In this week’s newsletter
Zoom news. Alternatives to Zoom. Slack to embrace & extend. Remote learning pains parents. TLS 1.0/11 deprecation postponed. Let’s rebrand everything 365 times a year! How to make a face mask. Old programming languages never die. TechGenix articles on remotework. Plus lots more — read it all, read it here on WServerNews!
Enjoy this week’s newsletter and feel free to send us feedback on any of the topics we’ve covered — we love hearing from our readers!
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Editor’s Corner
OK the last two weeks have been crazy with businesses and schools and universities switching to online collaboration tools to try and keep things going. For some reason — don’t know why — Zoom seems to have quickly become the platform of choice for doing remote work and distance teaching. Then suddenly Zoom comes under the microscope of security researchers and flaw — real and apparent — are uncovered in its technology and default configuration. Zoom’s stock value surges and quickly declines. Money changes hands and some get rich while others lose their shirt.
Well maybe it hasn’t been *that* crazy, but trying to stay on top of everything Zoom-related in the tech news media has been difficult. So after wading through a ton of news items, articles and blog posts, here are a few you should take a look at if you’re thinking about USING (or have already deployed) Zoom for your organization:
‘War Dialing’ Tool Exposes Zoom’s Password Problems (Krebs on Security)
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/04/war-dialing-tool-exposes-zooms-password-problems/
Security and Privacy Implications of Zoom (Schneier on Security)
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2020/04/security_and_pr_1.html
Move Fast and Roll Your Own Crypto: A Quick Look at the Confidentiality of Zoom Meetings (The Citizen Lab)
Concerning the previous article from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab that examined Zoom’s encryption and found it may be routing some sensitive information through servers in China, you can read Zoom’s response here:
which seems pretty reasonable to me.
Another site to keep your eye on is Zoom’s own security page here for any announcements of changes to the platform’s security features and default settings:
and if you’re a Zoom customer then you’ve likely already received the following email from them:
So despite what the naysayers are saying, it does seem to me that Zoom is taking these security concerns pretty seriously and are implementing changes that make their platform more secure by default.
What about you? Does your workplace use Zoom for remote work or meetings with clients? Are you using Zoom for delivering support to your own customers? Let us know: [email protected]
Alternatives to Zoom
Of course there are alternatives out there to using Zoom if your business or organization needs to do secure video calls. Some of the more well-known free ones include Skype, FaceTime, Signal, WhatsApp, and so on. And for business use you have Google Hangouts Meet, Zoho Meetings, GoToMeeting, Cisco Webex Meetings, join.me, TeamViewer, Jitsi Meet, StarLeaf, Talky, 8×8 and many more. The one you choose depends on what kind of features you are looking for e.g. group meetings, locks on virtual rooms, encryption algorithm, cost per seat and so on. What other platforms besides Zoom are our readers using? Why? Email us at [email protected]
And now on to some other stuff…
Slack to embrace & extend
Remember Microsoft’s perported business strategy of embrace, extend and extinguish? Just like Gordon Gekko’s “Greed is good” saying of the 80s ended up becoming an accepted axiom during the dot-com era, maybe Microsoft’s EEE strategy is also becoming the norm nowadays for most tech companies:
Slack launches call integrations for Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and more (The Verge)
Remote learning pains parents
Not every parent is happy about schools moving entirely online because of the virus:
Remote learning is turning out to be a burden for parents (New York Post)
https://nypost.com/2020/03/29/remote-learning-is-turning-out-to-be-a-burden-for-parents/
I’ll bet some of our readers can sympathize with this. Any takers? Email us at [email protected]
TLS 1.0/11 deprecation postponed
A sensible step from Microsoft to ease the burden enterprise admins face during these trying times:
Microsoft postpones TLS 1.0 and 1.1 deprecation to second half of 2020 (ghacks.net)
Let’s rebrand everything 365 times a year!
And finally in case you missed it, Microsoft recently sent out this email to its Office 365 customers:
Office 365 is becoming Microsoft 365
New name, same great value, same price.
Don’t worry-you don’t need to do a thing. Your product services, apps, and features will stay the same, along with the price. Your subscription name will update automatically in the admin center and your monthly billing statements on or after April 21, 2020.
Office 365 Business Essentials is now Microsoft 365 Business Basic
Office 365 Business Premium is now Microsoft 365 Business Standard
Microsoft 365 Business is now Microsoft 365 Business Premium
Office 365 Business is now Microsoft 365 Apps for business
Office 365 ProPlus is now Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise
Wonderful. What will they think of next — rebrand Windows as Doors?
Got more thoughts about anything in this newsletter?
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Tip of the Week
>> Got any IT pro tips you’d like to share with other readers of our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]
How to make a face mask
Found this somewhere on DaringFireball last week:
Ragmask: an ultra-simple, fast-to-make, great-fitting mask
The PDF is easy to follow and helpful if you haven’t been able to buy any surgical masks for yourself during this pandemic.
Admin Toolbox
>> Got any admin tools or software you’d like to recommend to our readers? Email us at [email protected]
The native reports of Office 365 do not allow you to measure the individual messaging activity of your users. Promodag Reports can do it, download a trial version!
http://www.wservernews.com/go/arq2e67h/
T.S.T. the T-SQL Test Tool simplifies the task of writing and running test automation for T-SQL code:
Wireless Network Watcher is a compact NirSoft tool which can scan your network and report on everything that’s currently connected:
http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/23740-wireless_network_watcher
Homedale is a portable free tool which detects nearby wireless access points, displays their details, and plots signal strength over time:
http://www.downloadcrew.com/article/32173-homedale
Factoid – Old programming languages never die
We’re still waiting for responses to last week’s factoid but we know everyone is busy trying to ramp up secure remotework solutions at tier company, so let’s move on to this week’s factoid:
Fact: Old programming languages never die, they just keep on supporting critical infrastructure indefinitely, right?
Source: https://hillelwayne.com/post/influential-dead-languages/
Question: How many of these ten influential but mostly dead programming languages have you programmed with during your IT career? I count four for myself: ALGOL, APL, BASIC and COBOL. That was years ago however when I was studying Physics during my university years. Can anyone beat that? Do I hear five? Six? Hello, World??
Email your answers to [email protected]
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Conference calendar
NOTE: Because of the concerns surrounding the COVID-19 situation some of these conferences may be moved online or even cancelled. Please check the conference websites for the latest updates.
>> Got an IT conference or event happening that you’d like to promote in our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]
Microsoft Business Applications Summit
April 20-21, 2020 in Anaheim, California
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/BusinessApplicationsSummit
Microsoft Build
May 19-21, 2020 in Seattle, Washington
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/build
Microsoft Inspire
July 20-24, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada
https://partner.microsoft.com/en-us/inspire
Microsoft Licensing Boot Camps
For dates and locations see https://www.directionsonmicrosoft.com/training
Cyber Security Summits
For dates and locations see https://cybersummitusa.com/summits/
Other conferences
SharePoint Fest – April 13-17 in Washington DC
https://www.sharepointfest.com/DC/
Future Tech Summit – May 15 in Santiago, Chile
https://www.collabsummit.eu/en/
PowerShell Conference Europe – June 2-5 in Hannover, Germany
European Collaboration Summit – June 8-10 in Wiesbaden, Germany
https://www.collabsummit.eu/en/
Evolve – June 8-10 in Las Vegas
https://evolvetechconference.com/
RSA Conference Asia Pacific & Japan – July 14-16 in Singapore
https://www.rsaconference.com/apj
VMworld – Aug 30 – Sept 3 in San Francisco
https://www.vmworld.com/en/us/index.html
Interop – Sept 21-24 in Austin, Texas
European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference (ESPC20) – Nov 9-12, 2020 in Amsterdam
https://www.sharepointeurope.com/
DevOpsCon – Nov 30 – Dec 3 in Munich, Germany
Podcast Corner
Information Technology in the Time of Pandemic (RunAsRadio)
Site Recovery Manager 8.3 (Virtually Speaking)
https://www.vspeakingpodcast.com/
SMB Wi-Fi – EnGenius Cloud (Clear To Send)
Working from home with Sarah Lean (Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast)
https://www.msclouditpropodcast.com/
Trying to Focus on the Less Viral News (Microsoft Cloud Show)
http://www.microsoftcloudshow.com/podcast
In Case of Hassles, Break Glass (Windows Insider)
https://insider.windows.com/en-us/podcasts/
New on Techgenix.com
Review: Windows workplace security solution PolicyPak
Group Policy, used for locking down Windows machines in corporate environments for years, is showing its age. Enter PolicyPak. Here’s our review.
https://techgenix.com/policypak-review/
Free remote work tools for IT teams during coronavirus pandemic
Setting up remote workstations during the coronavirus crisis so employees can work from home is not easy. These free remote work tools can help.
https://techgenix.com/free-remote-work-tools/
How to securely connect and manage remote workers
Reserve your place now to discover why a fully functional VPN solution can help you stay productive during this tough period, while also protecting your network and the proprietary information
https://techgenix.com/how-to-securely-connect-and-manage-remote-workers/
Apple iOS contains vulnerability affecting VPN connections
A vulnerability affecting Apple iOS VPN connections could allow outsiders to see things you don’t want them to see — the very reason to use a VPN.
https://techgenix.com/apple-ios-vpn-vulnerability/
One hour to better security: How to leverage Azure MFA to secure an existing VPN solution
Deploying a VPN leveraging Azure MFA provides extra security and helps ensure that remote users connecting to the network via VPN are who they say they are.
https://techgenix.com/azure-mfa-existing-vpn/
Fun videos from Flixxy
How Soap Kills Viruses
How and why plain old soap and water absolutely annihilate viruses – including the coronavirus.
https://www.flixxy.com/how-soap-kills-viruses.htm
PSA Edit of Pop Culture Clips
Watch this amazing PSA edit of pop culture clips by filmmaker Mike Doxford in response to the current situation.
https://www.flixxy.com/psa-edit-of-pop-culture-clips.htm
You’re All The World To Me – Fred Astaire
In one of his best-known solos, Fred Astaire dances on the walls and ceilings of his room because he has fallen in love with a beautiful woman who also loves to dance.
https://www.flixxy.com/youre-all-the-world-to-me-fred-astaire.htm
Parkour Cats
Watch these 9 athletic parkour cats as they jump from walls to roofs, freerunning and chasing each other.
https://www.flixxy.com/parkour-cats.htm
More articles of interest
Third-party VM monitoring tools offer alternatives to native vendors
Many admins rely on native tools to monitor VMs, such as Microsoft System Center, but third-party alternatives can offer improved capabilities, such as cost savings and integrations.
A look at software-defined networking upgrade guidelines
SDN brings the benefit of a mostly software-based update process. However, admins still must consider which updates are necessary and if a hardware refresh is required.
A closer look at new and updated Microsoft security features
Microsoft augments the native protection features in its newer Windows Server releases with cloud-based security products to reduce the likelihood of a successful breach attempt.
Top 5 container software trends to watch in 2020
Container software, namely Kubernetes, has become a staple of modern enterprise IT infrastructure — here’s what’s coming next for the technology in 2020 and beyond.
Send us your feedback!
Got feedback about anything in this issue of WServerNews? Email us at [email protected]