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Patch Tuesday Update – January 2021

Microsoft has released its first security updates of 2021, which has fixes for 83 vulnerabilities in Microsoft products. Every month we will post our vulnerability score and tips around each patch released, to provide advice for IT professionals and businesses.

Out of the 83 patches, 10 are classed as critical and 73 are classed as important. There was 1 Zero-Day (CVE-2021-1647) and a publicly disclosed vulnerability (CVE-2021-1648) discovered this month.

Adobe has now gone EOL and implemented a block as of the 12th January. Microsoft have released KB4577586 which is classified as “Update” and optional to remove flash from Windows Systems.

Other Products:

Other companies who have released security updates this week:

Abode: numerous fixes for Photoshop, Illustrator, Animate and more.

Andriod: January secuity updates were released last week.

Apple: released iOS 12.5.1 on January 11th.

Cisco: released security updates for the Cisco Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) Software and Cisco Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) Software.

SAP: released it’s January 2021 Security update.

  All the patches can be found in the table below or alternatively downloaded here.

We have also curated a downloadable Patching Best Practice Guide.

.NET Repository 1

CVE-2021-1725

Bot Framework SDK Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - .NET Framework is used by multiple applications, and should be updated as is often installed on all Windows based devices.

ASP.NET core & .NET core 1

CVE-2021-1723

ASP.NET Core and Visual Studio Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Azure Active Directory Pod Identity 1

CVE-2021-1677

Azure Active Directory Pod Identity Spoofing Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Microsoft Bluetooth Driver 3

CVE-2021-1683 CVE-2021-1638 CVE-2021-1684

Windows Bluetooth Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

2/5 - Worth updating if you have the Microsoft Bluetooth Driver in use.

Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder 1

CVE-2021-1668

Microsoft DTV-DVD Video Decoder Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Classified as Critical and should be applied and treated as such.

Microsoft Edge (HTML-based) 1

CVE-2021-1705

Microsoft Edge (HTML-based) Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Most modern machines have a Microsoft Edge installed, even if not used, making this critical for installation, if applicable.

Microsoft Graphics Component 1

CVE-2021-1665

GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Classified as Critical and should be applied and treated as such.

Microsoft Graphics Component 3

CVE-2021-1709 CVE-2021-1696 CVE-2021-1708

Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows Graphics Component Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Windows GDI+ Information Disclosure Vulnerability.

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Microsoft Malware Protection Engine 1

CVE-2021-1647

Microsoft Defender Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

5/5 - This is the Zero-Day for January, anyone who is using Defender or has Defender on their systems should ensure it has updated to match the fixed number.

Microsoft Office 5

CVE-2021-1713 CVE-2021-1714 CVE-2021-1711 CVE-2020-1715 CVE-2021-1716

Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Microsoft Word Remote Code Execution Vulnerability.

Important 

4/5 - Anything that an end user could be affected by, should be patched as soon as possible. Remember a chain is only as strong, as its weakest link.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint 6

CVE-2021-1712 CVE-2021-1707 CVE-2021-1718 CVE-2021-1717 CVE-2021-1719 CVE-2021-1641

Microsoft SharePoint Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Microsoft SharePoint Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Microsoft SharePoint Server Tampering Vulnerability. Microsoft SharePoint Spoofing Vulnerability.

Important

4/5 - Much like Exchange, SharePoint on-premise is being less and less utilised and anyone using SharePoint Online will have these vulnerability fixes applied automatically. Worth applying sooner rather than later for your on-premise if applicable.

Microsoft RPC 1

CVE-2021-1702

Windows Remote Procedure Call Runtime Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Microsoft Windows 8

CVE-2021-1649 CVE-2021-1676 CVE-2021-1689 CVE-2021-1657 CVE-2021-1646 CVE-2021-1650 CVE-2021-1706 CVE-2021-1699

Active Template Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows NT Lan Manager Datagram Receiver Driver Information Disclosure Vulnerability. Windows Multipoint Management Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows Fax Compose Form Remote Code Execution Vulnerability. Windows WLAN Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows Runtime C++ Template Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows LUAFV Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows (modem.sys) Information Disclosure Vulnerability.

Important

3/5 - Classified as critical by Microsoft this is on update that should be applied as soon as possible.

Microsoft Windows Codecs Library 1

CVE-2021-1643

HEVC Video Extensions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Classified as Critical and should be applied and treated as such.

Microsoft Windows Codecs Library 1

CVE-2021-1644

HEVC Video Extensions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Microsoft Windows DNS 1

CVE-2021-1637

Windows DNS Query Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Most Windows based networks utilises its domain controllers with a DNS service. Its a fundamental service and should not be overlooked.

SQL Server 1

CVE-2021-1636

Microsoft SQL Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - Most applications are powered by a SQL backend, Ensuring SQL is up to date should be a priority.

Visual Studio 1

CVE-2020-26870

Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important 

Windows AppX Deployment Extensions 2

CVE-2021-1685 CVE-2021-1642

Windows AppX Deployment Extensions Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows CryptoAPI 1

CVE-2021-1679

Windows CryptoAPI Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows CSC Service 7

CVE-2021-1652 CVE-2021-1654 CVE-2021-1659 CVE-2021-1653 CVE-2021-1655 CVE-2021-1693 CVE-2021-1688

Windows CSC Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows Diagnostic Hub 2

CVE-2021-1680 CVE-2021-1651

Diagnostics Hub Standard Collector Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Windows DP API 1

CVE-2021-1645

Windows Docker Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Windows Event Logging Service 1

CVE-2021-1703

Windows Event Logging Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Windows Event Tracing 1

CVE-2021-1662

Windows Event Tracing Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Windows Hyper-V 3

CVE-2021-1691 CVE-2021-1704 CVE-2021-1692

Hyper-V Denial of Service Vulnerability. Windows Hyper-V Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Hyper-V Denial of Service Vulnerability.

Important

4/5 - If you use Hyper-V, this update should be a priority so that your virtual machines aren't comprised.

Windows Installer 2

CVE-2021-1661 CVE-2021-1697

Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability. Windows InstallService Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability.

Important

4/5 - Windows Installer is used to execute any installations within the OS and therefore should be updated as soon as possible.

Windows Kernel 1

CVE-2021-1682

Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - Windows kernel is the key to the operating system and therefore should be a priority.

Windows Media 1

CVE-2021-1710

Microsoft Windows Media Foundation Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Windows NTLM 1

CVE-2021-1678

NTLM Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows Print Spooler Components 1

CVE-2021-1695

Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows Projected File System Filter Driver 3

CVE-2021-1663 CVE-2021-1672 CVE-2021-1670

Windows Projected File System FS Filter Driver Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows Remote Desktop 2

CVE-2021-1674 CVE-2021-1669

Windows Remote Desktop Protocol Core Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability. Windows Remote Desktop Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability.

Important

4/5 - Remote Desktop is often used by alot of infrastructure administrators, so due to heavy use and the control it provides, should be prioritised.

Windows Remote Procedure Call Runtime 5

CVE-2021-1666 CVE-2021-1673 CVE-2021-1658 CVE-2021-1667 CVE-2021-1660

Remote Procedure Call Runtime Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Classified as Critical and should be applied and treated as such.

Windows Remote Procedure Call Runtime 4

CVE-2021-1701 CVE-2021-1700 CVE-2021-1664 CVE-2021-1671

Remote Procedure Call Runtime Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important this update should be applied within your normal cycles.

Windows splwow64 1

CVE-2021-1648

Microsoft splwow64 Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

Windows TPM Device Driver 1

CVE-2021-1656

TPM Device Driver Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - TPM is the hardware security component of machines and should therefore, due to its purpose, be treatred as important.

Windows Update Stack 1

CVE-2021-1694

Windows Update Stack Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - Often i find any updates flagged for the Windows Update system should be treated as important or critical. Most updates, even those applied by a different system, utilise core Windows Update to apply.

Windows WalletService 4

CVE-2021-1686 CVE-2021-1681 CVE-2021-1690 CVE-2021-1687

Windows WalletService Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important, this is a subcomponent of the OS and is used on a day to day basis and should be updated within your cycles.

The post Patch Tuesday Update – January 2021 appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/patch-tuesday-update-jan-21

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Microsoft offer 30% reduction on compute for WVD

Microsoft are running a promotion on compute resources used for the purpose of running Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD).

The offer which runs until the 31st March allows new customers save 30 percent on Windows Virtual Desktop computing costs for D-series and Bs-series virtual machines for up to 90 days when using the native Microsoft solution which could be helpful if you are looking to run a small pilot or trial whilst keeping costs down.  More information regarding the promotion can be found here.

If you are new to Windows Virtual Desktop, you can view our on demand webcast here

Or if you wanted to discuss the use case and have a one to one session with a WVD Compute Specialist call us on 01635 203700.

The post Microsoft offer 30% reduction on compute for WVD appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/microsoft-offer-30-reduction-on-compute-for-wvd

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Solarwinds Cyber Attack – Guidance Notes

More details are emerging regarding the Solarwinds Cyber Attack; named Sunburst.

Sunburst involved the insertion of malicious code into Orion, giving the attacker the ability to obtain elevated credentials on the network they have a foothold in, which in turn means they can gain access to data and largely do as they please. The backdoor seems to have been distributed via legitimate automatic update platforms since March 2020.

It appears to affect SolarWinds’ Orion Platform software builds for versions 2019.4 HF 5 and 2020.2 with no hotfix, or 2020.2 HF 1.  The current advice involves isolating machines running solarwinds if they are running the affected versions of Orion and ensuring the appropriate hotfixes are applied.

A full list is available from the Solarwinds website and Microsoft have also shared guidance on the matter.

  The post Solarwinds Cyber Attack – Guidance Notes appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/solarwinds-cyber-attack-guidance-notes

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Patch Tuesday Update – December 2020

Microsoft has released its December 2020 security updates, which is fixes for 58 vulnerabilities in Microsoft products. Every month we will post our vulnerability score and tips around each patch released, to provide advice for IT professionals and businesses.

Out of the 58 patches, 9 are classed as critical, 48 are classed as important and 2 are classed as moderate. There were no Zero-Days discovered this month.

Other Products:

Other companies who have released security updates this week:

Andriod: December security updates

Apple: Security updates for iCloud

Cisco: Security updates for Security Manager vulnerabilities

D-Link: VPN routers got patched for remote command injection bugs

QNAP: Patched QTS vulnerabilities

SAP: December 2020 security updates

VMWare: Security updates that resolve a zero-day reported by the NSA and used by Russian state-sponsored hackers

  All the patches can be found in the table below or alternatively downloaded here.

We have also curated a downloadable Patching Best Practice Guide.

Category

CVE IDs

CVE Title

Severity

FIT Score & Tip

Azure DevOps 2

CVE-2020-17145 CVE-2020-17135

Azure DevOps Server and Team Foundation Services Spoofing Vulnerability Azure DevOps Server Spoofing Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Azure SDK 2

CVE-2020-17002 CVE-2020-16971

Azure SDK for C Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Azure SDK for Java Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Azure Sphere 1

CVE-2020-17160

Azure Sphere Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - This particular vulnerability is complex and time consuming to setup, that is to say that this cannot be exploited at will and requires planning or sustantial preparation to accomplish.

Microsoft Dynamics 2

CVE-2020-17158 CVE-2020-17152

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations (on-premises) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical 

4/5 - High chance of exploitation and an attacker would expect reliable, repeatable successful execution. This attack would not require much preparation and would only need the vulnerability to exist for an attempted attack. These kind of attacks should be patched as soon as possible.

Microsoft Dynamics 2

CVE-2020-17147 CVE-2020-17133

Dynamics CRM Webclient Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability Microsoft Dynamics Business Central/NAV Information Disclosure

Important

3/5 - This type of attack would require some type of user interaction but with phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored. 

Microsoft Edge 1

CVE-2020-17131

Chakra Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Critical 

3/5 - This particular vulnerability is complex and time consuming to setup, that is to say that this cannot be exploited at will and requires planning or sustantial preparation to accomplish. This exploit takes advantage of Chakra which is a forked version of the JavaScript engine and is used in IE.

Microsoft Edge 1

CVE-2020-17153

Microsoft Edge for Android Spoofing Vulnerability

Moderate

3/5 - This is a spoofing attack which would require a user to be convinced of authenticity, but with phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored.

Microsoft Exchange Server 3

CVE-2020-17117 CVE-2020-17132 CVE-2020-17142

Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical 

3/5 - These vulnerabilities exist in Microsoft Exchange due to the improper validation of cmdlet arguments. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker would need to be authenticated to the vulnerable Exchange server in order to exploit the flaw.

Microsoft Exchange Server 3

CVE-2020-17143 CVE-2020-17144 CVE-2020-17141

Microsoft Exchange Information Disclosure Vulnerability Microsoft Exchange Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important 

3/5 - These vulnerabilities exist in Microsoft Exchange due to the improper validation of cmdlet arguments. To exploit these vulnerabilities, an attacker would need to be authenticated to the vulnerable Exchange server in order to exploit the flaw.

Microsoft Graphics Component 2

CVE-2020-17137 CVE-2020-17098

DirectX Graphics Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows GDI+ Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Importanat 

2/5 - This requires local/SSH/User interaction which in a best practice configured environment shouldn't be a risk. This can be deployed at a lower priority.

Microsoft Office 10

CVE-2020-17130 CVE-2020-17128 CVE-2020-17129 CVE-2020-17124 CVE-2020-17123 CVE-2020-17119 CVE-2020-17125 CVE-2020-17127 CVE-2020-17126 CVE-2020-17122

Microsoft Excel Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft PowerPoint Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Outlook Information Disclosure Vulnerability Microsoft Excel Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - This requires local/SSH/User interaction which in a best practice configured environment shouldn't be a risk however phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored. 

Microsoft Office Sharepoint 2

CVE-2020-17121 CVE-2020-17118

Microsoft SharePoint Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical 

4/5 - High chance of exploitation and an attacker would expect reliable, repeatable successful execution. This attack would not require much preparation and would only need the vulnerability to exist for an attempted attack. These kind of attacks should be patched as soon as possible.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint 2

CVE-2020-17120 CVE-2020-17089

Microsoft SharePoint Information Disclosure Vulnerability Microsoft SharePoint Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - This type of attack would require some type of user interaction but with phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored. 

Microsoft Office Sharepoint 1

CVE-2020-17122

Microsoft SharePoint Spoofing Vulnerability

Moderate

3/5 - This is a spoofing attack which would require a user to be convinced of authenticity, but with phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored.

Microsoft Windows 7

CVE-2020-17136 CVE-2020-16996 CVE-2020-17138 CVE-2020-17092 CVE-2020-17139 CVE-2020-17103 CVE-2020-17134

Windows Cloud Files Mini Filter Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Kerberos Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Windows Error Reporting Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Network Connections Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Overlay Filter Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - This requires local/SSH/User interaction which in a best practice configured environment shouldn't be a risk however phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored. 

Microsoft Windows DNS 1

ADV200013

Microsoft Guidance for Addressing Spoofing Vulnerability in DNS Resolver

Important 

3/5 - A type of DNS poisoning attack. This is resolved by modifying DNS registry config. 

Visual Studio 4

CVE-2020-17148 CVE-2020-17159 CVE-2020-17156 CVE-2020-17150

Visual Studio Code Remote Development Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Visual Studio Code Java Extension Pack Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Visual Studio Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important 

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows Backup Engine 7

CVE-2020-16960 CVE-2020-16958 CVE-2020-16959 CVE-2020-16961 CVE-2020-16964 CVE-2020-16963 CVE-2020-16962

Windows Backup Engine Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important 

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows Error Reporting 1

CVE-2020-17094

Windows Error Reporting Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows Hyper-V 1

CVE-2020-17095

Hyper-V Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical 

4/5 - Classified as Critical so should be deployed when possible.

Windows Lock Screen 1

CVE-2020-17099

Windows Lock Screen Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - This requires local/User interaction which in a best practice configured environment shouldn't be a risk however phishing and credential stuffing becoming a very large practice these shouldn't go ignored. 

Windows Media 1

CVE-2020-17097

Windows Digital Media Receiver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows SMB 2

CVE-2020-17096 CVE-2020-17140

Windows NTFS Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Windows SMB Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - This particular vulnerability is complex and time consuming to setup, that is to say that this cannot be exploited at will and requires planning or sustantial preparation to accomplish.

The post Patch Tuesday Update – December 2020 appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/patch-tuesday-update-dec-20

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Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms

Microsoft have forecasted a new innovation within their December roadmap with virtual breakout rooms in Teams. They are releasing this new feature in their December CY2020 update meaning with it the organiser of a Teams meeting can create multiple breakout rooms and manage these rooms during the meeting.

  A good explanation can be found in this Microsoft video in the link below:

Master virtual breakout rooms in Microsoft Teams meetings – Microsoft Tech Community

  Here is the roadmap update page on Microsoft:

Microsoft 365 Roadmap | Microsoft 365

The post Microsoft Teams Breakout Rooms appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/microsoft-teams-update

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FIT’s Charity Christmas Raffle

What a better way to end the year than hosting a Christmas Raffle for Young People and Children First, a charity that we work closely with. Below are the details about prizes, date of draw and price per strip. Tickets can be bought through our JustGivingPage: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/TeamFIT and we ask the person donating to leave their name and email to be sent tickets and also notified of any wins!

We are thankful for any donations for Young People and Children First and good luck with the raffle!

The post FIT’s Charity Christmas Raffle appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/charity-christmas-raffle

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Microsoft Teams Noise Suppression

Microsft Teams users will now be able to adjust their background noise using an AI-based feature in the software. The new update allows Teams to suppress surrounding noise, clicking of pens or typing on keyboards.

The feature is going to analyse users’ audio feed and use Microsoft’s own deep neural networks to reduce the sound of the unwelcome background sound. The new ‘high’ setting is going to suppress more noise than ever and the AI model will keep analyzing the audio feed of users in the background to work properly.

  Here is how to change your settings:

Top right-hand corner of Teams click on your icon and then go to settings.

  Click on the devices tab and go to “noise suppression”. Usually, it is set at ‘Auto’ and users are advised to select the ‘low’ option if they want to optimize music in the background of video calls.

  The new update to the background noise elimination will help both company meetings and online classroom participants. With the increased use of Teams, it is understandable that the firm is making online meetings better. The number of meetings conducted via Microsoft apps has been on a rise as indicated by CEO Satya Nadella as the company suppressed five billion meeting minutes in one day as presented in the earnings call.

The post Microsoft Teams Noise Suppression appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/teams-noise-suppression

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Patch Tuesday Update – November 2020

Microsoft has released its November 2020 security updates, which is fixes for 112 vulnerabilities in Microsoft products. Every month we will post our vulnerability score and tips around each patch released, to provide advice for IT professionals and businesses.

Out of the 112 patches, 17 are classed as critical, 93 are classed as important and 2 are classed as moderate.

Zero-days discovered:

This month’s pathing included a fix for a zero-day privilege escalation vulnerability in the Windows Kernel Cryptography Driver that was being used in targeted attacks. Google has explained, “the bug resides in the cng!CfgAdtpFormatPropertyBlock function and is caused by a 16-bit integer truncation issue”.

The vulnerability’s ID is:  CVE-2020-17087.

Other products:

Other companies who have released security updates this week:

Adobe: Adobe Reader for Andriod and Adobe Connect

Apple: iOS, macOS, tvOS and watchOS

SAP: November 2020 security updates

All the patches can be found in the table below or alternatively downloaded here.

We have also curated a Patching Best Practice Guide.

Category

CVE IDs

CVE Title

Severity

FIT Score & Tip

Azure DevOps 1

CVE-2020-1325

Azure DevOps Server and Team Foundation Services Spoofing Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Azure Sphere 1

CVE-2020-16988

Azure Sphere Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Azure Sphere 14

CVE-2020-16985 CVE-2020-16986 CVE-2020-16987 CVE-2020-16984 CVE-2020-16981 CVE-2020-16982 CVE-2020-16983 CVE-2020-16993 CVE-2020-16994 CVE-2020-16970 CVE-2020-16992 CVE-2020-16989 CVE-2020-16990 CVE-2020-16991

Azure Sphere Information Disclosure Vulnerability Azure Sphere Denial of Service Vulnerability Azure Sphere Unsigned Code Execution Vulnerability Azure Sphere Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Azure Sphere Tampering Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Microsoft released multiple updates for the Azure stack this month, showing that Azure also suffers with vulnerabilities much like an on premise environment. These need to be applied based on what is used by your business.

Common Log File System Driver 1

CVE-2020-17088

Windows Common Log File System Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Microsoft Browsers 1

CVE-2020-17058

Microsoft Browser Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Most machines have a Microsoft browser installed, even if not used, making this critical for installation, if applicable.

Microsoft Dynamics 4

CVE-2020-17005 CVE-2020-17018 CVE-2020-17021 CVE-2020-17006

Microsoft Dynamics 365 (on-premises) Cross-site Scripting Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - Based on the function that Microsoft Dynamics provides, it's worth paying attention and applying this fix when possible, however like anything, worth testing first before applying to production.

Microsoft Exchange Server 3

CVE-2020-17083 CVE-2020-17085 CVE-2020-17084

Microsoft Exchange Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Exchange Server Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - Microsoft Exchange is becoming less and less utilised on-premise. However if used or if utilised in a hybrid configuration with Office 365, get this update applied when possible.

Microsoft Graphics Component 5

CVE-2020-16998 CVE-2020-17029 CVE-2020-17004 CVE-2020-17038 CVE-2020-17068

DirectX Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Canonical Display Driver Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Graphics Component Information Disclosure Vulnerability Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Microsoft Office 8

CVE-2020-17065 CVE-2020-17064 CVE-2020-17066 CVE-2020-17019 CVE-2020-17067 CVE-2020-17062 CVE-2020-17063 CVE-2020-17020

Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Excel Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Microsoft Office Access Connectivity Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Office Online Spoofing Vulnerability Microsoft Word Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

5/5 - Anything that an end user could be affected by, should be patched as soon as possible. Remember a chain is only as strong, as its weakest link.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint 5

CVE-2020-17016 CVE-2020-16979 CVE-2020-17017 CVE-2020-17061 CVE-2020-17060

Microsoft SharePoint Spoofing Vulnerability Microsoft SharePoint Information Disclosure Vulnerability Microsoft SharePoint Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

4/5 - Much like Exchange, SharePoint on-premise is being less and less utilised and anyone using SharePoint Online will have these vulnerability fixes applied automatically. Worth applying sooner rather than later for your on-premise if applicable.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint 1

CVE-2020-17015

Microsoft SharePoint Spoofing Vulnerability

Moderate

1/5 - Classified as low by Microsoft, exploitation less likely but no reason to exclude from your typical update cycle.

Microsoft Scripting Engine 3

CVE-2020-17048 CVE-2020-17053 CVE-2020-17052

Chakra Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability Internet Explorer Memory Corruption Vulnerability Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Classified as critical by Microsoft this is on update that should be applied as soon as possible.

Microsoft Scripting Engine 1

CVE-2020-17054

Chakra Scripting Engine Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Microsoft Teams 1

CVE-2020-17091

Microsoft Teams Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Ultimately the haste required in applying this update is based on the usage of Teams. However in the current climate this would be considered quite important to get resolved.

Microsoft Windows 2

CVE-2020-17042 CVE-2020-17051

Windows Print Spooler Remote Code Execution Vulnerability indows Network File System Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5 - Classified as critical by Microsoft this is on update that should be applied as soon as possible.

Microsoft Windows 31

CVE-2020-17032 CVE-2020-17033 CVE-2020-17026 CVE-2020-17031 CVE-2020-17027 CVE-2020-17030 CVE-2020-17028 CVE-2020-17044 CVE-2020-17074 CVE-2020-17043 CVE-2020-17041 CVE-2020-17034 CVE-2020-17049 CVE-2020-17040 CVE-2020-17047 CVE-2020-17036 CVE-2020-17000 CVE-2020-1599 CVE-2020-16997 CVE-2020-17001 CVE-2020-17057 CVE-2020-17056 CVE-2020-17055 CVE-2020-17010 CVE-2020-17007 CVE-2020-17014 CVE-2020-17025 CVE-2020-17024 CVE-2020-17013 CVE-2020-17011 CVE-2020-17012

Windows Remote Access Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows MSCTF Server Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows KernelStream Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Remote Access Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Print Configuration Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Kerberos Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Windows Hyper-V Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Windows Network File System Denial of Service Vulnerability Windows Function Discovery SSDP Provider Information Disclosure Vulnerability Remote Desktop Protocol Client Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Spoofing Vulnerability Remote Desktop Protocol Server Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Print Spooler Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Network File System Information Disclosure Vulnerability Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Error Reporting Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Client Side Rendering Print Provider Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Port Class Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Bind Filter Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

5/5 - Microsoft resolved multiple elevation of privilege vulnerabilities and because these are on end user operating systems, these are always important to get resolved so they do not get exploited.

Microsoft Windows 1

CVE-2020-17043

Windows Error Reporting Denial of Service Vulnerability

Moderate

1/5 - Classified as low by Microsoft, exploitation less likely but no reason to exclude from your typical update cycle.

Microsoft Windows Codecs Library 10

CVE-2020-17106 CVE-2020-17101 CVE-2020-17105 CVE-2020-17082 CVE-2020-17079 CVE-2020-17078 CVE-2020-17107 CVE-2020-17110 CVE-2020-17108 CVE-2020-17109

HEVC Video Extensions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability HEIF Image Extensions Remote Code Execution Vulnerability AV1 Video Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Raw Image Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

5/5 - Anything that an end user could be affected by, should be patched as soon as possible. Remember a chain is only as strong, as its weakest link.

Microsoft Windows Codecs Library 4

CVE-2020-17102 CVE-2020-17086 CVE-2020-17081 CVE-2020-17113

WebP Image Extensions Information Disclosure Vulnerability Raw Image Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Raw Image Extension Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Camera Codec Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Visual Studio 2

CVE-2020-17104 CVE-2020-17100

Visual Studio Code JSHint Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Visual Studio Tampering Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows Defender 1

CVE-2020-17090

Microsoft Defender for Endpoint Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully. As Defender is Window's inbuilt AV and protection, if your AV fails, Defender can often pick up the slack - worth updating.

Windows Kernel 2

CVE-2020-17035 CVE-2020-17087

Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Kernel Local Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows NDIS 1

CVE-2020-17069

Windows NDIS Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows Update Stack 7

CVE-2020-17074 CVE-2020-17073 CVE-2020-17071 CVE-2020-17075 CVE-2020-17070 CVE-2020-17077 CVE-2020-17076

Windows Update Orchestrator Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Delivery Optimization Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows USO Core Worker Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Update Medic Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Update Stack Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

Windows WalletService 2

CVE-2020-16999 CVE-2020-17037

Windows WalletService Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows WalletService Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5 - Classified as important by Microsoft, so worth getting on your machines if applicable, and once tested fully.

The post Patch Tuesday Update – November 2020 appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/patch-tuesday-update-nov-20

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Patch Tuesday Update – October 2020

Microsoft has released its October 2020 security updates, which is fixes for 87 vulnerabilities in Microsoft products and Adobe Flash Player update. This post will give our vulnerability score and tips around each patch released.

Out of the 87 patches, 12 are classed as critical, 74 are classed as important and 1 is classed as moderate.

  Top Vulnerabilities:

While there were no zero-days this month, there is a handful that are more interesting critical vulnerabilities:

CVE-2020-16911: GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2020-16947: Microsoft Outlook Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2020-16898: Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2020-16891: Windows Hyper-V Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

CVE-2020-16915: Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability

  Other Products:

There were other companies who have also released their security updates for this month:

Adobe: Adober Flash Player

Apple: macOS, tvOS and watchesODS

Intel: October 2020 platform update

SAP: October 2020 security updates

  All the patches can be found in the table below or alternatively downloaded here.

We have also curated a Patching Best Practice.

Category

Count

CVE IDs

CVE Title

Severity

FIT Score

Tip

.NET Framework

1

CVE-2020-16937

.NET Framework Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

4/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Adobe Flash Player

1

ADV200012

October 2020 Adobe Flash Security Update

Critical

5/5

Flash is still being utilised on various platforms, this is definietly worth applying even with the ending support for Flash coming, 31/12/2020. This is a separate patch to the monthly roll ups.

Azure

2

CVE-2020-16995 CVE-2020-16904

Network Watcher Agent Virtual Machine Extension for Linux Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Azure Functions Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5

The first CVE relates to Linux VM's in Azure - It's worth noting a lot of Appliance based VM's are based on Linux so may be effected. The second CVE has no patch to resolved, but a restart of your Azure Functions app with update it.

Group Policy

1

CVE-2020-16939

Group Policy Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Microsoft Dynamics

3

CVE-2020-16978 CVE-2020-16956 CVE-2020-16943

Microsoft Dynamics 365 (On-Premise) Cross Site Scripting Vulnerability Dynamics 365 Commerce Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

2/5

This update should be applied if you have Microsoft Dynamics.

Microsoft Exchange Server

1

CVE-2020-16969

Microsoft Exchange Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

2/5

This update should be applied if you have on premise Exchange.

Microsoft Graphics Component

2

CVE-2020-16911 CVE-2020-16923

GDI+ Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Graphics Components Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Microsoft Graphics Component

2

CVE-2020-16914 CVE-2020-1167

Windows GDI+ Information Disclosure Vulnerability Microsoft Graphics Components Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

4/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Microsoft NTFS

1

CVE-2020-16938

Windows Kernel Information Dosclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5

Applicable to Windows 10 Version 2004. Forms part of the monthly cumulative update.

Microsoft Office

2

CVE-2020-16947 CVE-2020-17003

Microsoft Outlook Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Base3D Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

5/5

A set of specific updates for various Microsoft Office versions have been released. Bare in mind that later versions, like 365 , require Click to Run.

Microsoft Office

11

CVE-2020-16933 CVE-2020-16929 CVE-2020-16934 CVE-2020-16932 CVE-2020-16930 CVE-2020-16955 CVE-2020-16928 CVE-2020-16957 CVE-2020-16918 CVE-2020-16931 CVE-2020-16954

Microsoft Word Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Office Click-to-Run Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Microsoft Office Access Connectivity Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Base3D Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

5/5

A set of specific updates for various Microsoft Office versions have been released. Bare in mind that later versions, like 365, require Click to Run.

Microsoft Office

1

CVE-2020-16949

Microsoft Outlook Denial of Service Vulnerability

Moderate

3/5

A set of specific updates for Microsoft Outlook versions have been released. Bare in mind that later versions, like 365, require Click to Run.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint

2

CVE-2020-16951 CVE-2020-16952

Microsoft SharePoint Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Microsoft SharePoint Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5

Essential if SharePoint is run on-premise. SharePoint Online is updated by Microsoft automatically.

Microsoft Office Sharepoint

8

CVE-2020-16948 CVE-2020-16953 CVE-2020-16942 CVE-2020-16944 CVE-2020-16945 CVE-2020-16946 CVE-2020-16941 CVE-2020-16950

Microsoft SharePoint Information Disclosure Vulnerability Microsoft SharePoint Reflective XSS Vulnerability Microsoft Office SharePoint XSS Vulnerability

Important

4/5

These form part of the same updates as the above. Applying these updates take care of all on premise SharePoint vulnerabilities.

Microsoft Windows

1

CVE-2020-16898

Windows TCP/IP Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Microsoft Windows

29

CVE-2020-16900 CVE-2020-16901 CVE-2020-16899 CVE-2020-16908 CVE-2020-16909 CVE-2020-16912 CVE-2020-16940 CVE-2020-16907 CVE-2020-16936 CVE-2020-16897 CVE-2020-16895 CVE-2020-16919 CVE-2020-16921 CVE-2020-16920 CVE-2020-16972 CVE-2020-16877 CVE-2020-16876 CVE-2020-16975 CVE-2020-16973 CVE-2020-16974 CVE-2020-16922 CVE-2020-0764 CVE-2020-16980 CVE-2020-1080 CVE-2020-16887 CVE-2020-16885 CVE-2020-16924 CVE-2020-16976 CVE-2020-16935

Windows Event System Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Kernel Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows TCP/IP Denial of Service Vulnerability Windows Setup Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Error Reporting Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Backup Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows - User Profile Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Backup Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability NetBT Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Error Reporting Manager Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Enterprise App Management Service Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Text Services Framework Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Application Compatibility Client Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Backup Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Spoofing Vulnerability Windows Storage Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows iSCSI Target Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Hyper-V Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Network Connections Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Storage VSP Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Jet Database Engine Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Windows Backup Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows COM Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

4/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Microsoft Windows Codecs Library

2

CVE-2020-16967 CVE-2020-16968

Windows Camera Codec Pack Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5

This vulnerability has updates for Windows 10 only.

PowerShellGet

1

CVE-2020-16886

PowerShellGet Module WDAC Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5

This is an update for PowerShellGet, which can be done by invoking a Powershell command to update it.

Visual Studio

1

CVE-2020-16977

Visual Studio Code Python Extension Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important

3/5

This update is not delivered by Windows Update, but rather the Visual Studio Marketplace.

Windows COM

1

CVE-2020-16916

Windows COM Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Windows Error Reporting

1

CVE-2020-16905

Windows Error Reporting Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5

Applicable to Windows 10, 2016 and 2019 operating systems only.

Windows Hyper-V

2

CVE-2020-16894 CVE-2020-1243

Windows NAT Remote Code Execution Vulnerability Windows Hyper-V Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important

3/5

Applicable to Windows 10, 2016 and 2019 operating systems only.

Windows Hyper-V

1

CVE-2020-16891

Windows Hyper-V Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical

4/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Windows Installer

1

CVE-2020-16902

Windows Installer Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Windows Kernel

5

CVE-2020-16889 CVE-2020-16892 CVE-2020-16913 CVE-2020-1047 CVE-2020-16910

Windows KernelStream Information Disclosure Vulnerability Windows Image Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Hyper-V Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability Windows Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important

3/5

This update is in your normal monthly updates for Windows Operating Systems.

Windows Media Player

1

CVE-2020-16915

Media Foundation Memory Corruption Vulnerability

Critical

4/5

Applicable to Windows 10, 2016 and 2019 operating systems only.

Windows RDP

3

CVE-2020-16863 CVE-2020-16927 CVE-2020-16896

Windows Remote Desktop Service Denial of Service Vulnerability Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Denial of Service Vulnerability Windows Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important

3/5

The first CVE relates to Windows 7 and 2008 R2 so are only applicable if you purchased an ESU. The second is applicable all operating systems and contained within the normal monthly patching.

Windows Secure Kernel mode

1

CVE-2020-16890

Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important

3/5

Applicable to Windows 10, 2016 and 2019 operating systems only.

The post Patch Tuesday Update – October 2020 appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/patch-tuesday-update-oct-20

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Microsoft release RCA for UK South Outage

Microsoft Azure UK South region suffered a significant outage on the 14th September 2020, which caused a wide range of service failures for customers in this region. The full root cause analysis has now been provided by Microsoft, and can be found here

This outage highlights the requirement for careful architectural planning when moving to any cloud provider. As best practice, and to ensure services continue to run in the event of a similar failure, services should be distributed across multiple locations And accessed using load balancing tools. If high availability is not required or not achievable then a DR plan should be in place, to ensure services can be failed over to another location, as there is no guarantee how long such outages may last.

All environments, including on-premise and private cloud solutions are subject to failures and require business continuity planning. However there is a common misconception that public cloud platforms inherently eliminate these risks. Issues such as this serve to demonstrate that this is not the case.

For more information about the outage; please get in touch.

The post Microsoft release RCA for UK South Outage appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/microsoft-release-rca-for-uk-south-outage

[foundationit]

Don’t neglect system patching, here’s why..

Okay, its not new and its not shiny. In fact, we know that some people go out of their way to avoid it. Its routine work, its often problematic, it takes time and causes disruption to systems that need to be always be on, but its essential that organisations stay up to date with patching. Here is why:-

Security:

Lets start with the most obvious;  many patches resolve vulnerabilities within the Operating system or Applications; left unpatched, these vulnerabilities run the risk of being exploited; which could lead to data loss, reputational damage, downtime and in some cases being held to ransom.  One security vendor (Tripwire) surveyed over 300 IT professionals, 34% of them admitted that they were breached as a direct result of unpatched systems; an earlier report from Voke Inc suggested that 80% of all breaches can be attributed to poorly patched systems.  This isn’t something that can be ignored.

Compliance:

Depending on the industry, most IT departments will need to produce a report showing that their systems are compliant from a licensing, version and patching perspective.  A number of organisations are also looking to obtain Cyber Essentials or Cyber Essentials Plus certification; which has started to become a baseline standard for businesses in all industries.  We’ve started to see Cyber Essentials become a required status as part of new business bids and procurement processes (regardless of industry).  An unpatched environment will lead to a fail or at least a set of mandatory recommendations to bring the environment up to standard.

Reliability:

Whilst the opposite can be true if patches are not tested properly, keeping the environment up to date should improve reliability.  We’ve all been on the receiving end of a call from a vendor who has suggested we update to a newer version or apply a recent patch to solve an ongoing problem, so it makes sense to stay ahead of the issues once patches have been through user acceptance testing.

New features:

Its not all about prevention, some updates will include performance and feature enhancements which offer benefit over and above the deployed version.

What have we missed here?

  Don’t brush patching under the carpet, the longer you leave it the longer the road to a complaint status and if you cant do it yourself, speak to a provider that can help you get started or manage the process for you.

The post Don’t neglect system patching, here’s why.. appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/dont-neglect-system-patching-heres-why

[foundationit]

Major Vulnerability Announced for Windows Server

There was a major vulnerability announced yesterday for Windows server, it affects all versions going right back to 2003 and has a CVSS score of 10.0 which is the highest (worst) you can get.

Yesterday Microsoft released an update for CVE-2020-1350, a Critical Remote Code Execution (RCE) vulnerability in Windows DNS Server that is classified as a ‘wormable’ vulnerability and has a CVSS base score of 10.0, which is the highest there is. This issue results from a flaw in Microsoft’s DNS server role implementation and affects all Windows Server versions. Non-Microsoft DNS Servers are not affected.

It is recommended that all businesses take immediate steps to mitigate the risk.

More details on the vulnerability and resolution steps can be found here

  The post Major Vulnerability Announced for Windows Server appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/major-vulnerability-announced-for-windows-server

[foundationit]

Microsoft 365 Product Name Changes Explained

As of April 21st 2020, Microsoft made changes to several product names, these changes were implemented automatically and at this stage, there are no changes to license cost or features.

The changes were as follows:-

• Office 365 Business Essentials became Microsoft 365 Business Basic. • Office 365 Business Premium became Microsoft 365 Business Standard. • Microsoft 365 Business became Microsoft 365 Business Premium. • Office 365 Business and Office 365 ProPlus both became Microsoft 365 Apps. Where necessary the “for business” and “for enterprise” labels to distinguish between the two.

The following Office 365 plans will have no changes:

Office 365 for Enterprise – Office 365 E1 – Office 365 E3 – Office 365 E5

Office 365 for Firstline Workers – Office 365 F1

Office 365 for Education – Office 365 A1 – Office 365 A3 – Office 365 A5

Office 365 for Government – Office 365 G1 – Office 365 G3 – Office 365 G5

The rationale for changes given by Microsoft is that the new product names reflect the development path of M365 with this being seen as a wider set of integrated apps versus the traditional services provided as part of the office suite.

The post Microsoft 365 Product Name Changes Explained appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/microsoft-365-product-name-changes-explained

[foundationit]

Integrate Yammer with Teams

You can now integrate Yammer with Teams via the Teams App store which helps to consolidate these two collaboration platforms to some extent.

If you open Teams, click your three dots and select More apps:-

When the window opens, search for Yammer in the top box and Communities should appear.

Select Communities and select add to Teams/install and you will get a Communities app in your Teams menu which takes you directly to Yammer so you can read/post content.

The post Integrate Yammer with Teams appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/integrate-yammer-with-teams

[foundationit]

How to Customise Teams meeting Invitations

Teams meetings invitations can be customised such as adding a company logo, a legal disclaimer, help information and a text only footer.

This is all done via the Teams admin center, https://admin.teams.microsoft.com, using an account with appropriate permissions such as a Teams or Global Administrator to Microsoft 365. Note that these are global settings and will be applied to all Teams users.

Once you have the portal open, expand meetings then select meeting settings:

Scroll down until you see Email invitation to see the customisation options:

You have four customization options:

Logo URL, the URL where your logo is stored.

Legal URL the URL If your company has a legal disclaimer

Help URL for example a URL to your company’s support website

Footer Enter any text that you want to include as a footer.

Then….

Click Preview invite to see a preview of your meeting invitation

When you have entered your customisations remember to scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save

Please not that changes can take up to an hour or so for the changes to propagate to the end users

Now schedule a Teams meeting to see what the meeting invitation looks like.

  The post How to Customise Teams meeting Invitations appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/how-to-customise-teams-meeting-invitations

[foundationit]

10 ways to reduce your Azure bill

There are many potential benefits to public cloud adoption, enhanced resiliency, improved agility, cost reduction and many more, but its not a given that all these benefits will be realised just because “you’re in the cloud”, each use case and thus the benefits are unique.

Cost is one of the main reasons for that and more often than not the true cost of cloud will be more expensive that was initially expected.  Be prepared to add cost management into your list of operational duties or ensure your managed service provider is in control of this.  One challenge of doing this of course is understanding the bill in the first place.  I often compare it to understanding your energy bill!

There are several ways to optimise your cloud environment to reduce your Azure bill, this isn’t an exhaustive list, but its a good starter (for 10.. pardon the pun).

Move to Reserved Instances for and pre-pay for resources at a discount

Switch off resources when they are not being used

Right-size machines / Resources

Take the time to understand your spending by using the Billing Portal, Power BI or other 3rd party analysis tools

Use Auto-Scaling to reduce costs during off peak hours

Make use of Azure PaaS Services as an alternative to deploying VM’s on IaaS

Use Cold Data Storage (for infrequently accessed data)

Make use of SQL elastic pools

Delete unused managed and classic disks

Fine tune application and database performance

A downloadable / printable version of this list can be found 10 ways to reduce your Azure cloud bill.  As ever, additions to these ideas are very welcome.

The post 10 ways to reduce your Azure bill appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/10-ways-to-reduce-your-azure-bill

[foundationit]

Sponsored spin on hold, but we’ll still be getting fit at FIT for charity tomorrow.

With the lockdown in place and all staff working remotely, we’ve had to postpone our sponsored spin for YPACF.   We will rearrange this later in the year when some sense of normality is resumed.

We will however all be doing at least 1 hour of vigorous exercise tomorrow (by way of substitute) to the spin effort.

Thank you for to everyone that has donated so far, we are still looking to raise money for our charity.  Cheer us on tomorrow and spare what you can – https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/TeamFIT   

The post Sponsored spin on hold, but we’ll still be getting fit at FIT for charity tomorrow. appeared first on Foundation IT.

from Foundation IT https://www.foundation-it.com/sponsored-spin-on-hold-but-well-still-be-getting-fit-at-fit-for-charity-tomorrow