To keep up with the firehose of news, we’ve decided to deliver some extra channel news to you on the side. Some of it is an extension of our own reporting on the channel that didn’t make its way into a story, while others might be content we’ve bookmarked and thought of sharing with you. We’re doing a similar thing at IT World Canada –check it out here. Missed last week’s CDN Morning Briefing? Read it here.
What you need to know right now
It’s what you need to know right now in the world of IT and tech – ’nuff said. (Often taken with a side of Hashtag Trending and Cyber Security Today)
Listen to the latest Hashtag Trending episode here!
Amazon says more than 19,000 of its frontline workers contracted COVID-19 this year, a few states have warmed up to the Apple-Google framework for contact tracing apps, and some tips on how to track your digital tattoo. Read the full podcast transcript here.
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Listen to the latest Cyber Security Today episode here!
As part of Cybersecurity Awareness Month, Howard dives into how to approach the topic of security with leaders. Read the full podcast transcript here!
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MapleSEC starts today!
Day 1 of MapleSEC is about The Threatscape. You won’t want to miss this panel moderated by Karsten Arend, CCBP, CBP, MBA, founder, of Just In-Genius Inc., director and VP of The Mackenzie Institute.
Business owners and government CISOs face an astonishing array of cyber threats as they protect their organizations against fraud, data theft, and ransomware attacks. It can be very stressful. Now imagine the stress when your job is protecting the entire continent against sophisticated attacks from well-heeled entities bent on wreaking havoc to serve their own agendas. Imagine no longer. In this special panel sponsored by the Mackenzie Institute, you’ll hear first-hand from cybersecurity intelligence leaders with the FBI, NSA, U.S. Homeland Security, the Communications Security Establishment, about their daily challenges and the big threats they see on the horizon. They’ll discuss the current state of security and privacy and what their respective agencies are doing to ensure personal data remains out of the reach of bad actors around the world.
Standing Guard: A Peek Behind the Curtain at International Cybersecurity Threats features:
Adam Hamilton, Special Agent, FBI
Neal Ziring, Cybersecurity Directorate, National Security Agency
Benjamin Salazar, Cybersecurity Expert, Department of Homeland Security
Donald MacLeod, Director of Autonomous Defence and Sensors, Canadian Security Establishment
There’s a lot more to look forward to on Day 1. If you haven’t registered, you can do that right here.
In case you missed it
Back-to-back outages for Microsoft
It wasn’t the greatest week for Microsoft. Two separate critical services went down worldwide for several hours last week, beginning with a flurry of downed Microsoft 365 services on Monday followed by Outlook outages Thursday.
We’re investigating an issue affecting access to multiple Microsoft 365 services. We’re working to identify the full impact and will provide more information shortly.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) September 28, 2020
Then later on Thursday:
We’ve received reports of users experiencing issues accessing their Exchange Online accounts via Outlook on the Web. Our initial investigation indicates that India-based users are the primarily impacted audience. Further details can be found in your admin center under EX223208.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) October 1, 2020
According to Microsoft, the Microsoft 365 outage last Monday stemmed from a coding issue related to an update. Affected applications relied on Azure Active Directory for authentication, and included Outlook, Exchange, OneDrive, SharePoint, Dynamics 365, and others.
More details on the Monday outage can be found on Azure’s history page.
On Thursday, updates were causing headaches again. Microsoft says they were related to a configuration update to components that route user requests. The outage lasted for several hours, beginning around 2 a.m. on the East Coast and lasting until past 6 a.m. Microsoft reverted the update.
We’ve determined that a recent configuration update to components that route user requests was the cause of impact. We’ve reverted the update and are monitoring the service for recovery.
— Microsoft 365 Status (@MSFT365Status) October 1, 2020
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VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload and more
VMware acquired Carbon Black during the summer of 2019 for $2.1 billion, and at its virtual VMworld event last week, showed us what they’ve done with the added security portfolio. A few important security announcements from VMWorld include:
- VMware Workspace Security VDI: VMware Workspace ONE Horizon and VMware Carbon Black Cloud are integrated into a single unified solution that leverages behavioral detection to protect against ransomware and file-less malware. On VMware vSphere, the solution is integrated into VMware Tools, removing the need to install and manage additional security agents.
- VMware Workspace Security Remote: An integrated solution that provides endpoint management, endpoint security and remote IT for physical Mac and Windows 10 devices. The solution includes the next-generation antivirus, audit and remediation, and detection and response capabilities of Carbon Black Cloud. It also includes the analytics, automation, device health, orchestration, and zero-trust access of the Workspace ONE platform.
- VMware Carbon Black Cloud Workload: Agentless security for virtual machines on vSphere. This solution makes it much easier for infrastructure operations and security operations to collaborate. [Source: VMware]
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Thousands of administrators overseeing Microsoft Exchange Server apparently aren’t in a hurry to install a major patch that was released eight months ago, according to a security vendor’s internet scan.
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A cloud-based provider of services for nonprofits, schools, healthcare organizations, faith communities, arts groups and corporations in five countries says data stolen in a ransomware attack four months ago may have included unencrypted customer information.
Blackbaud Inc. made the admission last week in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Dell refreshes XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 laptops with faster hardware [Channel Daily News]
Dell’s new premium XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 laptops, which are a part of Intel’s EVO program, an evolution of Intel’s Project Athena, are available today. The Dell XPS 13 follows the traditional clamshell laptop experience for uses who do not need to use it as a tablet.
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D&H Canada launches two new Lenovo-focused partner programs [Channel Daily News]
Lenovo is taking centre stage in D&H Canada’s latest channel partner programs.
Reddit recap
The MSP subreddit community is growing rapidly. It’s also a chatty bunch. With more than 84,000 members as of today, it’s worth taking a look at what they have to say every once in a while. Here are the recent top posts. Click on the posts to view additional responses.
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