What’s new in Azure AD at Microsoft Ignite Spring 2021

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Howdy folks,

It’s that special time of year with another digital edition of Microsoft Ignite on the horizon. We know that security is top-of-mind for you and your business leaders, maybe now more so than ever. So we’re excited to share several Azure AD announcements that will help you strengthen your Zero Trust defenses in this current era of hybrid work. We’ll be updating our key news on Tuesday morning as Microsoft Ignite starts, so please watch our Microsoft Security blog for further announcements.

Once you’ve checked that out, be sure to tune in to Azure Active Directory: our identity vision and roadmap airing first at Wednesday, March 3^rd at 5:00pm PT, delivered by Joy Chik, as she shares a deeper dive on how Azure AD helps you maximize control while enabling a seamless and secure user experience. Joy will be joined by a team of our identity expert to show off cool demos and share best practices to strengthen your authentication, simplify onboarding, and secure access to all your apps.

Please also join our experts for a live Q&A where they will answer your burning questions on our identity announcements, tips for deploying secure passwordless solutions, and Zero Trust as the proactive approach to cybersecurity.

No matter where you are in the world, I hope you will join us through our live and pre-recorded sessions. Join the conversation on Twitter and LinkedIn with the hashtag #MSIgnite.

Additional technical deep dive sessions available starting Tuesday

• Go passwordless | Hands-on tour in Azure AD with FIDO2 keys and Temporary Access Pass – watch


• Taking identity and privacy to a new level – watch


• Prevent attacks by protecting your applications with Azure Active Directory – watch


• Winning Azure Active Directory strategies for identity, security, and governance – watch


• Zero Trust – The proactive approach to cybersecurity – watch

Looking for more ways to engage with our identity content and experts?

Visit the Connection Zone where various engagement opportunities will help deepen your knowledge and skills.

• Compete and win free certification exams while building your expertise by participating in Cloud Skill Challenges


• Tune into Plan implement and administer conditional access, a Learn Live session which will highlight how to plan and implement security defaults, test, and troubleshoot conditional access policies implement application controls and session management as well as how to configure smart lockout thresholds.


• Want to have your questions answered by a Microsoft Professional? Visit One-on-one Consults to schedule a 45-minute consultation where you can engage directly with an identity expert.

Best regards,

Alex Simons (Twitter: @alex_a_simons)

Corporate Vice President Program Management

Microsoft Identity Division

AzureRM will retire by 29 February 2024

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Can you remember 2015? Apple launched the Apple Watch, Microsoft launched Windows 10, and we announced AzureRM v1.0!

After years of service and coexistence with its replacement, the time has come to share the next steps we are taking with AzureRM.

Looking back

In 2018, we introduced a new generation of PowerShell modules named “Az”, bringing several advantages:

• Based on .NET Standard library for cross–platform execution. 


• Addressed customer feedback about the length of commands. 


• Reduced inconsistencies between cmdlets and modules. 

After two years of existence and continuous improvements, the Az PowerShell modules feature the following benefits: 

• Security and stability
  
  
  
  • Token cache encryption
  
  
  • 
    

    Prevention of man-in-the-middle attack type

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Support authentication with ADFS 2019

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Username and password authentication in PowerShell 7

    
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  Support for all Azure services

  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    All generally available Azure services have a corresponding supported Az PowerShell module

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Multiple bug fixes and API version upgrades since AzureRM

    
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  

  New capabilities

  
  
  
  
  • 
    

    Support in Cloud Shell and cross-platform

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Can get and use access token to access Azure resources

    
    
  
  
  • 
    

    Cmdlet available for advanced REST operations with Azure resources

    
    
  
  
  
  

We are now announcing that the AzureRM PowerShell module will retire by 29 February 2024.  

If you are still using AzureRM modules, we advise you to migrate to Az at your earliest convenience. 

How do I migrate?

When we talked with customers, the effort needed to migrate scripts based on AzureRM to Az was one of the main blockers.

We provide a toolkit comprised of three options to help you migrate to Az:

1. A PowerShell module to convert your scripts automatically. 


2. A compatibility mode with the “Enable-AzureRmAlias” cmdlet allowing you to run AzureRM scripts with Az modules. 


3. A VSCode extension if you want to perform the migration of your scripts with an IDE. 

The following page has all the resources and technical information to help you migrate your scripts to Az: https://docs.microsoft.com/powershell/azure/migrate-from-azurerm-to-az  

Open an issue on GitHub if you encounter problems with the migration toolkit.  

Products and services using AzureRM 

Some products and services have dependencies on the AzureRM modules. We are working closely with them to provide you with a path forward.  

Next steps

We encourage you to start your migration as soon as possible and share with the community best practices that you may have, including tips and tricks. 

The entire team is listening to your feedback and welcomes issues and contributions. 

• For issues on the migration toolkit: https://github.com/Azure/azure-powershell-migration 


• For best practices sharing: https://github.com/Azure/azure-powershell/discussions  

And as always, you can reach out to us via Twitter @azureposh 

February Project Update Blog

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Microsoft Project Trivia!

We’re starting trivia this month to help people learn more about Microsoft Project & its history. Leave your guesses to these questions in the comments & check back next month to see if you were right!

Question: What year was Microsoft Project first released?

Bonus: How many Windows applications did Microsoft release before Project?

Reimagine Project Management with Microsoft

Microsoft Project is hosting a free digital event to help our users learn more about how to leverage Project, Microsoft Planner, and Dynamics 365 Project Operations to best manage your projects – both big and small!

This includes 6+ hours of on-demand demos and product walkthroughs to help you discover and leverage new features and learn best practices to keep your projects on track. Get tailored guidance directly from the engineering teams behind these products.

This event goes live on March 18^th, 2021. You can learn more here.

New Features

• Flexible Deployment for Project for the web ~ This feature is now available to all users! Create different environments for Project for the web based on organization, business unit, or team needs. Check out our blog post to learn more about this new experience


• Project Accelerator ~ The Project Accelerator allows users to leverage Power Apps to manage the entire lifecycle of your projects, including demand management, financial goals, team development, and artifact tracking.


• Filter on Project Home ~ Use a search bar to easily find your projects on Project Home.

Upcoming Features

• Export Timeline to PDF ~ Print your timeline information to a PDF so you can share your project schedule with external stakeholders.


• Assign tasks to non-group members ~ Assign a task to someone without automatically adding them to your project group.


• Effort in the Project details pane ~ See overall effort on your project directly in the Project details pane, including the total effort, completed effort for your project, and remaining effort on your whole project.

FAQ:

This section includes questions we see frequently, either through the in-app Feedback button or from the comments of last month’s blog.

Q: What dependencies are supported in Project for the web?

A: Project for the web currently only supports Finish-to-Start dependencies. If you need additional dependencies, please submit feedback using our in-app “Feedback” button in the top-right corner of the product. This best helps us keep track of customer needs.

Q: Where are attachments stored in Project?

A: You can find all your attached files in your Team’s SharePoint library.

Note that you can’t attach files to tasks in Project unless you have already shared your project to a group. You can do this by using the “Group members” button in the top-right corner of the product.

You can attach links to your tasks even before you add a group to your project.

We want to hear from you! If you have feedback, submit it by using the “Feedback” button in Project for the web. Make sure to include your email address so we can contact you directly with any follow up questions or comments. Your comments on our blog posts are also monitored, so let us know what you think about this or other articles.

Remotely run DDL and DML in Synapse from a SQL Managed Instance using Linked Servers

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Imagine you have a SQL Managed Instance and a SQL Dedicated Pool. Now imagine that for some reason you need to run a SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE or even a CREATE TABLE on your SQL Dedicated Pool but executed from your SQL Managed Instance. In case you didn’t know, you can do this using Linked Servers.

For those unfamiliar with Linked Servers, they enable the instance in which you create them to read data from remote data sources and also to execute commands against remote database servers.

You can setup Linked Servers using SSMS or you can use T-SQL as well. Here’s a short example of how to setup a Linked Server from a SQL Managed Instance to Azure Synapse Analytics SQL Dedicated Pool, using T-SQL.

First, we need to start by creating the Linked Server on our SQL Managed Instance, and configuring it to point to our SQL Dedicated Pool:

-- Configure the linked server on your SQL Managed Instance
EXEC sp_addlinkedserver
  @server = 'yourLinkedServer', -- specify here the name you want for your linked server
  @srvproduct = N'',
  @Provider = 'MSOLEDBSQL', -- recommended OLE DB provider
  @datasrc='yourworkspacename.sql.azuresynapse.net', -- add here your SQL Dedicated Pool server name
  @catalog = 'yourDatabase'; -- add here your SQL Dedicated Pool database name as initial catalog (you cannot connect to the master database)

After having created the Linked Server, we need to define the credentials with which we want to connect to your SQL Dedicated Pool:

-- Add credentials and options to this linked server
EXEC sp_addlinkedsrvlogin
  @rmtsrvname = 'yourLinkedServer',
  @useself = 'false', -- so we can specify below which user and password to connect with
  @rmtuser = 'yourLogin', -- add here your login on your SQL Dedicated Pool
  @rmtpassword = 'yourPassword'; -- add here your password on your SQL Dedicated Pool

Lastly, by default Linked Servers are not able to make stored procedure calls so we need to enable a setting:

-- Enable RPC to the given server
EXEC sp_serveroption
  @server = 'yourLinkedServer',
  @optname = 'rpc out', 
  @optvalue = true;

Once you’ve successfully executed all the previous steps, you can now remotely run T-SQL commands on your SQL Dedicated Pool directly from your SQL Managed Instance.

Executing T-SQL via Linked Servers requires we declare the objects we are referencing with a 4-part name in the format of:

-- Query the data using 4-part names 
SELECT * FROM yourLinkedServer.yourDatabase.yourSchemaname.yourTablename;

However, if you try to run DDL or DML (other than SELECT) using this 4-part name you’ll get error messages as follows:

INSERT INTO yourLinkedServer.SampleSQL.dbo.Employee VALUES(1);

Msg 46706, Level 16, State 1, Line 29
Cursor support is not an implemented feature for SQL Server Parallel DataWarehousing TDS endpoint.

CREATE TABLE yourLinkedServer.SampleSQL.dbo.t1(col1 INT NULL);

Msg 117, Level 15, State 1, Line 31
The object name ‘yourLinkedServer.SampleSQL.dbo.t1’ contains more than the maximum number of prefixes. The maximum is 2.

A way to get around this is by running the DDL and DML in the format of:

EXEC ('DDL/DML') at yourLinkedServer

So for two previous examples, the T-SQL would be:

--to create a table
EXEC ('CREATE TABLE dbo.t1(col1 INT NULL)') at yourLinkedServer;

--to insert a row into the table
EXEC ('INSERT INTO dbo.t1 VALUES(1)') at yourLinkedServer;

Hope you find this useful!

Microsoft Defender for Identity and CMMC Applications

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Microsoft Defender for Identity uses Active Directory signals to identify, detect, and investigate advanced threats, compromised identities, and malicious insider actions directed at your organizations. Defender for Identity monitors and analyzes user activities and information across your network, such as permissions and group membership, creating a behavioral baseline for each user that is then used to identify anomalies using built-in AI. 

Many of these capabilities help to address Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification (CMMC) requirements across several Domains. For example Audit and Accountability (AU) 3.051 states DIB suppliers must “Correlate audit record review, analysis, and reporting processes for investigation and response to indications of unlawful, unauthorized, suspicious or unusual activity.” The insights provided by Microsoft Defender for Identity can help administrators identify suspicious activities and reveal advanced threats, compromised users,  and insider threats. Defender for Identity also provides security reports and analytics to help quickly identify and assess paths of attack inside your organization.

With Microsoft Defender for Identity and the integration of Azure AD Identity Protection and Cloud App Security, monitoring and alerting can be applied for identities that span both on premises and in the cloud. Learn how Microsoft Defender for Identity uses adaptive built-in intelligence, giving you insights into suspicious activities and events, revealing the advanced threats, compromised users, and insider threats facing your organization. All of this and more can assist in meeting CMMC and DFARS requirements tied to NIST 800-171 / 53.

In this video famed Microsoft Security Architect and speaker Matt Soseman (aka.ms/SosemanTV – 6K+ Subscribers) provides this excellent introduction to Microsoft Defender for Identity and how it addresses several key Practices and Domains within #CMMC​.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdipZXtNEs8 

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/sdipZXtNEs8

#MSDefender​ #MicrosoftSecurity​

CMMC Audit and Accountability

https://info.summit7systems.com/blog/…​

Microsoft Defender in Office 365 GCC and GCC High

https://info.summit7systems.com/blog/microsoft-defender 

Session from February 2021 CS2 Conference

http://cs2.cloud

WinObj v3.01

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Adapt. Automate. Engage: Teams Roadshow

by Contributed | Mar 1, 2021 | Technology

This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.

Microsoft Teams, the HUB for teamwork. You have heard it before, but what does it mean? 

As the appetite for new ways of working together grows, new developments, communications, mobility, and cloud services are enabling professionals to communicate and collaborate in ways that were previously not possible.  

Microsoft Teams is the framework that enables individuals to blend and customize these new tools – to create unique experiences that align with their needs.  

What to expect from this roadshow series? 

Knowing that new tools bring new opportunity, we’ve designed this three-part series for healthcare professionals to learn, share and create innovative ideas to improve employee experiences and business value. We will guide you through the following journey, first with an overview of APPs and automation in Teams – then going into greater detail with experience demonstrations and customer success stories.  

Session #1 – Teams as a Platform in Healthcare 

Introduction and overview of Teams as a Platform in Healthcare. Key agenda focus areas include:  

• Custom APPs in Teams 


• Bringing other APPs into Teams 


• Process Automation 
  
  

Session #2 – Custom APPs in Teams for Healthcare 

Demonstration of the following custom APPs being used through Teams for Healthcare today 

• Adoption APP 


• Power Virtual Agents and FAQ BOTs 


• Virtual Rounding 


• Company Communicator 


• Inspections/Employee Ideas APPs 
  
  

Session #3 – Bringing APPs together in Teams for Healthcare 

Demonstration of the following 3rd party APPs being used through Teams for Healthcare today 

• Service Now 


• Workday 


• Amion


• InCare 


• AMN Translation 


• AGFA 


• Adobe Sign 


• JIRA 

How do you register to attend this roadshow series?  

There is no registration required! We recommend you copy the session links below that best align with your schedule and block your calendar.  See you then!  

Registration Links: (two options for each session, choose the one that best aligns to your schedule) 

Session #1: Teams as a Platform in Healthcare 

• March 1st, 1pm – 2:30pm EST: Link to Live Event 


• March 4th, 1pm – 2:30pm EST: Link to Live Event 

Session #2: Custom APPs in Teams for Healthcare 

• March 8th, 1pm-2:30pm EST: Link to Live Event 


• March 11th, 1pm-2:30pm EST: Link to Live Event 

Session #3: Bringing APPs together in Teams for Healthcare 

• March 15th, 1pm-2:30pm EST: Link to Live Event 


• March 18th, 1pm-2:30pm EST: Link to Live Event