Blog

Microsoft has released a new firmware analysis feature for Microsoft Defender for IoT. The new capability conducts an automated analysis of a binary firmware image that runs on an IoT device to identify potential security threats and vulnerabilities. With firmware analysis, IT admins can view a detailed listing of open-source packages found in the firmware…

Microsoft has recently disclosed a security breach that allowed Chinese hackers to access the email accounts of around two dozen organizations. Now, security researchers have found that the stolen security key provided access to far beyond Outlook and Exchange Online email accounts. According to Microsoft, the Chinese hacking group (dubbed Storm-0558) used forged authentication tokens…

Last month, Microsoft unveiled its plans to replace Windows 11’s Mail and Calendar apps with the new web-based Outlook for Windows client in September 2024. The company later detailed that it’s re-evaluating the timeline and implementation of this change. In a recent update posted on the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, Microsoft indicated that it would…

Microsoft provides a comprehensive suite of tools for effectively administrating and managing various aspects of the Microsoft 365 platform. There’s not just one Office 365 portal, IT pros actually have access to various admin centers, each tailored to manage specific aspects of the platform. In this article, we will explore the key admin centers available…

Microsoft has announced a public preview of Azure Boost for enterprise customers this week. The new offering is designed to offload virtualization processes onto dedicated hardware and software. The new Azure Boost service enables customers to access experimental SKUs. This release should make it easier to test integrations with their existing virtual machines (VMs) ahead…

SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2022 (SSDT) is the modern replacement for Business Intelligence Development Studio (BIDS), which was introduced with SQL Server 2005. SQL Server Data Tools for Visual Studio 2022 is now delivered as a part of Visual Studio 2022, and it enables you to create and modify new projects for…

Microsoft-owned GitHub has announced the limited public beta release of GitHub Copilot Chat for enterprise customers and organizations. This release brings a context-aware conversational coding assistant into Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code development environments. GitHub launched the chatbot as a part of the Copilot X initiative to extend its code completion tool to more…

Every system administrator dreams of building the perfect Rube Goldberg machine of IT automation to manage the employee IT lifecycle, end to end, including IT offboarding. A new hire joins the company, HR files a ticket, and BAM! In an instant, all of the birthright accounts, access, and permissions are granted in a glorious cascade…

Splunk Inc. announced this week a new strategic partnership with Microsoft. The new deal will enable both companies to build Splunk’s enterprise security and observability solutions on Microsoft Azure. Splunk is a popular platform that enables customers to search, analyze, and visualize machine-generated data in real-time. It collects and processes data coming from a wide…

Microsoft unveiled a couple of new additions to the Microsoft 365 ecosystem at its Inspire 2023 conference this week. The company plans to introduce Microsoft 365 Backup and Microsoft 365 Achieve solutions to help enterprise customers to protect and manage large volumes of data. Microsoft 365 Backup is a new service that will let organizations…

Microsoft announced yesterday that it will provide organizations access to expanded cloud logging data at no additional cost to prevent potential cyberattacks. The announcement comes in response to criticism the company faced regarding the lack of security logs for select cloud licenses. Last week, Microsoft confirmed a series of attacks from a Chinese hacking group…

In this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss Microsoft’s pricing model for the Microsoft 365 Copilot, as well as how Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard will impact the company financially.