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Cisco has released patches for three critical vulnerabilities affecting its Identity Services Engine (ISE) and Customer Collaboration Platform (CCP), including one high-risk flaw with a publicly available proof-of-concept (PoC) exploit. Tracked as CVE-2025-20286, CVE-2025-20130, and CVE-2025-20129, these vulnerabilities pose significant threats to cloud-based deployments and user data security. Shared credentials put multiple deployments at risk…

In this episode of First Ring Daily, Brad Sams and Paul Thurrott discuss OpenAI’s Codex software engineering agent and what it’s like to write code with the help of AI.

Microsoft is giving IT admins more control than ever with new Role-based access control (RBAC) enhancements in Windows Autopatch, designed to simplify update management across distributed teams. These new capabilities are set to become generally available for commercial customers later this month. Windows Autopatch is a cloud-based service that automates the processing of keeping Windows…

This guide breaks down how to use the PowerShell replace operator effectively, how it differs from the .Replace() method, and how to apply it to real-world automation tasks. We’ll also cover how PowerShell replace returns transformed strings based on regex patterns. What is the PowerShell replace operator? The PowerShell replace operator is a regex-powered tool…

Microsoft has rolled out several new Identity Secure Score Recommendations in public preview within Microsoft Entra Recommendations. These recommendations are designed to help organizations more effectively detect and mitigate identity-based cyberattacks. The Microsoft Entra Recommendations feature helps administrators enhance security by providing tailored suggestions based on an analysis of their identity environment. It continuously reviews…

Microsoft will begin rolling out the new Message Trace experience for Exchange Online later this month, with full availability expected by July. The update brings improvements IT admins will appreciate, including better filtering, timezone-aware timestamps, and more detailed delivery statuses. In Exchange Online, Message Trace is a tool that allows administrators to track the journey…

Nearly 97% of mid-market organizations plan to shift select workloads away from public cloud environments in the coming year as a strategic realignment. Instead of abandoning the cloud altogether, companies are selectively repatriating workloads that are better suited to private, on-premises, or hybrid infrastructures. Node4 surveyed 601 senior IT and business leaders from UK-based mid-market…

Microsoft has rolled out an urgent out-of-band update (KB5062170) for Windows 11 versions 23H2 and 22H2, targeting a critical installation failure from the May 2025 Patch Tuesday. IT admins, especially those managing virtual environments, should prioritize this fix to prevent boot errors and system downtime caused by the corrupted ACPI.sys file. What triggered the emergency…

Microsoft has announced the general availability of its auto-remediation feature within Defender for Office 365 that launched in preview in May. This new feature allows organizations to tackle email threats faster and with less manual intervention. Automated investigation and response (AIR) is a security feature that helps organizations quickly detect, analyze, and respond to email-based…

Microsoft wants organizations to migrate to Windows 11 before October 2025. And to help things along, they have released a new backup tool, called Windows Backup for Organizations, that aims to smoothly migrate user settings for devices not connected to a corporate intranet. What is Windows Backup for Organizations (WBfO)? Microsoft announced this week that…

Learn how to rename files using PowerShell. This guide covers the basics and a few advanced techniques, including syntax, common examples, the Registry, and even using a PowerToy. Basics and prerequisites The only prerequisites are PowerShell 5.1 or PowerShell 7 or later, and administrator permissions with your logged-in account. The Rename-Item cmdlet is the most…

Microsoft is getting ready to retire the password autofill feature in its Authenticator app. According to a recent support document, users will no longer be able to autofill passwords in the app starting July 1. Microsoft says this move is part of a broader shift toward passwordless sign-ins and deeper integration with Microsoft Edge. Starting…