Updated CIAOPS PowerShell course

I am pleased to announce that I have updated my online PowerShell course for Microsoft 365. A lot has changed in recent times so I’ve been through the content and updated it as well as add lots more lessons and resources. The only thing that hasn’t changed is the price. That remains at US$39!

You can view the course content and sign up here:

https://www.ciaopsacademy.com/p/powershell-for-microsoft-365

Of course, if you are eligible CIAOPS Patron, you’ll also get immediate access to the course for free as part of your benefits.

The idea with the course is not to give you a deep dive into all the workings of PowerShell. It is designed to get you up and running using PowerShell with Microsoft 365 as quickly as possible. No pre-existing knowledge is assumed. I’m aiming to bring out more advanced courses, but this course is the foundation on which courses will be built.

As I have said many times here, PowerShell is a KEY skill for any IT Pro going forward in the Microsoft Cloud space. It allows you to do things faster and more consistently, just to name two benefits. If you haven’t taken the step to learning PowerShell then invest in yourself and you future and do so!

September poll

ask-blackboard-chalk-board-chalkboard-356079

For September I’m asking people:

Have you ever paid, or helped someone else pay, a ransom after a ransomware attack?

which I greatly appreciate you thoughts here:

http://bit.ly/ciasurvey202009

You can view the results during the month here:

http://bit.ly/ciaresults202009

and I’ll post a summary at the end of the month here on the blog.

Please feel free to share this survey with as many people as you can so we can get better idea of how much ransom is being paid out there. I’ll bet is more than most think. Let’s see.

August poll results

August’s question was :

Are you considering or using Microsoft Defender ATP in place of other third party anti virus and end point security solutions?

and the results are:

A much stronger result for Defender ATP that I thought! 93% of respondents are looking at using Defender ATP! Wow, shows you that Defender ATP is really starting to kick some goals out there and make waves.

The anonymous September question for you is:

Have you ever paid, or helped someone else pay, a ransom after a ransomware attack?

which can be found at:

http://bit.ly/ciasurvey202009

appreciate if you could take a moment and let me know your experiences.

Microsoft Whiteboard works on the web

Microsoft Whiteboard is an app that allows you to mimic what a physical whiteboard does, however being digital it has a number of advantages. One of these advantages is that it works on the web. To see this just visit:

https://whiteboard.microsoft.com/

and sign in with a Microsoft account. You can use your commercial Microsoft 365 account and have all the standard capabilities included.

In our current world of remote work I am finding Microsoft Whiteboard very handy. I really enjoy the ‘infinite’ canvas and the ability to export the output to a file, I typically use Whiteboard on a device like a Surface PC or iPad and share that back to the desktop on which I’m conducting my remote meeting. However, you can also easily share it with others in the company so you can all collaborate together.

The web version isn’t as full featured as the device app as yet but it is more than adequate for most I feel. if you work remotely and want to get your message across, make sure you take a look at Microsoft Whiteboard and now with a web version, nothing could be simpler!

Need to Know podcast–Episode 251

FAQ podcasts are shorter and more focused on a particular topic. In this episode I speak about Windows Information Protection (WIP) is.

This episode was recorded using Microsoft Teams and produced with Camtasia 2020

Take a listen and let us know what you think – feedback@needtoknow.cloud

You can listen directly to this episode at:

https://ciaops.podbean.com/e/episode-251-windows-information-protection/

Subscribe via iTunes at:

https://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/ciaops-need-to-know-podcasts/id406891445?mt=2

The podcast is also available on Stitcher at:

http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/ciaops/need-to-know-podcast?refid=stpr

Don’t forget to give the show a rating as well as send us any feedback or suggestions you may have for the show.

Resources

FAQ 15

CIAOPS Patron Community

Windows Information Protection

@directorcia

August Microsoft 365 Webinar resources

Slides from this month’s webinar are at:

August 2020 Microsoft 365 Need to Know Webinar

If you are not a CIAOPS patron you want to view or download a full copy of the video from the session you can do so here:

http://www.ciaopsacademy.com.au/p/need-to-know-webinars

Watch out for next month’s webinar.

Example of Microsoft Defender ATP integrations

I received a incident warning from my Microsoft Defender ATP recently. Turns out that I had downloaded a phishing PDF attachment to see where it was trying to point me. I was careful, and check it closely before downloading. However, Defender ATP also picked up the fact that I had downloaded it jumped into action.

I was curious to see how it had detected it as a threat, as the PDF file itself was harmless, just that the link it contained, and tried to get you to click on, took you to a fake Microsoft 365 login page. Turns out that Defender ATP also uses third party indicators like Virus Total as highlighted above.

When I clicked on the link Defender ATP provided it took me the Virus Total site as shown above. Here you can see that the file was detected as phishing by four common engines.

The more you look at Defender ATP the more extensive it is. If you haven’t taken a look at everything it can do I strongly encourage you to do so.

Need to Know podcast–Episode 250

I’m joined in this episode by MVP Lisa Crosbie to talk about what’s new in the Power Platform, especially Project Oakdale or as it was known when we recorded it, Microsoft Dataflex. Lisa shares with us what this technology is all about, how it integrates and the benefits it can provide businesses.

There is also cloud news and updates from Microsoft at the top of the show, as usual to keep you up to date.