TOP STORIES #75

It is a reasonably slow week given that the Northern Hemisphere is seriously on holiday, but there is still enough happening to prevent boredom.

Of course, the BlackHat conference has just ended (First Technology Group had representatives from our BUI division there), so there will be lots more news on the hacker front in the coming weeks.

If you would like to invite colleagues to join, they can click here.

The previous TOP STORIES #74 is here.

Hardware

Intel releases fixes for it's CPU's

Intel is starting to roll out fixes for its 13th and 14th Gen CPUs, which have caused it a major loss of credibility. As a company, Intel needs to leave behind these problems as fast as possible.

You can read more about the patch's rollout here. Intel is also rolling out details about its warranty extension for these troublesome CPUs, which you can find out about here.

Microsoft

Exchange 2016 Extended support ending

Microsoft is increasing pressure on companies to move away from Exchange 2016 ASAP. Microsoft is urging you to move to Exchange 2019, which will support upgrades to Exchange SE. You can read more about this upgrade here.

If you need assistance with the, First Tech has multiple engineering teams to help with this. Please contact your First Tech account manager to assist with this.

Sticky Notes - like it or not, you have it!

Every user is not getting the new app and it is not being well received by all. Fortunately, you can downgrade to the older versions. You can read more about the new app and how to downgrade here.

New Outlook is NOT ready!

As you have seen in previous top stories, where I have posted many times about the new Outlook's missing features and general unreadiness, Office Watch has published a detailed article explaining why it is not ready, and in summary:

The "dealbreakers" are:

No offline support - you have to have an internet connection for it to work at all. Worse, it needs to be a decent connection - an erratic one will stop Outlook from working reliably.
You have to give Microsoft servers the ability to log into your non-Microsoft accounts
No PST support - for those who use PST's, this is absolutely a deal-breaker!
It is buggy, and slow.
The new Outlook is NOT ready just because Microsoft says it is.

Please refer to more details here about the New Outlook, the issues, and what we can do to help support the migration away from COM add-ins.

Microsoft appears determined to migrate you to the New Outlook, so it is important to start understanding the implications as soon as possible. Please contact your First Technology account manager to put you in touch with our specialists who can help you assess these implications.

Microsoft Plan comparison Documents updated August

There was not much for this month except the addition of Entra Internet Access and Entra Private access components. You can download the updated PDF here.

Please contact your First Technology account manager to connect you with our security specialists to show you how these two components from Microsoft can help improve your security. This is pretty important stuff to get familiar with, as this is Microsoft's technology related to the next generation of VPNs—so a workshop around this is highly recommended! You can also sign up for a workshop here

Security

Office zero-day vulnerability, no patch yet

Microsoft has disclosed a serious vulnerability for all versions of Office that needs a hacker to convince a user to click a link for the attack to be successful. You can read more about it here.

This again underscores the importance of training users to be suspicious and not to click on any link that comes into their mailbox unless they are 100% sure it is legit (remember, the bad guys are doing their best to trick you into thinking their emails are legit!).

Please contact your First Tech account manager to discuss all the options we have for training your users to be alert and help double-check that your protection systems are actually working!

Downgrade Attack!

This is quite a scary attack. Your PC gets downgraded without your knowledge, allowing vulnerabilities in older versions of your operating system to be exploited.

This is truly scary that, unbeknown to you, your computer can be downgraded to make it vulnerable, all the while you think it is fully patched.

Microsoft is working on a fix for this (hopefully in a hurry).

You can read more about this rather scary attack here and you can read The Register's take on this here.

Cloud & AI

Zoom Launches Word Competitor Infused with AI

Zoom Docs is here to compete with Microsoft, and for it to be noticed, it needs to be competitive and feature-rich. Zoom Docs is included in paid Zoom workplace licenses. You can read more about the offering from Zoom here.

As a major partner of Zoom, First Technology can show you what Zoom has to offer and to consider what others offer as well. Please contact your First Technology account manager to arrange for a discussion and/or a demo of what this new offering from Zoom can do.

What's up at FTG

BUI Cyber Research finds another Zero Day vulnerability in Teams

The Cyber Security and Azure Expert division for FTG has found another vulnerability, which they have published the details of here.

Please contact your First Technology account manager, who will connect you with our experts to help you determine whether you need help to check whether you are vulnerable and, if so, what you can do to protect yourself.

What does a World Class SoC look like and how does it work?

You are invited to book a tour of one of our SoC (Security Operations Center) nodes (and there are still parts we can't show you). You can book for the tour here.

BUI blog

FTG's Azure and security division has launched a blog focused on Security - what's new, what changed and what you need to do to maintain a good security posture.

All BUI videos have been moved to one YouTube channel which you can find here.

New Recommendations in Entra ID
Entra Admin Center Updates
Conditional Access Policies Renaming
Phasing Out Legacy Identity Protection Policies

Movies

Unfortunately, Borderlands flopped......A missed opportunity to turn a great game into a great movie - like what happened with Fallout - except it is a series and ended up being a huge success.

Alien: Romulus is going to be a different story - I do not think that one is going to be a flop!

Now Playing: Big Trip 3: Race Around the World

Now Playing: Borderlands

Now Playing: The Widow Clicquot

Now Playing: My Neighbor Totoro

16 August: Alien: Romulus

16 August: It ends with us

16 August: Vedaa