E-Mail Archives - EasySAM https://easysam.co.uk/tag/e-mail/ Software Asset Management. Simplified. Wed, 28 Aug 2024 11:10:43 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://easysam.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/easysam_icon-60x60.png E-Mail Archives - EasySAM https://easysam.co.uk/tag/e-mail/ 32 32 Microsoft is getting rid of yet another iconic Windows app this year https://easysam.co.uk/news/microsoft-is-getting-rid-of-yet-another-iconic-windows-app-this-year/ Wed, 14 Aug 2024 11:17:48 +0000 https://easysam.co.uk/?p=31557 This time its Paint 3D on the chopping block - which comes after the turn of the year announcement that WordPad was also being laid to rest.

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This time its Paint 3D on the chopping block - which comes after the turn of the year announcement that WordPad was also being laid to rest.

Published on 14th August 2024

Microsoft is apparently keen to cut its popular legacy Windows applications with storied histories. Following the official deprecation of WordPad, another app is now heading to the chopping block by the end of this year and will no longer be supported with updates.

We’re talking about Paint 3D, the revised version of Microsoft Paint that’s been available since 2016. A few days ago, X/Twitter user @phantomofearth spotted a banner in the app informing them that Paint 3D would be removed from the Microsoft Store and deprecated starting on November 4, 2024:

https://twitter.com/phantomofearth/status/1822131761481925046?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1822131761481925046%7Ctwgr%5Ead11289c89455914bbdeb114162b12ad023199a2%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pcworld.com%2Farticle%2F2424597%2Fsurprising-end-microsoft-to-discontinue-support-for-popular-programme-in-a-few-months.html

Why is Paint 3D being deprecated?

While Microsoft hasn’t officially given word on why Paint 3D is being discontinued, one Microsoft Vendor said that it’s because Paint 3D “didn’t gain much traction among users” and “most users preferred the simplicity of the original Paint app.”

It makes sense that Microsoft would want to concentrate its efforts on the version of Paint that most users prefer. There are already some extra features available for Windows Insiders to test, like new size controls for pens and brushes as well as some new options for the eraser.

Nevertheless, this version of Paint remains in the two-dimensional world for the time being, so it doesn’t come anywhere close to the diverse possibilities of Paint 3D. It’s especially tragic because Paint 3D was beginner-friendly — now users will likely have to switch to a more complex application, such as Blender.

Why Paint 3D was so great

Paint 3D was a useful extension of the popular Windows image editing tool that added several new features. Instead of just 2D graphics, you could create, rotate, and edit objects in 3D. You could also add effects and backgrounds to bring the image to life.

Originally, Paint 3D was even supposed to replace Paint altogether, but they both ran in parallel for a long while. Starting in 2021, Paint 3D stopped being installed by default and had to be downloaded manually from the Microsoft Store. Perhaps that should’ve been a clue that Paint 3D was on its way towards being wound down.

Nevertheless, the end of Paint 3D is surprising since Microsoft never gave any official indication that it’d stop being supported. The fact that the end date is only three months away is doubly surprising.

Source

https://www.pcworld.com/article/2424597/surprising-end-microsoft-to-discontinue-support-for-popular-programme-in-a-few-months.html

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Digital Citizen

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]]> Still running Exchange 2016? Microsoft really wants you to upgrade https://easysam.co.uk/news/still-running-exchange-2016-microsoft-really-wants-you-to-upgrade/ Mon, 12 Aug 2024 10:43:37 +0000 https://easysam.co.uk/?p=31540 Microsoft have released a new official guide for decommissioning and replacing any 2016 instances still in use - as its extend EOL date looms.

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Microsoft have released a new official guide for decommissioning and replacing any 2016 instances still in use - as its extend EOL date looms.

Published on 12th August 2024

Microsoft is getting serious about the impending end of extended support for Exchange 2016 and has published a guide on stripping the product from an environment that already has Exchange 2019 installed.

According to Microsoft, customers planning on sticking with on-premises Exchange for their email needs should make the jump to Exchange 2019 as soon as possible. While the next version of Exchange – Exchange SE – is due to arrive in 2025, it won’t be possible to perform an in-place upgrade to SE from 2016. Hence the need to move to Exchange 2019, even though its end-of-support date is identical to 2016.

Microsoft’s guide is a quite a bit more involved than simply shutting down the server and throwing it into landfill. For one, Exchange 2016 mailboxes must be moved to a newer version of Exchange Server and mailbox databases removed.

Microsoft also sensibly recommends popping the old Exchange 2016 servers into maintenance mode for a while, just in case anything got missed during decommissioning.

However, the era of Exchange 2016 is coming to an end. While Exchange SE – Subscription Edition – will be identical to the final Cumulative Update (CU) of Exchange 2019 except for wording in the license agreement and version number, moving from Exchange 2016 won’t be as straightforward.

Earlier this year, Microsoft gave administrators who were anxious for news about the next version of Exchange server a notification that the product would show up “early in the third quarter of calendar year 2025.” This is, assuming the company meets its deadlines, just before Exchange Server 2019 and 2016 are due to be end-of-lifed.

At the time, analysts and users alike worried that Microsoft was not providing much time for upgrades. While Scott Schnoll, Microsoft Product Marketing Manager for Exchange Online and Exchange Server, said, “A legacy upgrade from Exchange 2016 to Exchange Server SE is possible and supported,” the company recommended a move to Exchange 2019.

This advice was repeated in the guide to decommissioning Exchange Server 2016.

“If you plan to stay on-premises, we recommend moving to Exchange 2019 as soon as possible. Only Exchange 2019 will support in-place upgrades to Exchange SE, marking the first time in many years that you can perform an in-place upgrade on any Exchange release.

“You should start decommissioning Exchange 2016 servers in favor of Exchange 2019 now, to be ready for easy in-place upgrades to Exchange SE when it becomes available,” Microsoft added.

The next version of Exchange was expected in 2021 but was later delayed after several high-profile security incidents. Microsoft’s attitude to email security has come under scrutiny in recent years, and the company was recently called a threat to national security by former senior White House cyber policy director AJ Grotto.

Source

https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/09/microsoft_really_wants_those_old/

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Foundation-IT

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]]> US government to investigate China’s Microsoft email breach https://easysam.co.uk/news/us-government-to-investigate-chinas-microsoft-email-breach/ Thu, 17 Aug 2023 09:26:50 +0000 https://easysam.co.uk/?p=28241 The hope is that any findings would help advance cyber security across the cloud – both government and enterprise.

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The hope is that any findings would help advance cyber security across the cloud – both government and enterprise.

Published on 17th August 2023

The July breach of Microsoft Exchange Online by suspected Chinese hackers is the next topic up for review by the Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber Safety Review Board (CSRB).

DHS secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced the review last Friday, saying it would assess the Microsoft intrusion, as well as conducting a broader review of identity and authentication infrastructure used by cloud providers.

“Organizations of all kinds are increasingly reliant on cloud computing to deliver services to the American people, which makes it imperative that we understand the vulnerabilities of that technology,” Majorkas said.

This will be the third investigation by the recently formed CSRB. It first reviewed Log4j vulnerabilities discovered in 2021, concluding the exploit would likely be a problem for at least a decade. Its second report, which was released earlier this week, focused on the threats from hacking group Lapsus$. In that report, the CSRB said the international cyber crime group used “simple techniques” to evade security tools, and offered ten recommendations for hardening environments against such attackers.

The decision to investigate the July Outlook intrusion, and cloud security more broadly, was welcomed by senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), who last week blamed Microsoft for its failure to protect cloud accounts belonging to US government officials and called for the CSRB to investigate the incident.

“I applaud president Biden and CISA director Easterly for acting on my request for the board to review this recent espionage campaign, including cyber security negligence by Microsoft that enabled it,” Wyden said. “The government will only be able to protect federal systems against cyber attacks by getting to the bottom of what went wrong. Ignoring problems is both a waste of taxpayer dollars and a massive gift to America’s adversaries.”

CISA director Jen Easterly said the CSRB’s findings would help advance cyber security across the cloud – both government and enterprise.

It’s worth noting that the CSRB has no regulatory or enforcement powers. Rather, “its purpose is to identify relevant lessons learned to inform future improvements,” DHS said. In other words, none of what the CSRB eventually decides is binding in any way.

The Government Accountability Office said that it has made more than 4,000 recommendations to federal agencies to address cyber security issues, and as of December 2022 more than 880 (nearly a quarter) had yet to be fully implemented.

Source

https://www.theregister.com/2023/08/14/us_government_investigates_microsoft_breach/

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Saksham Choudhary via Pexels

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]]> Microsoft reports jump in business email compromise activity https://easysam.co.uk/news/microsoft-reports-jump-in-business-email-compromise-activity/ Wed, 31 May 2023 15:13:40 +0000 https://easysam.co.uk/?p=27666 Thirty-five million business email compromise attempts were detected in the last year, according to the latest Microsoft Cyber Signals report

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Thirty-five million business email compromise attempts were detected in the last year, according to the latest Microsoft Cyber Signals report

Published on 31st May 2023

Cybersecurity activity around business email compromise (BEC) spiked between April 2022 and April 2023, with over 150,000 daily attempts, on average, detected by the Microsoft Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU).

The findings were highlighted in the latest edition of Microsoft’s Cyber Signals, a cyberthreat intelligence report that spotlights security trends and insights gathered from Microsoft’s 43 trillion security signals and 8,500 security experts.

“BEC attacks stand apart in the cybercrime industry for their emphasis on social engineering and the art of deception,” said Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of security, in a blog post. “Successful BEC attacks cost organizations hundreds of millions of dollars annually.”

BEC attempts rose significantly

Microsoft’s DCU observed a 38% increase in cybercrime as a service (CaaS) attacks that targeted business email between 2019 and 2022, according to the report. There have also been 417,678 takedowns of unique phishing URLs directed by the DCU between May 2022 and April 2023.

Between April 2022 and April 2023, Microsoft detected and investigated 35 million BEC attempts with an average of 156,000 attempts daily.

“In 2022, the FBI’s Recovery Asset Team (RAT) initiated the Financial Fraud Kill Chain (FFKC) on 2,838 BEC complaints involving domestic transactions with potential losses of more than USD590 million,” Jakkal said.

Rather than targeting unpatched devices for vulnerabilities, BEC operators focus on leveraging the vast volume of daily email and other message traffic to trick victims into sharing financial information or unknowingly transferring funds to money mule accounts. Their goal is to exploit the constant flow of communication to carry out fraudulent money transfers.

Tactics used in business email compromise

Threat actors employ various methods when attempting business email compromise, which can involve phone calls, text messages, emails, or social media, according to the report. They use techniques like sending fake authentication requests or pretending to be individuals or companies to deceive their targets.

Topics used to trick victims in BEC attacks include, for example, payroll, invoice, gift card and business information themes, Microsoft said.

In addition, Microsoft has noticed a pattern in attackers’ utilization of platforms such as BulletProftLink. This CaaS platform is widely used for creating large-scale malicious email campaigns and offers a comprehensive service that includes templates, hosting, and automated features specifically designed for BEC. Moreover, adversaries who employ this service are supplied with IP addresses that assist in directing their BEC targeting efforts.

Cybersecurity professionals and law enforcement agencies are concerned that these new tactics in BEC attacks make it difficult to determine the location of threat actors, potentially leading to a surge in large-scale attacks.

“Although, threat actors have created specialized tools to facilitate BEC, including phishing kits and lists of verified email addresses targeting C-suite leaders, accounts payable leads, and other specific roles, there are methods that enterprises can employ to pre-empt attacks and mitigate risk,” Jakkal said.

Using secure email applications, securing identities to block lateral movement, adopting a secure payment platform and training employees are a few effective methods, according to the report.

Source

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3697152/microsoft-reports-jump-in-business-email-compromise-activity.html

Image Credit

Divya Gupta via Pixabay

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