[German]Tip for administrators of Windows systems who work with Group Policies or want to switch from GPOs to Microsoft Intune and take over the GPO settings. Microsoft has just announced the general availability of its "Group Policy Analytics tool". Group Policy Analytics helps import GPOs in use, analyze settings through shareable reports, and migrate GPO settings to Intune.
[German]One more small warning, even if it's currently more likely to affect developers who use Microsoft's cloud stuff via API. There is a preview of the Teams transcription APIs, which can be used to create meeting transcripts and recordings using Graph APIs. Actually a fine thing, some people will interject, even if the topic of Teams recordings is its own building site and subject to co-determination if necessary. But another trap beckons, which I want to point out in this blog post. Microsoft has just announced that there will be a charge for using Teams' transcription APIs, even in the preview. That can then add up to quite a bit of money.
[German]The Berlin-based German manufacturer of routers, AVM, has released its FRITZ.OS version 7.57 for eligible FRITZ!Box models on September 4, 2023. AVM only writes that this firmware update is a necessary stability and security update. It is therefore unclear which vulnerabilities has been fixed. The manufacturer intends to publish details at a later date, which might be related to the fact that not all FRITZ!Box models have been updated to the new firmware yet. Rumors in the internet says that a serious vulnerability has been deteced in FRITZ!Box 7590 models and attacks in the wild are observed. I have compiled what the Internet believes to know.
Small note to administrators in the Windows environment. As far as I know, it hasn't been officially announced yet, but Microsoft is working on renaming its Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC). If not everything is wrong, the function will soon be called Application Control for Business. At least that's according to Group Policy designations distributed with Windows Insider Previews.
[German]It's a topic that has been addressed several times here on the blog: The days of using the TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1 protocols to communicate with servers are coming to an end. The protocols are no longer considered secure and should no longer be used. Microsoft has again taken the opportunity on September 1, 2023 to inform administrators that the two protocols will be disabled "in the near future" under Windows "in upcoming operating system versions".
[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 ...
[German]A short update from the end of August 2023. Security researchers have found two vulnerabilities in the 7-Zip program, which is used to pack and unpack ZIP archive files. The vulnerabilities CVE-2023-40481 and CVE-2023-31102 are classified as high-risk from a security perspective. Attackers could possibly elevate privileges.
Security researchers at ElectricIQ have discovered a vulnerability in the routines of the Key Group ransomware that allowed decryption tools to recover encrypted files. The decryption tool only works on a specific version of the ransomware developed around Aug. 3, the vendor said. The Python script can be found at the end of this article, which also includes some details about the ransomware. The Register published this article on the subject in late August 2023.
Microsoft has released a firmware update for its Surface Laptop 4 on August 31, 2023, which is supposed to fix security issues and a charging problem. In addition, there is probably the (presumably) last firmware update for the Surface Duo smartphone.
[German]Another small addendum from this week: The Japanese CERT warns of a new technique used by cyber attackers who take malicious Word files and embed them in PDF documents. This "packaging" is intended to bypass the detection of the malicious Office documents by security software. JPCERT/CC first observed such attack techniques, known as MalDoc, via infected PDF files in July 2023.
[German]On September 1, 2023, Microsoft once again announced which functions they want to part with in future Windows versions. In the new list, some functions are marked as 'deprecated'. So the security protocols for connections, TLS 1.0 and 1.1, are to die now finally. But also WordPad, which has been delivered with Windows for 28 years and is hardly used, is going to the old age and will disappear in the future.
MVP:
2013 – 2016
WIMVP:
2017 – 2020
