Computer Safety & News

CIS Security has published an excellent list of older software versions where vendors no longer provide support (as of  October 2019) End-of-Support Software Report List https://www.cisecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/EOS-Report-October.pdf Using unsupported software and firmware/hardware, puts organizations at risk: 1. Subsequent vulnerability disclosures place your organization at significant risk. 2. Subject your organization to regulatory compliance issues/violations. 3. Increases […]

Some excellent advanced tips for Microsoft EXCEL that share useful keyboard shortcuts Excel Shortcuts        

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2019/10/29/powershell-7–january-2020-release.aspx Microsoft is planning a “general availability” release of PowerShell 7 for production environments sometime in January 2020.   A “release candidate” version of PowerShell 7 is expected to arrive in December, and it’ll be “aligned with the .NET Core 3.1 final release,” he added. Microsoft released .NET Core 3.0 back in September, but it ultimately will get consolidated. […]

Microsoft has announced implementation of their new “Experts on Demand” security team service as follows: https://redmondmag.com/articles/2019/10/28/microsoft-experts-on-demand-ga.aspx https://www.microsoft.com/security/blog/2019/10/28/experts-on-demand-your-direct-line-to-microsoft-security-insight-guidance-and-expertise/ Microsoft on Monday announced that its “experts on demand” security consulting service, part of its Threat Experts service, has reached the “general availability” (GA) commercial-release stage. The experts-on-demand capability lets an organization’s security team send questions to Microsoft about suspicious […]

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/10/30/apple-releases-security-updates Apple has released security updates to address vulnerabilities in multiple products. An attacker could exploit some of these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) encourages users and administrators to review the Apple security pages for the following products and apply the necessary updates: macOS Catalina […]

https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/10/29/ftc-provides-tips-warding-hackers The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has released an article with tips on how protect your personal information from being stolen by hackers. In support of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM), FTC provides recommendations on how to safeguard phones, computers, accounts, and personally identifiable information. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) encourages consumers to […]

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2019/10/28/office-365-groups-automatic-renewals.aspx Microsoft on Monday announced new modified group expiration controls for Office 365, allowing groups to automatically renew if there’s been user activity.  The new policy, now at “general availability,” slightly alters the current Office 365 groups expiration policy that was established last year within the Azure Active Directory Admin Center portal.

https://redmondmag.com/articles/2019/10/22/micrososft-secured-core-pcs.aspx Microsoft and its hardware partners on Monday described new “Secured-core” PCs, which add protections against firmware-based attacks.  Secured-core PCs combine hardware and software protections to ensure that so-called “bootkits” or “rootkits” don’t compromise a system at the boot-up stage. Such malware typically doesn’t get detected by anti-virus solutions.  

The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) has released an advisory for widespread Emotet malware campaign which typically spreads thru infected email attachments. https://www.us-cert.gov/ncas/current-activity/2019/10/25/acsc-releases-advisory-emotet-malware-campaign  Emotet is a Trojan—commonly spread via malicious email attachments—that attempts to proliferate within a network by brute forcing user credentials and writing to shared drives.  Please see ACSC advisory and CISA’s Alert on Emotet […]