Twitter Lite?
At first, I thought this was a new beer, ha ha. But it’s just a ‘light’ version of Twitter. It is designed for users tweeting off slower networks or small data plans. Great idea!
New Thinking On Password Changes
I really like this way of thinking outside the box! Some of the old, and current, concepts on password complexity, length, history etc. are being revised. There is some new thinking on the matter, based mainly on trends and analytics Microsoft has done via millions of hack attempts on Azure based resources.
New Microsoft recommendations:
- “Maintain an 8-character minimum length requirement (and longer is not necessarily better).
- Eliminate character-composition requirements.
- Eliminate mandatory periodic password resets for user accounts.
- Ban common passwords, to keep the most vulnerable passwords out of your system.
- Educate your users not to re-use their password for non-work-related purposes.
- Enforce registration for multi-factor authentication.
- Enable risk based multi-factor authentication challenges.”
Thousands of Hacked Home Routers are Attacking WordPress Sites
Thousands of Hacked Home Routers are Attacking WordPress Sites
Fascinating blog from WordFence, one of the best WordPress firewall out there. They uncovered attacks coming from various countries and regions. The target is home networks. There is a router vulnerability called “Misfortune Cookie” [really] that is being exploited. It appears many home routers are hacked with this vulnerability and they in turn launch attacks. The tricky part here is that the launched attacks are actually small per home router, so detection is difficult.
The really weird thing is that the IPS are coming from all over the place, but attacks from Algeria [!] are increasing dramatically.
Read the WordFence Blog here
LinkedIn Integration with Office Applications
Now that the Microsoft ‘LinkedIn’ purchase is completed, Microsoft is aggressively pursuing more relevant and very forward-thinking usage of all its applications in the SaaS [Office 365] world.
Nutshell: lots of resume / job searching /social profile types of integration between ‘LinkedIn’ and Office applications.
“With its $26 billion acquisition of LinkedIn getting the thumbs up from EU regulators, Microsoft is wasting no time in integrating the social platform with its productivity software.
The goal — as described by the tech giant’s CEO Satya Nadella — is to utilize LinkedIn’s networking and learning resources to help people “develop new skills online, find new jobs, and easily connect and collaborate.” “
Windows Server 2016
I had a chance to set up, install, and look around in/at Windows Server 2016 Datacenter Technical preview 5. Wow, it is exciting and seemingly sleek and fast so far.
Microsoft Wants Us to Move Away from VMware
Yeah, I see no reason for people to stay with VMware. You get free virtualization with the latest Windows Server 2012 and [soon to be released] 2016, especially if you purchase the Datacenter version.
‘Microsoft offers free Windows Server 2016 licenses to VMware switchers’
Sophisticated DDoS Attacks
Yikes – Multi-vector and SPEED: ‘a DDoS attack against an unnamed European media organization that peaked at 363G bps (bits per second)’. That ‘G’ is not a typo.
‘Attackers launch multi-vector DDoS attacks that use DNSSEC amplification’
Remember Pay Phones?
I actually thought they were already gone, but I guess there has been a bit of a resurgence [?]. Whatever it was, it is now mostly over. This is a great idea – pay phones are generally spread out pretty nicely.
‘Good riddance payphones: NYC’s free gigabit Wi-Fi kiosks go live’
Mish mash of Exchange Shell Commands
I just finished a simple Exchange Shell page. Exchange 2010 / 2013 Management Shell type commands can be very useful and highly effective. If the task at hand can be done easily by the Console, then I usually just stick with that.
But sometimes it is best to go straight to the Shell!
