How Quickly do Threats leak from a Compromised AD into the Cloud?

• Post author:By Thijs Lecomte

As organizations move to the cloud, on-premises environments (and their security) are put in the background as the focus shifts to the cloud. Nevertheless, most organizations I know are in a hybrid scenario where the on-premises environment holds the master data and synchronizes everything into Azure Active Directory. This blog explores how an on-premises environment is connected to the cloud and how an attacker might move from on-premises to the cloud laterally.

• Active Directory

March 13, 2023

9 Comments

Use PowerShell to Look Up IP Address Geolocation Data

• Post author:By Tony Redmond

Many Microsoft 365 and Exchange Server logs contain IP addresses. To find out where the IP addresses come from and if they are internal or external, PowerShell developers can use online web-based geolocation services. It's important not to overuse the services because you could be throttled.

• PowerShell

March 13, 2023

Practical Protection: Keeping Track of Office Patch Updates

• Post author:By Paul Robichaux

Managing Office updates is one of those thankless tasks, like taking out the recycling, that is sometimes wearisome but contributes to making the world a better place. This article covers how you can keep track of these updates, and what can go wrong if you don't.

• Microsoft 365

March 8, 2023

10 Comments

Azure AD System-Preferred Authentication Policy

• Post author:By Tony Redmond

Azure AD system-preferred authentication means that users must use their strongest authentication method when they sign-into Azure AD. The change emphasizes the desirability of strong authentication methods over weak. Now in preview, Microsoft plans to make the policy effective for everyone in July 2023.

• Azure Active Directory

March 7, 2023

One comment

Free/Busy Sharing with Multiple Exchange Servers and Microsoft 365 Tenants

• Post author:By James Yip

My team has recently worked on some projects featuring multi-tenant and multi-Exchange environments. A common requirement for all projects is the ability to share free/busy information across all environments. In this article, I will dive into using free/busy sharing with Exchange/Microsoft 365 in the worldwide cloud. Sharing Free/Busy Information Let’s start with the obvious issues: […]

• Exchange Online

March 6, 2023

Exchange Online Connectors, Pay as you Go with Syntex, Viva Sales and new Teams experiences rolling out: Practical 365 Podcast S3 E22

• Post author:By Steve Goodman

On the show this week, find out what's happening with recent changes to Exchange Online that might cause a delay if you're setting up a fresh Hybrid environment; plus security recommendations for your on-premises Exchange environment. If you're getting into Viva Sales, we discuss what the new OpenAI GPT add-in does. Creepy or useful - you decide! Plus Microsoft Syntex's PAYG model goes live and Teams gets user experience changes that your users will certainly notice.

• Podcasts

March 3, 2023

11 Comments

Using Microsoft Translator with PowerShell for Automatic Translation of Sensitivity Labels

• Post author:By Tony Redmond

Sensitivity labels support local language values, meaning that you can translate the display name and tooltip for labels so that they appear in the language chosen by a user. Most people don't both because it's painfully slow to insert the translated strings for multiple languages. However, when you apply a mixture of PowerShell and the Microsoft Translator service, the task becomes so much easier.

• PowerShell

February 28, 2023

12 Comments

Using PowerShell to Generate a Report About Sensitivity Label Settings

• Post author:By Tony Redmond

You can manage sensitivity label settings through the Microsoft Purview compliance portal, but it's hard to see all the settings for labels in a consumable manner. This article describes how to use PowerShell to extract and report sensitivity label settings, including highlighting rights assignments that might be out of date. It's an example of just how useful PowerShell is to Microsoft 365 administrators.

• Microsoft 365

February 27, 2023

2 Comments

Practical Protection: Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hybrid

• Post author:By Paul Robichaux

Hybrid work is really a mixed blessing—while it offers a lot of fantastic benefits for people who are able to take advantage of it, it can introduce some new and unpleasant security issues that you need to be prepared to deal with. This article dives into these new risks and how you can avoid them.

• Azure Active Directory

February 23, 2023

The Prospect of Wiper Malware Attacks Against Microsoft 365 Tenants

• Post author:By Tony Redmond

Microsoft 365 Wiper malware is a category of threat where attackers penetrate a tenant and remove data. In this article, we discuss if Microsoft 365 Wiper malware could remove all the files from SharePoint Online sites and what actions tenant administrators can take to defend against the apps that might wreak such havoc.

• SharePoint Online

February 22, 2023

4 Comments

Migrating Passwords Without Using RC4 Encryption

• Post author:By Joe Sharmer

During migrations, one of the most asked for features is to synchronize a user’s password between the source and target environment. In this article, Joe Sharmer discusses a few methods for migrating passwords without RC4 Encryption.

• Active Directory

February 21, 2023

4 Comments

Five Things Microsoft 365 Security Administrators Should Do in 2023

• Post author:By Tony Redmond

Microsoft 365 security is a big topic. Focus is important when it comes to getting things done. In this article, we suggest five areas that administrators could work on during 2023 to improve the security posture of their tenant. You might already have established full control over some of these areas. Even if you have, it's still good to consider if you can improve security.

• Azure Active Directory

February 20, 2023