Russell Smith

This Week in IT, Microsoft Edge is exposing passwords by design, shadow AI agents are lurking on your endpoints, and Azure is quietly pulling the plug on VMs you’re probably still running. Episode overview 1. Microsoft Edge Stores All Saved Passwords in Plaintext RAM — “By Design” A Norwegian security researcher discovered that Microsoft Edge…

“Applications can be incredibly powerful. If you own the application, you can act as that application. And if that application is highly privileged, you could effectively become a global admin without ever being in that group.” Nicolas Blank, Identity Architect, Microsoft MVP, and CTO of NBConsult In Microsoft Entra, being an application owner can be…

Microsoft is previewing a full system rollback for Windows 11 — OS, apps, files, everything — snapped back to where it was 72 hours ago. It’s basically a time machine for your PC. But here’s the thing: it can also roll back your security patches. Meanwhile, a single configuration change knocked Outlook off every iPhone…

Most Entra ID reviews focus on roles and permissions. I.e., who’s a Global Admin, what’s been consented, what looks obviously dangerous. But what if the real risk isn’t a privileged user at all? What if a regular user, with no admin role, can still put themselves on a path toward Global Administrator, simply because of…

Microsoft just confirmed that AI agents — including third-party ones — are coming to the Windows 11 taskbar. The controls to manage them exist the default hands control to the user. Plus, there’s a new way to do a Hybrid Entra Join without waiting for Entra Connect to sync, but it needs Windows Server 2025…

AI can remove administrative drag and bureaucratic busywork so people can spend more time on judgement, care, creativity, and responsibility. The parts of work that can’t be reduced to metrics. The dominant story about artificial intelligence is a story about loss. For technology leaders, these fears often show up as workforce anxiety or reputational risk,…

I recently sat down with Danny Abdo, Chief Operations and Product Officer, and Corey Hynes, Executive Chairman and Founder of Skillable, a hands-on learning platform designed to help organizations build and validate real-world technical skills. We discussed how the platform came to be and why practice-based learning is essential in the AI era. As AI…

Microsoft just Entra ID something it’s never had before: a native backup button. And not just any backup. One that’s tamper-proof, meaning not even a Global Admin can delete it. But there’s a catch. Also in Entra, cross-tenant security group sync is going GA this month, finally letting you manage groups centrally across multiple tenants….

Today we’re diving into the story behind Skillable, a platform that helps IT professionals build real-world skills. I’m joined by Danny Abdo, Chief Operations and Product Officer at Skillable, and Corey Hynes, Executive Chairman and founder of Skillable, to explore the problem the company set out to solve, how the product was built, and how…

Enterprise-scale Active Directory management now involves Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft 365, and cloud workloads, making native tools insufficient and increasing operational risks. Organizations use advanced AD management platforms to boost efficiency, delegation, and auditing while maintaining security. This article reviews the five most widely used enterprise Active Directory management tools, highlighting how they improve efficiency…

This Week in IT, hackers have a new trick that uses an Oauth 2.0 login process to slip into accounts, no password needed. Meanwhile, Microsoft is locking down its Copilot AI with fresh controls to keep your company’s data under wraps. And just when you’re getting comfortable with Copilot, Microsoft’s already onto the next frontier:…

For a brief moment, it looked like generic AI assistants might become the universal interface for work. Ask anything. Generate everything. Bolt intelligence onto every problem and figure out governance later. That moment is over. Enterprises haven’t rejected AI. They rejected ungovernable AI: systems that make decisions without accountability, touch sensitive data without clear boundaries,…