Microsoft 365 and the add-ons cost trap

[German]It looks like Microsoft's sales department has bagged its sheep (aka customers) clean. Everything is jumping on the Microsoft 365 subscription solution to get in on the action. And now they are being milked – despite the subscription, many components in Microsoft 365 are only available for an extra charge, as has now been discovered.

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Guide to configuring Windows event logging

Windows[German]The logging of events by Windows leaves room for improvement. Companies do not have a sufficient overview of the activities on their workstations and servers with Microsoft's standard specifications. The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) and the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) have published a guide to configuring Windows logging that provides tips on how to improve logging in Windows.

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Ubuntu 24.04 LTS gets 12 year of support from Cannonical

Cannonical wants to extend the support period for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, which is expected in April 2024, to 12 years. The extended support period was announced by Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth in an interview with the YouTube channel Destination Linux in this video (from 8:46). Martin Brinkmann has published details on ghacks.net.

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Visual Studio Subscriptions (MSDN) Windows January 2024 Refresh media available

WindowsMicrosoft has made new installation media for Windows 10, Windows 11 and Windows Server 2022 available in its Visual Studio Subscriptions portal (formerly MSDN). The January 2024 Refresh ISO installation media was released on January 18, 2024, but was created on January 4, 2024, and will create a system with a patch level of January 9, 2024 for a new Windows installation.

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Test Defender rules for ASR, PUA, SmartScreen etc.

Windows[German]How do you know that Windows Defender and its configuration is correctly implemented and working? I just came across a demonstration and test page from Microsoft. Microsoft provides various files and information there to demonstrate, test and validate the Defender rules for ASR, PUA, SmartScreen etc.

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Why ISL Online: Critical factors when choosing a remote desktop solution

[Sponsored Post]In the rapidly evolving IT world, choosing the right remote desktop software is critical for organizations that value security, ease of use and reliability. One provider of secure remote access that has been on the market since 2001 is ISL Online, which presents some considerations for choosing such software below. More ...


Calendar invitation in Outlook can reveal password (via CVE-2023-35636)

[German]Small addendum to the December 2023 patchday, during which an information disclosure vulnerability (CVE-2023-35636) was also closed. It has now become known that even the acceptance of a calendar invitation by a user can reveal their password. While this vulnerability in Outlook has been patched, there are other methods to retrieve an NTLM hash, e.g. via a file manager. These vulnerabilities are not patched. Here is an overview of the issue.

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Is the Microsoft 365 email quarantine broken?

Mail[German]A quick question for Microsoft 365 administrators with Exchange Online tenants. A reader is struggling with the problem that mails are sorted into quarantine at his customers and asks whether this function is broken (presumably already since January 5, 2024).

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Microsoft Windows 11 Security Technical Implementation Guide

WindowsRecently I became aware of the "Security Technical Implementation Guide". The Security Technical Implementation Guide is published as a tool to improve the security of Department of Defense (DOD) information systems. The requirements are derived from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 800-53 and related documents.

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Microsoft hacked by Russian Midnight Blizzard; emails exfiltrated since Nov. 2023

[German]Microsoft has been successfully hacked by the Russian state hacker group Midnight Blizzard, also known as Nobelium. This was noticed on January 12, 2024, but the hackers were probably in the systems for months and were able to view and exfiltrate emails. The next major hack after the attack by the Chinese group Storm-0558 from May to June 2023.

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Windows 11: Does the hardware installation check fail – or are old CPUs allowed?

Windows[German]I'll put two topics in one post. At the end of October 2023, Microsoft extended the list of CPUs approved for Windows 11 so that older processor models are also supported (had not reported on this in the blog). Now a blog reader has contacted me because he is surprised that Windows 11 is offered on systems in his "corporate environment" where the CPU is not on the compatibility list. Does the hardware check for installing Windows 11 fail? Or have CPU restrictions been removed?

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