In this issue
Targeting Microsoft Exchange. Prevent update headaches. Remotely enabling Remote Desktop. Looking ahead with Windows-as-a-Service. Silencing UserVoice. Bosses being targeted. Keeping firmware secure. How to create a template email for Outlook. Is your phone bugging you? Or maybe bugged? Plus lots more — read it all, read it here on WServerNews!
Is your Exchange server happy or sad? Or is it mercilessly mocking you because it’s been HACKED? Photo by Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash
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Editor’s Corner
This week’s observations and ruminations from Mitch Tulloch our Senior Editor…
Targeting Microsoft Exchange
Unless you’re living under a rock — and of course many of us in IT often feel that’s *exactly* what it’s like to work in our profession i.e. being under a heavy rock almost continually — you’ll have heard some things in the news about the recent mass attack that led to thousands of Exchange servers around the world becoming compromised. Especially if part of your job in IT is to administer or support Exchange for your organization or clients. Brian Krebs has a great summary of what’s been happening on his blog:
A Basic Timeline of the Exchange Mass-Hack (Krebs on Security)
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2021/03/a-basic-timeline-of-the-exchange-mass-hack/
We’re hopeful that only a small number of our readers have been impacted by this situation as most corporate email these days is handled off-prem in the cloud via Office 365, Exchange Online or some non-Microsoftie service like Gmail etc. But for the benefit of any readers who are still trying to put out the fire before their workplace (and job!) burns down, here are the patches that Microsoft recommends you apply:
Released: March 2021 Exchange Server Security Updates (Exchange Team Blog)
Microsoft also has some patches for older Exchange CUs:
March 2021 Exchange Server Security Updates for older Cumulative Updates of Exchange Server (Exchange Team Blog)
And here’s a post from the Microsoft Security Response Center that you may want to look at if you haven’t yet been able to (or are unable for some reason to) patch your Exchange servers:
Microsoft Exchange Server Vulnerabilities Mitigations – updated March 6, 2021 (MSRC)
If any readers want to comment on this or make additional recommendations you can email us at [email protected]
Prevent update headaches
Of course not all bad things that happen to us in IT originate from the activities of hackers, discontents and other malicious actors out there on the fringes of the Internet. Because often we just end up shooting ourselves in the foot in some area. Such as patch management. The following post by Aria Carley on the Windows IT Pro Blog describes some common mistakes one can make when configuring software updating for Windows systems:
Common policy configuration mistakes for managing Windows updates (Windows IT Pro Blog)
This is definitely worth a read before the next Patch Tuesday comes along as it has some essential Group Policy settings you need to understand properly.
Remotely enabling Remote Desktop
This pandemic has sure led to a lot of remote working. Which means — besides being Zoom-bombed — greater use of Windows Remote Desktop by many businesses. Here’s a quick guide to how you can enable Remote Desktop using Group Policy. Or using PowerShell, though in IMO Group Policy is preferred:
How to Enable Remote Desktop On Windows (SoftwareKeep)
https://softwarekeep.com/help-center/how-to-enable-remote-desktop-on-windows
Looking ahead with Windows-as-a-Service
Ah yes, Windows-as-a-Service. Or Windows as a service. Or WaaS if you prefer. Whatever. Yes, it’s more than just a buzzword — it’s a proper headache for those of us who deploy and maintain Windows 10 PCs in our environment. Which version of Windows 10 am I currently running? Which versionS, maybe? Should I upgrade to the new version that just came out? Or wait an interval until the next?
Here is the official take from Microsoft on Windows as a service:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/deployment/update/waas-overview
And here is something more useful that Michael Niehaus has posted for us after digesting the official doc and condensing it into something understandable — and actionable:
Windows as a Service cheat sheet (Out of Office Hours)
https://oofhours.com/2021/02/21/windows-as-a-service-cheat-sheet/
Hope that helps.
Silencing UserVoice
So is Microsoft listening to their user community when they have suggestions for improving their products? Maybe not for long:
“Note: We will be moving away from UserVoice feedback sites on a product-by-product basis throughout the 2021 calendar year. We will leverage 1st party solutions for customer feedback.”
You can find this statement here on the Microsoft Support site:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/uservoice-pages-430e1a78-e016-472a-a10f-dc2a3df3450a
I miss the TechNet forums, at least they were useful most of the time.
Bosses being targeted
Better tell your boss or CEO about this:
“ThreatLabZ, the Zscaler threat research team, recently observed a new series of Microsoft-themed phishing attacks aimed at senior-level employees at multiple organizations. The Zscaler cloud has blocked over 2,500 of these phishing attempts over the last three months. The attack is notable for its targeted aim at senior business leaders with titles such as Vice President and Managing Director who are likely to have a higher degree of access to sensitive company data. The aim of these campaigns is to steal these victims’ login credentials to allow threat actors access to valuable company assets.”
Read more here:
I suppose this is not really news, it’s just another day in the life of the IT security professional. But it’s worth passing up the management chain to show you’re on top of things regarding security. Might even get a raise from it.
Keeping firmware secure
And finally, Michael Niehaus has also written a couple of blog posts that explain UEFI Secure Boot in some detail. If you’re interested in how it works on systems running either Windows or Linux, see here:
UEFI Secure Boot: Yes, again (Out of Office Hours)
https://oofhours.com/2021/01/27/uefi-secure-boot-yes-again/
Got comments about anything in this issue?
Email us at [email protected]!
Please tell others about WServerNews!
Enjoy this issue of WServerNews and feel free to send us feedback on any of the topics we’ve covered — we love hearing from our readers! And please tell others about WServerNews! It’s free and always will be free — and they can subscribe to it here. Thanks!!!
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 create a template email for Outlook
Found this articled on ThirdTier and thought I’d recommend it for readers running small businesses to reduce their customer support burden:
Create an Outlook template email (ThirdTier)
https://www.thirdtier.net/2021/01/09/create-an-outlook-template-email/
Admin Toolbox
>> Got any admin tools or software you’d like to recommend to our readers? Email us at [email protected]
MailStore Server is an email archiving solution designed to keep all emails and PST files available and retrievable over the long-term.
https://www.mailstore.com/en/products/mailstore
Bandizip is a lightweight, fast and free All-In-One Zip Archiver:
https://www.bandisoft.com/bandizip/
Clover is an extension of the Windows Explorer, to add multi-tab functionality similar to Google Chrome browser:
Windows 10 Login Background Changer lets you change the Windows 10 login screen background:
https://github.com/Krutonium/Windows-10-Login-Background-Changer
Factoid – Is your phone bugging you? Or maybe bugged?
Our previous factoid and question was the following:
Fact: 10 Years After Its Discontinuation, Some Fans Still Love Microsoft’s Zune Mp3 Player
Question: Which piece of obsolete tech for work or entertainment do you still have strong affection for and/or still use and/or may have even tried to mod?
Peter Jones had something interesting to say on this subject:
Still love my various minidisc players / recorders.
When I asked him for more info he responded with:
Portables, one Panasonic and the rest are Sony. I got the because a car that I purchased (2003 Honda Accord) had a minidisc player built in as part of the factory “Premium Sound” audio, along with a 6 cd stacker. The player intrigued me so I found some pre-recorded discs and considered the audio was superior quality. That led to purchasing the portables from auction sites. I just like them, and prefer using them to the standard alternative iPod, even if they are a little less convenient, smaller capacity, etc. I wonder what the development cost was to Sony, and then Apple dropped the iPod on the world…
And I suppose that old tech can also refer to software, not only hardware. Here’s a hunk of software that Dennis DeMattia is still fond of using:
ZtreeWin
Back in the early DOS days, a company name XTreeGold (later bought by Symantec) came up with what you would now call a file manager. It displayed folders, files in folders, and contents of files. There are a bunch of different sorting options. One could filter a list of files based on a lot of different characteristics, and having run one filter, could run another filter on what remains. Of course, when Win32 (and now Win64) came out, with long file names, gigabytes of memory, etc, the 16 bit Xtree fell out of use. A company in Florida, Zedek, cloned the interface of XTree and created ZtreeWin. While it retains its old DOS look and feel, it is fully a 32 or 64 bit Windows application.
While most of the time I do use the Windows File Manager for what I need to do, there are some things that ZtreeWin just does a whole lot better. Files are color coded. So, for instance, I can find backups of files (in Red) very easy. That separates out exe files from dll from txt from … it is very quick to locate a file (although AgentRansack is quicker). I can compare two different directories, even on two different computers, and see what files on directory A are newer than the same named files on directory B. This is very helpful when you are a software developer and are going to update folders on your laptop, for instance, but do not want to copy the whole set of folders. (I am really not into automatic synchronization, probably because I want to retain control of what and when things happen.) You can move folders around, but rather than copy all the contents, it just updates the directory pointers. And a bunch of other stuff.
The program is still being enhanced, and while not freeware, is quite cheap ($30).
Now let’s move on to this week’s factoid:
Fact: A bug in a popular iPhone app exposed thousands of call recordings
Source: https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/09/iphone-thousands-calls-exposed/
Question: How confident are you about the security and privacy of your phone? What are you still hesitant about doing with it, and why?
Email your answers to [email protected]
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Conference Calendar 2021
>> Got an IT conference or event happening that you’d like to promote in our newsletter? Email us at [email protected]
NOTE: Conference dates and locations (real/virtual) are subject to change
Microsoft MVP Global Summit — March 29-31 (virtual)
https://mvp.microsoft.com/summit
Cisco Live Americas — Mar 30-Apr 1 (virtual)
Red Hat Summit — April 27-28 (virtual)
https://www.redhat.com/en/summit
Black Hat Asia — May 4-7 (virtual)
https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#asia
RSA Conference — May 17-20 (virtual)
https://www.rsaconference.com/usa
European SharePoint, Office 365 & Azure Conference — June 1-2 (virtual)
https://www.sharepointeurope.com/
European Collaboration Summit — June 14-16 in Wiesbaden, Germany
https://www.collabsummit.eu/en/
Microsoft Inspire — July 14-15 (virtual)
https://partner.microsoft.com/en-US/inspire
Black Hat USA — Jul. 31-Aug. 3 in Las Vegas
https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#usa
Open Source Summit — Aug. 4-6 in Vancouver, Canada
https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-north-america/
DEF CON 29 — Aug. 5-8 (location TBA)
European Cloud Summit — Sept. 27-29 in Frankfurt, Germany
https://www.cloudsummit.eu/en/
Open Source Summit — Sept. 29-Oct. 1 in Dublin, Ireland
https://events.linuxfoundation.org/open-source-summit-europe/
VMworld — Oct 5-7 (virtual)
https://www.vmworld.com/en/index.html
Black Hat Europe – Nov 8-11 (virtual)
https://www.blackhat.com/upcoming.html#europe
Podcast Corner
Source Control for IT Pros with Nicole Stevens (RunAsRadio)
In Defense Of EIGRP (Heavy Networking)
https://packetpushers.net/series/weekly-show/
VMware vSAN 7 Update 2 (Virtually Speaking)
https://www.vspeakingpodcast.com/
This Week In Wireless – 802.11-2020 (Clear To Send)
Exchange 0day party time for Chinese APT crew (Risky Business)
https://risky.biz/netcasts/risky-business/
Microsoft Ignite Spring 2021 Updates (Microsoft Cloud IT Pro Podcast)
https://www.msclouditpropodcast.com/
Microsoft Ignite Recap Spring 2021 (Microsoft Cloud Show)
http://www.microsoftcloudshow.com/podcast
New on Techgenix.com
Trench Tales: Using Intune for mobile device management of privately-owned devices
If your employees use their own mobile devices at work, mobile device management is a must. Fortunately, Microsoft Intune makes it relatively easy.
https://techgenix.com/mobile-device-management-mdm-intune/
An absolute beginner’s guide to Microsoft Hyper-V revisited
Want to take the plunge into virtual machines? This guide for Microsoft’s Hyper-V will get even beginners up-and-running faster than you think.
https://techgenix.com/beginners-guide-to-hyper-v-revisited/
Still running Skype for Business? Time to upgrade to Microsoft Teams
Skype for Business may have served you well, but it won’t serve you at all after July 31. So, make your plans to upgrade to Microsoft Teams now.
https://techgenix.com/skype-for-business-to-microsoft-teams/
Five CISO challenges that must be faced in an increasingly risky world
The CISO is the pinnacle of a career in information security. To be successful in this role, one must overcome a myriad of CISO challenges.
https://techgenix.com/ciso-challenges/
What happens when a big partner like Microsoft wants your clients?
An IT consultant and MSP’s conundrum: What should you do when a partner tries to sell direct to your clients? And what if that partner is Microsoft?
https://techgenix.com/msps-big-partner-microsoft-wants-your-clients/
Fun videos from Flixxy
Women Are Awesome 2021
Amazing women with unique talents.
https://www.flixxy.com/women-are-awesome-2021.htm
Classical Music With A Difference – Salut Salon
A classical quartet with a difference, who delight their audiences with a mixture of music, charm, humor and instrumental acrobatics.
https://www.flixxy.com/classical-music-with-a-difference-salut-salon.htm
Göbekli Tepe – Turning Point in World History
Göbekli Tepe is the most astonishing archaeological discovery in modern times and the oldest advanced civilization on Earth discovered to date.
https://www.flixxy.com/gobekli-tepe-turning-point-in-world-history-bbc-documentary.htm
‘Stairway To Heaven’ With A Parrot On Vocals
Hear Tico the parrot whistling and singing along, as his owner strums the chords to the classic Led Zeppelin tune ‘Stairway to Heaven.’
https://www.flixxy.com/stairway-to-heaven-with-a-parrot-on-vocals.htm
More articles of interest
Run Kubernetes at the edge with these K8s distributions
The idea of edge computing is not as far off as it once was. Evaluate several ways to bring Kubernetes to the edge, and when an organization should use each approach.
How to fix 8 common remote desktop connection problems
When the connection between a desktop and its host fails, it’s time to do some remote desktop troubleshooting. Check firewalls, security certificates and more if a remote desktop is not working.
Explore multiple Office 365 PowerShell management options
Why use PowerShell for Office 365 and Azure? In some instances, it’s the only way to tap into some of the hidden management settings in these Microsoft cloud products.
Colocation in disaster recovery: Everything you need to know
Colocation is an important DR strategy and it’s a vital resource for ensuring mission-critical systems and data files can be securely protected and available when needed.
Send us your feedback!
Got feedback about anything in this issue of WServerNews? Email us at [email protected]