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As for Microsoft’s own carbon commitments, the company is working on being carbon negative by 2030. Even more a lofty goal is coming twenty years later when by 2050, Redmond wants to offset all the carbon it has ever used since being founded in 1975. While not all organizations have the resources to match Microsoft’s plans, the Microsoft Cloud for Sustainability platform can help. It is one of the company’s growing number of vertical cloud solutions that helps users report, track, and reduce their emissions....

The company says if a fix was not sent out the vulnerability would give threat actors the ability to cross tenants in Azure. This could provide a way to gain access to resources from a range of customers. “You could very easily gotten a lot of access to a lot of customers,” points out Yoav Alon, CTO at cloud security firm Orca Security. It is worth noting just because no exploit has been found, it is possible it could happen....

On iOS and Android, Microsoft’s productivity suite is available split up in a series of applications. That means users can download individual Office Apps like Word without having to download others. Firstly, Microsoft confirmed Office Mobile apps for Windows 10 Mobile are done and dusted. Yes, the company will continue to support through security but will not add new features. Android and iOS are the future of Office on smartphones....

The Anniversary Update was equally delayed by a few days on desktop and significantly longer for mobile. As a result, it wouldn’t be surprising if customers are skeptical about Microsoft’s commitments for this year. However, Director of Program Management Bill Karagounis confirmed at Ignite Austrailia this week that two updates are coming. Plenty is known about the first already. The Windows 10 Creators update is undergoing its finishing touches, with the final build expected in April....

The main target, of course, is organizations, who currently use Office 2016. Microsoft tends to release new Office versions every three years, so the timing is about right. So far, it seems that Office 2019 will simply offer the features already found in 365, but in a static package. For the unfamiliar, that means functionality like improved inking, new animations in PowerPoint, and new formulas for Excel. Server admins, on the other hand, will see more manageability, voice, and security features....

Yes, this is very much similar to Microsoft’s own Surface Hub devices. However, whereas the Surface Hub is essentially a PC wrapped inside a smart TV shell, the Sharp built devices are more like collaborative displays. Microsoft’s Nick Parker described in a blog post how the Windows Collaborative Displays work within an enterprise environment. “Windows Collaboration Displays [are] large, interactive displays [that] will let people experience Microsoft 365 collaboration tools—Office, Teams, and Whiteboard—at room scale, and [they] include built-in sensors that can connect to Azure IoT spatial intelligence capabilities....

Despite taking down TrickBot infrastructure, Microsoft Defender employees knew the cybercrime community would fight back. It was expected the botnet would reappear and operators would bring new servers online. Microsoft says it was waiting for this to happen and has been continuing to remove TrickBot services since last week’s announcement. Furthermore, the company will keep a clamp on the botnet in the coming weeks. Other companies joining Microsoft Defender in the initial effort were ESET, FS-ISAC, NTT, Symantec, and Black Lotus Labs....

If you’re unfamiliar with Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, it was previously Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (ATP). Windows Defender ATP debuted in 2016 and is mostly for enterprise customers across platforms. The tool provides an early barrier against cyberattacks, detecting and dealing with incoming threats on enterprise networks. The wider Windows Defender suite, including ATP, was rebranded as Microsoft Defender in May 2020. Microsoft has since rebranded the ATP part to Defender for Endpoint....

The Microsoft Edge team says it drew inspiration from the North American Association of Environmental Education (NAAEE). Specifically, the association’s mission to improve civic engagement and environmental literacy. By creating a digital storytelling platform for the association, Microsoft Edge helps environmental educators reach more people. The NAAEE has been pursuing its mission for more than four decades and can now branch out into more digital means to sharing stories of impact....

As you can images, fighting the good fight against cybercrime means threat groups put a target on KrebsOnSecurity. From doxing tactics to attacks on his website, Krebs has faced a lot of backlash from cyber criminals. Now bad actors are trying a new tactic. Instead of attempting to take KrebsOnSecurity down, they are aiming to delegitimize the website and Krebs himself. Specifically, attackers are using a domain like the legitimate Krebs website to deliver exploits to Microsoft Exchange Server....

According to the 2021 Cortex Xpanse Attack Surface threat report from Palo Alto Networks (published Wednesday), cybercriminals wasted little time before targeting enterprises. Of course, it’s not uncommon for hackers to jump on a new exploit. The sooner a threat actor can target a system the more chance they have of breaching security before a patch is issued. Still, the speed of response from the cybercriminal community for the Microsoft Exchange Server exploit was surprising....

According to Palo Alto’s Unit 42 security team, a threat group called xHunt is responsible for the attack. This group has been known to target organizations in Kuwait, including a 2018 breach of the country’s government system. A newer attack that occurred around August 22, 2019 shows the group has a new way of breaching targets. Specifically, two new PowerShell backdoors were used. One has been dubbed “TriFive” and other is called “Snugy....

Not only will the decision help Microsoft expand its cloud reach through another Azure region, it will also help Greece. The Greek economy has been hit hard over the last decade. While the country was emerging from its debt crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic has put Greece under increasing economic pressure. By investing in cloud infrastructure, Microsoft is helping to boost the economy. In fact, Microsoft president Brad Smith says the investment is the largest Microsoft has made during 30 years of operations in Greece....

Android Enterprise fully managed is a management scenario that gives users tools to enterprise users will giving IT admins the ability to manage capabilities. Since the introduction of Intune in preview on Android Enterprise, Microsoft has observed “extensive adoption”. Indeed, the company says Intune has enjoyed the most successful preview period on Android management so far. Microsoft Intune is available for Android Enterprise devices running Android 6.0 and later. The service supports several major provisioning technologies, including:...

In fact, Microsoft says the flaw in Remote Procedure Call is rated 9.8 out of ten, making it a critical issue. According to the company, the problem would provide exploit possibilities for threat actors. Microsoft is urging enterprise customers to get the patch Tuesday release to fix the flaw. If left unpatched, it leaves Windows servers potentially open to attack. If successful, an exploit would give the hacker access to the internal systems on a machine by bypassing authentication....

“The Windows Devices and User Experience (WDUX) team is responsible for driving new innovation around devices and form factors, including the new Windows 10X user experience for Surface Neo,” reads the post. “The Natural User Interfaces (NUI) team is looking to hire talented engineers to build new and improved ways to make it easy for users to be productive when interacting with Devices in non-traditional postures (ex: using tablets and foldables away from a desk), using a wide range of natural input modalities: Pen, Typing on a digital keyboard, Voice and multi-modal use cases....

Microsoft will work with IC3 to research flexible blockchain applications for the enterprise, joined by IBM, Intel, and more. They’ll work together to accelerate proof-of-concept models into real-world solutions and bring them to government, entrepreneurs, and banks. “IC3 was founded to advance blockchain science, technology and applications,” said Ari Juels, co-director of IC3 and professor at the Jacobs Technion-Cornell Institute at Cornell Tech. “We’re delighted to work more closely with Microsoft’s blockchain experts, who share our vision of blockchain-based solutions for next generation financial services....

As this is the last Launcher update of 2018, Microsoft has prepared a feature-rich experience. Leading the new abilities is Microsoft further expanding the power and availability of Sticky Notes. Over the year, Sticky Notes has received numerous updates this year. With Microsoft Launcher 5.1, Sticky Notes cards now show in Android. Elsewhere, another Microsoft service that has received love this year is joining the Launcher. Microsoft To-Do tasks now appear on the To-Do card alongside Outlook and Skype notes....

Microsoft and The Software Alliance (BSA) approached the company last year, asking for $72,074 in damages. It said Hanna Instruments could face up to 5 million if it went to court. In a bold move, Hanna both denied the claims and accused the company of extortion. “BSA, Microsoft, and their counsel have, without supplying one scintilla of evidence, issued a series of letters for the sole purpose of extorting inflated monetary damages,” the company said to the court last year....

One of the new SKUs will be called Windows 10 Pro for Workstations. Some Windows users of a certain vintage may remember that Microsoft used to use the ‘Workstations’ name two decades ago. As the name suggests, Windows 10 Pro for Workstations will be a specific SKU that will be for Advanced PCs. It is worth noting that Microsoft could well change the final name of the version before release....