Tag: #Microsoft365

Valentine’s Day Microsoft Teams Love – Automatic hands lowering in Teams meetings

Happy Valentine’s Day ❤ Here is your #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix ! #MicrosoftTeams will soon automatically lower hands in Teams meetings if that attendee has spoken! You’re going to love this feature!!! 😉🥰

Users who raise their hand in a Teams meeting and then speak will see a notification informing them that their hand will automatically be lowered shorty. The notification will allow them to keep their hand raised if they choose to. If the user doesn’t take action on the notification, their hand will automatically lower.

Hand automatically lower functionality

This feature will ensure smoother meeting facilitation for organizers and presenters. Note: This feature will only be available in the desktop versions of Microsoft Teams

Per Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 90022 look for this new feature to be in public preview this month with General Availability roll out in mid-March 2023!

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoft Microsoft365 #MicrosoftTeams #ValentinesDay

Microsoft Authenticator Number Matching enabled by default at the end of February 2023

Upgrades to how your Microsoft Authenticator works to include number matching by default are coming at end of February 2023. That is today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix !

With so many alerts on our phones these days from text messages, email messages, stock price alerts, Amazon reorder messages, new Spotify release notifications, Elon’s Tweets, and LinkedIn post alerts from me, its easy to get fatigued and just hit whatever to dismiss the alert (except this one of course 😎) and move on.

The increasing adoption of strong authentication and use of multi-factor authentication on corporate and personal accounts has added to this fatigue and spawned a technique called ‘MFA spamming’. These attacks rely simply on the users alert fatigue to approve a notification without any context to gain access.

To combat this for users using Microsoft Authenticator #Microsoft365 administrators can require users enter a number displayed on the sign-in screen when approving an MFA request in the #Microsoft Authenticator app. This feature is critical to protecting against MFA spamming attacks.

Note: If you are using ADFS/NPS there may be are some additional steps so please consult the full documentation below.

Microsoft will begin enabling this security feature for all users of the #MicrosoftAuthenticator App starting at the end of February 2023. Feature rollout controls will also be removed and as such it is recommended to begin testing and create training / change management documentation now.

For guidance on how to enable this security feature now and target users for testing and documentation see this link on Microsoft Doc – Enable number matching in the portal – Microsoft Entra

For more information please see:

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #AzureAD #MultifactorAuthentication #MicrosoftAuthenticator #NumberMatching #MicrosoftCloudSecurity #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Exchange Server 2013 End of Support April 11, 2023

Yesterday was Groundhog Day and in honor of the great movie with the same name today’s #MicrosoftQuickFix is once again (get the reference now 😉) that Exchange Server 2013 is reaching end of support in 67 days from today on April 11, 2023!

After April 11, 2023, #Microsoft will no longer provide technical support for problems that may occur, bug fixes for newly discovered issues, security fixes for vulnerabilities that are discovered, and time zone updates.

Now look this doesn’t mean that because the Exchange Server software is out-of-date and no longer supported that it is going to stop working. Email will still flow, databases will still store data, mailboxes will still be accessible, but nefarious hackers will breathe a sigh of relief as the code now remains stagnant and despite “network magic” mitigation attempts all it takes is one zero-day venerability making its way in…

So your options are to Upgrade to Exchange Server 2019 – See the following page on Microsoft Docs for to Exchange Server 2019 system requirements, Exchange 2019 Requirements, Exchange 2019 Memory Requirements, Exchange 2019 Client Compatibility to begin.

Note: It is a supported coexistence scenario for Exchange 2019 and Exchange 2013 provided all your Exchange 2013 servers in your organization are patched to Exchange Server Cumulative Update 21 or higher.

and/or

Migrate to Exchange Online – See Decide on a migration path in Exchange Online on Microsoft Docs – Anyone still need a business case for migrating to #ExchangeOnline ?

In either case we recommend seeking assistance and using the Exchange Deployment Assistant which is a web-based tool that asks you about your current Exchange environment and generates a custom step-by-step checklist that will help you.

For more information about Exchange Server see:

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftExchange #ExchangeOnline #MicrosoftCloudSecurity #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Concurrent Exchange Online License Assignment Supported! Finally!!!

I’m back from winter break and today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix is #Microsoft365 finally supports concurrent Exchange Online License Assignments!!! This is going to dramatically reduce the administrative burden managing #ExchangeOnline license assignments and specifically will allow an intuitive groups-based licensing strategy!

Previously when Microsoft 365 Tenant Admins tried to assign more then one license pack containing #ExchangeOnline to the same user, whether that be thru the Microsoft 365 Admin Center, #AzureActiveDirectory PowerShell, or group-based licensing, an exception message would be displayed and the assignment rejected.

In this case the user already has an Exchange Online Plan 1 license included in Microsoft 365 Business Standard suite and the Tenant Admin is looking to upgrade the user to an Exchange Online Plan 2 license likely to take advantage of the larger mailbox size, Data Loss Prevention, In-place Hold, or Exchange Online Archiving capabilities.

The same exception message is displayed for any combination of the following licenses:

  • Microsoft 365 Business packages: Basic, Standard, Premium
  • Microsoft / Office 365 F1, F2, F3, E1, E3, E5, A1, A3, A5
  • Exchange Online Essentials
  • Exchange Online Kiosk
  • Exchange Online Plan 1
  • Exchange Online Plan 2
  • Other #MicrosoftTeams and #MicrosoftProject license packs which rely on Exchange Online

Now with this change any combination of the above is allowed and Exchange Online will automatically decide which of the assigned plans is “superior” and will enable the features of that plan (mailbox quotas, transport limits, protocol access, etc.).

When a license is removed Exchange Online will reevaluate and adjust as needed to the new superior plan.

For more information, please see the following Exchange Team Blog post.

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoft365 #AzureActiveDirectory #ExchangeOnline

Exchange Server Security Updates Available for September 2022 Vulnerabilities

Today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix is that #Microsoft has released the November 2022 Exchange Server Security Updates which contain fixes for the CVE-2022-41040 and CVE-2022-41082 vulnerabilities reported at the end of September 2022 and reported discussed on my blog post below:

Exchange Server Patch Alert! – Microsoft Cloud Quick Fix (mscqf.com)

CVE-2022-41040 is a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability and can only be exploited by authenticated attackers while CVE-2022-41082 allows remote code execution (RCE) when PowerShell is accessible to the attacker.

The November 2022 Exchange Server Security Updates are available for Exchange Server 2013 CU23 (Note: Support ends in April 2023), Exchange Server 2016 CU22 and CU23, and Exchange Server 2019 CU11 and CU12. Since #Microsoft has been made aware of active exploits of related vulnerabilities their (and my) recommendation is to install these updates immediately!

Microsoft has indicated that #ExchangeOnline customers are already protected from the vulnerabilities addressed in the November 2022 Exchange Server Security Updates and do not need to take any action other than updating any remaining on-premises Exchange servers.

For more information about this and Exchange Server Patching see:

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #ExchangeOnline #ExchangeServer #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Outlook Cloud Based Signatures

Upgrades to how your email signatures are stored will be launching soon. That is today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix !

Email signatures regardless of your mailbox residing on-premises or in Exchange Online have traditionally been stored on your local computer. Users have had to recreate them every time they reinstall Outlook, move to a new device, or leverage multiple devices.

As outline in Microsoft 365 Roadmap ID 60371 with this change for mailboxes hosted in Exchange Online, #Microsoft will migrate the local signatures to the cloud automatically, no manual steps are required. This means the same set of signatures will be available on any Windows (Microsoft 365) or Web version of Outlook, and you will no longer need to reconfigure your signatures when getting a new device.

Per Microsoft if you use 3rd party solutions in your environment for signature management this change will not impact you at this time.

For more information, please see the following Microsoft Support page.

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoft365 #ExchangeOnline

Microsoft Book of News is out

Today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix is #MicrosoftIgnite may be over, but all the announcements can be found in one place in the 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗼𝗳𝘁 𝗜𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗼𝗳 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 found here:

Microsoft Ignite 2022 Book of News

Lots of newsworthy announcements from new Azure Arc-enabled features, new features for Virtual Machine Scale Sets, Azure Premium SSD v2, to Azure Elastic SAN, now in preview, a fully managed storage area network service, to the new Microsoft Teams Premium add-on, Microsoft Places, and the unveiling Microsoft Syntex.

Another #MSIgnite in the books but there is lots more exciting technology to use! Thank-you #Microsoft for an awe-inspiring event!

 #MSIgnite #MicrosoftAzure #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

The Microsoft Learn Cloud Skills Challenge is open!

Here is your #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix – #MSIgnite has begun, and the Microsoft Ignite Cloud Skill Challenge is now open until November 9, 2022!

There are 7 challenges to choose from and once you complete a challenge you choose you earn a 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 exam credit for a Microsoft Certification exam on your #MicrosoftLearning account!!!

Check out The Microsoft Learn Cloud Skills Challenge for more information.

#MicrosoftCloudQuickFix #Microsoft #Microsoft365 #MicrosoftAzure #MicrosoftIgnite2022 #MSIgnite

Exchange Server Patch Alert!

Get ready to patch your on-premises versions of Exchange Server ASAP! This is today’s #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix !

Yet again as announced by #Microsoft on Friday September 30, 2022 there are two new reported zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server 2013, 2016, and 2019 that are being exploited…

CVE-2022-41040 is a Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) vulnerability and can only be exploited by authenticated attackers while CVE-2022-41082 allows remote code execution (RCE) when PowerShell is accessible to the attacker.

Microsoft has said it’s “working on an accelerated timeline” to provide a patch for the two newly disclosed vulnerabilities and while mitigations exist I would recommend a rapid patch deployment once one is available and of course always keeping your Exchange Servers up-to-date with the latest Cumulative Update (CU) and Security Updates (SU).

Microsoft indicated that #ExchangeOnline customers don’t need to take any action at the moment because the company has detections and mitigation in place and of course will apply the patch seamlessly once available – Anyone still need a business case for migration to #ExchangeOnline ?

For more information about this and Exchange Server Patching see:

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #ExchangeOnline #MicrosoftExchangeServer #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

Sept 30, 2022 – New Podcast Available

Today I chat with Andrew Lowes about the new Exchange Online PowerShell V3 module.

#Microsoft #Microsoft365 #ExchangeOnline #MicrosoftCloudQuickFix

URLs shown in today’s video podcast include:

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/exchange/exchange-online-powershell-v2?view=exchange-ps

https://www.powershellgallery.com/packages/ExchangeOnlineManagement/3.0.0