state attacks, and cyber influence operations.
(May 7th, 8:00AM – 9:15AM)
Read the full post here: Microsoft Events RSAConference 2024
New Blog | Expanding privacy protection in Microsoft Defender for individuals
By Ashwin PR
At Microsoft, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. Our apps and solutions are centered around privacy and the latest addition to Microsoft Defender for individuals1 is the inclusion of privacy protection2 that helps protect your privacy when browsing online or on public Wi-Fi.
Privacy protection expansion
Late last year we launched privacy protection on Android to our United States-based users. Today, we are adding privacy protection to iOS in the US and United Kingdom and extending current privacy protection on Android to the United Kingdom. Privacy protection is coming soon to Windows and macOS as well and will be available in more regions in the coming months.
Microsoft Defender is available exclusively with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.
Advertisers target you with ads based on your browsing location by capturing your IP address/location to improve their targeting. Your location is amongst many tracking mechanisms used to digitally profile you.
And, we are often on-the-go; be it coffee shops, airports, hotels, or everywhere else. And we want to stay connected. Wi-Fi is free and convenient to use which also means hackers may exploit it. Unsecure Wi-Fi comes with its own risks where hackers may gain access to your personal and sensitive data. There is no guarantee that public Wi-Fi hotspots are always safe to connect to. Here are a few examples of attacks that show how public Wi-Fi hotspots can compromise your privacy and security.
Read the full post here: Expanding privacy protection in Microsoft Defender for individuals
By Ashwin PR
Figure 1: Privacy protection/VPN
At Microsoft, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. Our apps and solutions are centered around privacy and the latest addition to Microsoft Defender for individuals1 is the inclusion of privacy protection2 that helps protect your privacy when browsing online or on public Wi-Fi.
Privacy protection expansion
Late last year we launched privacy protection on Android to our United States-based users. Today, we are adding privacy protection to iOS in the US and United Kingdom and extending current privacy protection on Android to the United Kingdom. Privacy protection is coming soon to Windows and macOS as well and will be available in more regions in the coming months.
Microsoft Defender is available exclusively with a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.
Advertisers target you with ads based on your browsing location by capturing your IP address/location to improve their targeting. Your location is amongst many tracking mechanisms used to digitally profile you.
And, we are often on-the-go; be it coffee shops, airports, hotels, or everywhere else. And we want to stay connected. Wi-Fi is free and convenient to use which also means hackers may exploit it. Unsecure Wi-Fi comes with its own risks where hackers may gain access to your personal and sensitive data. There is no guarantee that public Wi-Fi hotspots are always safe to connect to. Here are a few examples of attacks that show how public Wi-Fi hotspots can compromise your privacy and security.
Read the full post here: Expanding privacy protection in Microsoft Defender for individuals
MDE onboarding issues with proxy configuration
Hello Everyone,
We’re currently in the process of onboarding MDE via scripts on several Windows 10 and 11 PCs. These PCs have proxies configured in Settings > Network & internet > Proxy > Manual proxy setup. Additionally, they have a 3rd party EDR solution active.
While the onboarding scripts run without errors, the devices aren’t appearing online in the defender portal under Assets. Upon running the Analyzer tool, we identified communication errors. Unfortunately, we couldn’t utilize PSExec due to restrictions imposed by the 3rd party EDR.
Here are the areas where we need guidance:
1. Is the proxy configuration method correct? Does it ensure that all traffic initiated from the PC passes through the proxy, including Defender for Endpoint traffic?
2. What’s the ideal proxy configuration method for Windows?
3. Since we can’t use Powershell or PSExec, is there an alternative method to check Defender version and service status?
4. Should we exempt the path “C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindows Defender Advanced Threat Protection” and allow Powershell scripts from this location?
5. Will allowing all the URLs provided by Microsoft in the Excel file ensure full functionality of MDE? Can we allow based on IP with Proxy setup instead of URLs?
6. Is it necessary to exempt the processes used by MDE in Windows 10 and 11 from the 3rd party EDR?
Awaiting your valuable insights and assistance on these queries.
Thanks in advance.
Hello Everyone,We’re currently in the process of onboarding MDE via scripts on several Windows 10 and 11 PCs. These PCs have proxies configured in Settings > Network & internet > Proxy > Manual proxy setup. Additionally, they have a 3rd party EDR solution active.While the onboarding scripts run without errors, the devices aren’t appearing online in the defender portal under Assets. Upon running the Analyzer tool, we identified communication errors. Unfortunately, we couldn’t utilize PSExec due to restrictions imposed by the 3rd party EDR.Here are the areas where we need guidance:1. Is the proxy configuration method correct? Does it ensure that all traffic initiated from the PC passes through the proxy, including Defender for Endpoint traffic?2. What’s the ideal proxy configuration method for Windows?3. Since we can’t use Powershell or PSExec, is there an alternative method to check Defender version and service status?4. Should we exempt the path “C:ProgramDataMicrosoftWindows Defender Advanced Threat Protection” and allow Powershell scripts from this location?5. Will allowing all the URLs provided by Microsoft in the Excel file ensure full functionality of MDE? Can we allow based on IP with Proxy setup instead of URLs?6. Is it necessary to exempt the processes used by MDE in Windows 10 and 11 from the 3rd party EDR?Awaiting your valuable insights and assistance on these queries.Thanks in advance. Read More
London Reactor Founders Breakfast Club – April 2024
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for joining our first Founders Breakfast Club, dedicated to Microsoft for Startup members! We hope you enjoyed the event and found it useful networking amongst like minded individuals.
This is a new event we are running and we want YOUR help to shape it! Let us know what you think using this form – https://forms.office.com/r/Psp8776u8t
Below you can find the resources shared throughout the event and the contact information of the speakers.
Resources:
Want to attend events? Visit our Reactor Website: https://aka.ms/ReactorWeb
Join our community Meetup group: https://aka.ms/ReactorLDNmeetup
Watch all of our Live and On-Demand content on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MicrosoftReactor
Speaker contacts:
Microsoft for Startups
Microsoft Reactor
Rav Khokhar – Program Manager
HSBC Innovation Banking
Expert Network
Liam Hampton – Senior Cloud Advocate & Software Engineer
Chris Noring – Senior Cloud Advocate & Software Engineer
Hey Everyone!
Thanks for joining our first Founders Breakfast Club, dedicated to Microsoft for Startup members! We hope you enjoyed the event and found it useful networking amongst like minded individuals.
This is a new event we are running and we want YOUR help to shape it! Let us know what you think using this form – https://forms.office.com/r/Psp8776u8t
Below you can find the resources shared throughout the event and the contact information of the speakers.
Resources:
Want to attend events? Visit our Reactor Website: https://aka.ms/ReactorWeb
Join our community Meetup group: https://aka.ms/ReactorLDNmeetup
Watch all of our Live and On-Demand content on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MicrosoftReactor
Speaker contacts:
Microsoft for Startups
Anne-Claire Lo Bianco
Microsoft Reactor
Rav Khokhar – Program Manager
HSBC Innovation Banking
Kofi Siaw
Expert Network
Liam Hampton – Senior Cloud Advocate & Software Engineer
Chris Noring – Senior Cloud Advocate & Software Engineer Read More
Azure Orphan Resources Grafana Dashboard
In cloud computing, it is crucial to follow best practices when building a reliable, high-performing, and secure environment. However, it is equally important to implement a strategy aimed at reducing the total cost of ownership. In this context, this Grafana dashboard offers a centralized view of Azure orphan resources that can be safely removed. By identifying and removing these unnecessary resources, you can effectively decrease the overall cost associated with maintaining their Azure subscriptions and increase the operational efficiency. You can find the Grafana dashboard under this GitHub repository.
This dashboard is influenced by the Azure Orphaned Resources 2.0 project developed by my colleague Dolev Shor. It incorporates and integrates some of the queries he designed for his Azure workbook, which can be created and utilized within the Azure Portal. You can refer to the Azure workbook documentation to learn more about creating and utilizing workbooks in the Azure Portal.
You can host the Grafana dashboard in Azure Managed Grafana, your own Grafana installation in an AKS cluster, or any Kubernetes cluster with access to the public internet.
The dashboard performs a series of queries using the Kusto Query Language and Azure Resource Graph to individuate unused, orphan resources that can be safely removed from your Azure subscriptions without impacting the operability of your cloud hosted workloads. Azure Resource Graph is an Azure service designed to extend Azure Resource Management by providing efficient and performant resource exploration with the ability to query at scale across a given set of subscriptions so that you can effectively govern your environment.
For more information Azure Resource Graph, you can refer to the following links:
Azure Resource Graph Overview
Query Resource Changes
Here is the list of the resources currently supported by the dashboard:
App Service Plans
App Service Environments
Availability Sets
Managed Disks
Load Balancers
Route Tables
Application Gateways
Application Gateway WAF Policies
Front Door WAF Policies
Traffic Manager Profiles
Virtual Networks
Subnets
Network Interfaces
Virtual Network Gateways
Network Security Groups
NAT Gateways
Public IP Addresses
Public IP Prefixes
IP Groups
Private DNS Zones
Private Endpoints
Private Link Services
SQL Elastic Pools
Resource Groups
Please note that all the resources mentioned above come with an associated cost. Some resources like Availability Sets, Route Tables, Subnets, IP Groups, and Resource Groups are available free of charge.
To import the dashboard into Azure Managed Grafana, follow these steps:
Go to the Azure Portal and navigate to your Azure Managed Grafana resource.
Click Identity under Settings.
Ensure that the system-assigned managed identity is enabled.
Click on the Azure role assignments button.
Assign the Monitoring Reader role to the Grafana managed identity, scoped to your Azure subscription or Management Group.
Click on the Endpoint URL on the Overview page of your Azure Managed Grafana resource.
In the Grafana dashboard, go to Connections and ensure that you have an Azure Monitor datasource. If not, create one and select Managed Identity as the authentication mechanism.
Click on the Load subscriptions button to test the data source.
Go to Dashboards, click on New, and then select Import.
Upload the dashboard JSON file or copy and paste the JSON code into the textbox, then click the Load button.
Choose a category for the dashboard and click the Import button. Upload Dashboard to Azure Managed Grafana
Before importing the dashboard into your own Grafana installation, you need to create a service principal under your Microsoft Azure AD account and assign the Monitoring Reader role to it. Once done, follow these steps:
In the Grafana dashboard, go to Connections and ensure that you have an Azure Monitor datasource. If not, create one and specify the tenant id, client Id, and client secret of your service princiapl as shown in the following picture:
Click on the Load subscriptions button to test the data source.
Go to Dashboards, click on New, and then select Import.
Upload the dashboard JSON file or copy and paste the JSON code into the textbox, then click the Load button.
Choose a category for the dashboard and click the Import button.
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Cursos de Python, Dados, IA e GitHub para Mulheres
Você é mulher e tem interesse em programação, análise de dados, inteligência artificial ou outras áreas da tecnologia? Se sim, esta é a sua oportunidade para adquirir novas habilidades e se preparar para o mercado de trabalho. A WoMakersCode, a maior comunidade de mulheres na tecnologia da América Latina, está com inscrições abertas para 10 mil bolsas de estudos em cursos online gratuitos, projetados para mulheres que querem iniciar ou avançar na carreira de tecnologia.
Sobre as bolsas de estudos
As bolsas de estudos são fruto de parcerias da WoMakersCode com a Microsoft, iFood e GitHub, que apoiam iniciativas de formação técnica e empregabilidade para impulsionar mais mulheres na tecnologia. As bolsas são divididas em quatro programas:
Mentoria em Inteligência Artificial (#ElasNaIA) – 5 mil bolsas de estudos
Descubra o mundo da Inteligência Artificial com nosso programa de mentoria de 3 semanas. Cobrimos temas como Machine Learning, IA Generativa, Inteligência Artificial Responsável, e muito mais. As alunas de destaque receberão um voucher para a certificação AI-900 da Microsoft.
Pré-requisitos: Conhecimentos básicos em computação em nuvem, lógica de programação e Python.
Se interessou? Faça sua inscrição até 3 de maio!
Mentoria em GitHub (#GitHub4Women) – 5 mil bolsas de estudos
Mergulhe no universo do GitHub com nosso programa de mentoria de 5 semanas. Durante esse período, você aprenderá sobre GitHub, Codespaces, GitHub Copilot e se preparará para a certificação GitHub Fundamentals. As alunas de destaque receberão um voucher para a certificação GitHub Foundations do GitHub.
Pré-requisitos: Conhecimentos básicos em computação em nuvem, controle de versão (Git e/ou GitHub) e programação.
Se interessou? Faça sua inscrição até 10 de maio!
Programa de Formação em Análise de Dados (Data Analytics) – 150 bolsas de estudos
Descubra as possibilidades no campo da análise de dados com o nosso programa de formação abrangente, com uma duração de 6,5 meses. Este curso é dedicado a explorar as nuances da análise de dados, abrangendo uma ampla gama de tópicos essenciais, como banco de dados, Python, estatística, computação em nuvem, business intelligence e muito mais. O curso conta com apoio de iFood, Potência Tech e Microsoft.
Pré-requisitos: Para participar, é necessário possuir conhecimentos básicos em lógica de programação e Python.
Se interessou? Faça sua inscrição!
Programa de Formação em Desenvolvimento Back-end Python – 70 bolsas de estudos
Explore o vasto universo do desenvolvimento back-end Python em nosso programa de formação intensivo, com duração de 4,5 meses. Este curso abrange habilidades essenciais em Python, Django, Flask, FastAPI e outras tecnologias de ponta, proporcionando uma base sólida para uma carreira como desenvolvedora back-end. O curso conta com apoio de iFood, Potência Tech e Microsoft.
Pré-requisitos: Para participar, é necessário possuir conhecimentos básicos em lógica de programação e GitHub.
Se interessou? Faça sua inscrição!
Quem pode participar?
Para participar dos programas de formação, é preciso ser mulher (cisgênero ou transgênero), ter mais de 18 anos e residir no Brasil. Além disso, é necessário ter acesso à internet e a um computador para acompanhar as aulas e realizar as atividades. Não é preciso ter experiência profissional prévia na área de tecnologia, apenas os conhecimentos básicos indicados em cada curso e ter disposição e curiosidade para aprender.
Por que as bolsas de estudos são para mulheres?
As mulheres ainda são minoria no mercado de tecnologia no Brasil, ocupando apenas 39% dos cargos na área. Para mudar essa realidade, é preciso enfrentar os diversos obstáculos que dificultam o acesso e a permanência das mulheres nesse campo, tais como: a baixa representatividade de mulheres em posições de liderança e referência; a escassez de oportunidades de educação profissionalizante e de incentivo à inovação; e a discriminação por gênero, idade ou raça, que afeta especialmente as mulheres negras.
E se eu não tiver os conhecimentos básicos de cada curso? Nunca é tarde para começar!
No Microsoft Learn, você encontrará vários cursos gratuitos e que poderão te dar os conhecimentos necessários para participar do processo seletivo:
Python para Iniciantes
Introdução ao GitHub
Introdução a Computação em Nuvem e Azure
Microsoft Tech Community – Latest Blogs –Read More
Entra Global Secure Access/ Internet Access
We have apps in Azure and AWS. These cloud apps are IP restricted. Staff can only access these apps if they’re working in the office or connected to the office VPN (ie: traffic is proxy’d over the vpn and out through the office wan ip).
Rather than VPN, could we use ‘Entra Internet Access’ to allow remote users access to these Azure/AWS cloud apps? Is that possible and if so, would we need to install the Global Secure Access connectors in Azure and AWS or is there some kind of shared egress IP we can use and whitelist in Azure/AWS?
We have apps in Azure and AWS. These cloud apps are IP restricted. Staff can only access these apps if they’re working in the office or connected to the office VPN (ie: traffic is proxy’d over the vpn and out through the office wan ip). Rather than VPN, could we use ‘Entra Internet Access’ to allow remote users access to these Azure/AWS cloud apps? Is that possible and if so, would we need to install the Global Secure Access connectors in Azure and AWS or is there some kind of shared egress IP we can use and whitelist in Azure/AWS? Read More