by Contributed | Sep 18, 2024 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Build a security-first organization with up-to-date cybersecurity skills
Like others around the globe, your organization is likely dealing with an ever-increasing number of cyberthreats and you need skilled team members to help address them. According to the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs Report 2023, cybersecurity is near the top of the list of the fastest-growing job roles. There’s an increasing need for professionals with cybersecurity skills—a need that will continue to grow in the future. In the world of business today, every member of every team must be ready to address cyberthreats.
At Microsoft, one of the ways that we help counter these threats is to promote a security-first culture—security above all else. We continuously apply what we’ve learned from security incidents to improve our methods and practices. To that end, we’ve created the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative (SFI), our commitment to advance the way we design, build, test, and operate our technology so our solutions can meet the highest possible security standards.
Empower your workforce to counter cyberthreats
Strengthening your organization’s cybersecurity posture and supporting a security-first culture involves upskilling across all roles to handle cyberthreats. Get started on Microsoft Learn for Organizations, where you can find the latest team training resources and opportunities, including cybersecurity training to build skills that your teams can put to work right away. Check out the self-paced, on-demand, Microsoft Official Plans highlighted there, including:
Plus, Microsoft Learn for Organizations offers a variety of practical insights, inspiring success stories, and additional resources for teams that are skilling up to keep pace with fast-evolving technologies and close the skills gap.
Join us for an important cybersecurity skills webinar
Jump-start a skill-building plan to help your organization address threats to your data, assets, systems, and more. Join us online for the Microsoft Secure Future Initiative Master Class: Red vs. blue skills to counter cyberthreats, on September 25, 2024, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM Pacific Time, a webinar that focuses on monitoring and detecting threats and accelerating remediation—all part of the SFI pillars. In this important webinar, you can:
- Learn from experts. Hear from Microsoft Security experts, along with Microsoft Certified Trainers from our Training Services Partner NetCom Learning.
- Experience a red versus blue team demonstration. See Microsoft Security solutions, like Microsoft Sentinel, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint, and Defender XDR in action through real-world cyberattack scenarios.
- Discover skills to help secure your organization. Explore learning paths to upskill your team and protect against evolving cyberthreats.
- Join a live Q&A with experts. Get answers to your security training questions from some of the best in the industry.
Reserve your spot for this webinar, and let’s build a more secure future together!
by Contributed | Sep 17, 2024 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
With the slate of enhancements for Microsoft 365 Copilot just announced, I thought it’d be interesting to take a look at some everyday use cases and see how you can take advantage of some of them. Today, we’ll briefly examine what enterprise data protection (EDP) in Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot can help you to confidently do, and why we think it’s so important.
First, what is EDP? It refers to controls and commitments, under the Data Protection Addendum (DPA) and Product Terms, that apply to customer data for users of Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot. It applies to both Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Copilot when you’re signed in with your Entra ID.
Check out the link to get the details, but at a high level, it means your data is private and secure and is not used to train the foundation models. This allows you to confidently leverage Copilot to get your job done without risking data leakage. Now let’s take a look at how this can come in handy!
Tip 1: Find out how your product stacks up with competitors
Let’s say you have an internal document that lays out the specifications for your latest product and you need to figure out how to bring it to the market. EDP means that I can attach the file to my prompt knowing it will stay secure as Copilot reasons over it, combining information from my data with the latest information on the web, to provide me with a response.
1. Here I am, in the “Web” scope of Microsoft 365 Copilot.
A screenshot of Microsoft Copilot
2. I enter the prompt,
“ Use the product specifications from this document, and create a table comparing my new ebike to other offerings on the market. I want to find out how my product stacks up, and get ideas for what I should price my bike at.”
3. I select the paperclip icon on the bottom right of the chat window and select the product specification document from my files.
A screenshot of the chat window with a prompt and file linked
A screenshot of the results returned by Copilot in a table
A screenshot of the response provided by Copilot with analysis on competitor offerings
Copilot provides me with the table I asked for, while also providing some of the analysis and pricing strategy I had asked about and the information in my exchange with Copilot is not going to train foundation models or be risk being leaked.
Tip 2: Simplify collaboration further with Microsoft 365 Copilot
If you have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, you can further simplify collaboration with your coworkers using Copilot Pages.
1. In the work scope of Business Chat, I put in the same prompt, this time in the Work scope of Microsoft 365 Copilot. This time, to link my file to the prompt, I simply use the forward slash button.
A screenshot of Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat
2. With the response from Copilot, I then select “Edit in page”. Copilot automatically brings over its response to a Page.
A screenshot of the response from Copilot, with the button “Edit in Page”
3. On the page, I’m able to either select share on the top right, or directly tag my coworkers by @ mentioning them and immediately collaborate on the content.
A screenshot of Business Chat and a Page component
Alternatively, I could share either a link to the page, or copy the page component into an email, the same way I would a Loop component (If you want to learn more the experience, we explored using Copilot in Loop in my previous blog here).
For instance, I could @ mention Bri, and ask her to take a look and add her thoughts and ideas. She could do this directly on the page, and even ask Copilot to help her.
These small but simple ways to use Copilot have significantly improved and changed the way I work, tackle challenges, and collaborate.
I’d love to hear what other ways you might find this helpful to you!
by Contributed | Sep 16, 2024 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Microsoft 365 offers the cloud-backed apps, security, and storage that customers worldwide rely on to achieve more in a connected world – and lays a secure foundation for leveraging generative AI to go even further. Investing in our cloud productivity solutions and the AI-powered innovation they support will continue to be Microsoft’s priority.
Still, we know that some customer scenarios require a different approach. Some devices must never be connected to the internet; others need to remain unchanged for years at a time. We remain committed to supporting our customers and these scenarios. Earlier this year, we offered a public preview of Microsoft Office Long Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) 2024. Today, we’re announcing the general availability of this next perpetual version of Office for commercial and government customers.
An updated solution for specialized needs
Office LTSC 2024 offers a locked-in-time version of familiar productivity tools, updated with a subset of the features that have been added to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise over the last three years. New features for this release include Dynamic Charts and more than a dozen new text and array functions in Excel, enhanced search and meeting creation options in Outlook, and improvements to performance, security, and accessibility. Learn more about what’s new.
Office LTSC 2024 will be supported for five years under the Fixed Lifecycle Policy, and – like prior versions – will be deployable alongside Microsoft 365 Apps using a common set of tools to enable customers to more easily manage hybrid environments. Learn more about how to deploy and manage Office LTSC at Overview of Office LTSC 2024.
Choosing the best productivity suite for your organization
While Office LTSC 2024 offers many significant improvements over the previous Office LTSC release, as an on-premises product it does not include the cloud-based capabilities of Microsoft 365 Apps, like real-time collaboration, AI-driven automation, or cloud-backed security and compliance capabilities. And for customers who need additional flexibility on deployment and connectivity – but not a fully disconnected solution – Microsoft 365 has options that can help. For example, device-based licensing can simplify management of Microsoft 365 Apps in settings like computer labs or hospitals where devices are shared by many users. And extended offline access can be used to maintain access to Microsoft 365 Apps on devices that need to be disconnected from the internet for up to six months at a time. Microsoft 365 (or Office 365) is also required to subscribe to Microsoft 365 Copilot; as a disconnected product, Office LTSC does not qualify.
|
Microsoft 365 Apps [1] |
Office LTSC 2024 |
Apps included |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneNote, OneDrive, Microsoft Access (Windows Only), Microsoft Publisher (Windows Only) [2], Sway, Microsoft Forms |
Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, OneNote, Microsoft Access (Windows Only) [3] |
Desktop apps |
Premium apps installed on up to 5 PCs or Macs |
Classic apps installed on 1 PC or Mac |
Mobile apps |
Create & edit on up to 5 phones + 5 tablets |
 |
Web apps |
Create & edit online |
 |
Eligible for Microsoft 365 Copilot add-on [4] |
 |
 |
Cloud storage |
1 TB per user |
 |
Feature updates |
New features and security updates delivered via Current, Monthly, or Semi-Annual channels |
Security updates only |
Shared devices |
Shared computer activation or device-based licensing available |
Device-based licensing only |
Connectivity requirements |
Internet connection required for activation, license validation, and internet-based functionality. Extended offline access available to enable devices to stay disconnected for up to six months at a time. |
No internet connection required |
Embracing the future of work
Microsoft 365 offers the most secure, productive, and cost-effective solution for most organizations, and positions customers to unlock the transformative power of AI with Microsoft 365 Copilot. Especially as we approach the end of support for Office 2016 and Office 2019 on October 14, 2025, we encourage customers still using these solutions to transition to a Microsoft 365 subscription that suits their needs as a small business or a larger organization. And for scenarios where that is not possible – where a disconnected, locked-in-time solution is required – this new release reflects our commitment to supporting that need.
Learn more
Office LTSC 2024 is available to existing commercial and government volume-licensed customers today, along with new on-premises versions of Project and Visio. These products will be generally available to all customers on October 1. We will share more about Office 2024 for consumers in the coming weeks. For more information about Office LTSC 2024 and how it compares to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise, please visit the Office LTSC plan comparison page. If your organization is ready to take the next step toward the AI-powered future, find out how to get started with Microsoft 365 today.
Notes:
[1] Applies to Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise and Microsoft 365 Apps for business. All Microsoft 365 and Office 365 suites that include desktop apps also include everything listed here – and more. Learn about the available options.
[2] Microsoft Publisher will be retiring in October 2026.
[3] Microsoft Access is included only with Office LTSC Professional Plus.
[4] Microsoft 365 Copilot may not be available for all markets and languages. To purchase, customers must have a qualifying Microsoft 365 plan for enterprise or business.
by Contributed | Sep 15, 2024 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
The Azure Storage product group is heading to the SNIA Developer Conference (SDC) 2024 in Santa Clara, California, USA from September 16th through September 18th. We have a large contingent of Product Managers and Engineers responsible for Azure Blob Storage and Azure Files presenting across multiple sessions at the conference as well as the Cloud Object Storage Plugfest.
If you’re attending the conference, stop by our sessions, listen in, say “Hello!” and introduce yourself as we demonstrate how Azure Storage can accommodate the largest AI training and AI inference workloads using Azure Blob Storage. Or if you’re a Files customer, stop by our sessions on Azure Files and SMB.
Session catalog
by Contributed | Sep 13, 2024 | Technology
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
September V1 Title Plan has been uploaded. Go to: aka.ms/Courseware_Title_Plan
aka.ms/Courseware_Title_Plan
Don’t forget to checkout updates made to the Title Plan, shared in its permanent location, linked above.
Please note: This is not a support forum. Only comments related to this specific blog post content are permitted and responded to.
- For ILT Courseware Support, please visit: aka.ms/ILTSupport
- If you have ILT questions not related to this blog post, please reach out to your program for support.
Recent Comments