Archives
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Microsoft har Sveriges snyggaste kontor
Igår, den 28 november, hade Microsofts fastighetschef Lotta Bergius det stora nöjet att ta emot priset för Sveriges Snyggaste Kontor 2013, på en prisutdelningsceremoni på Oscarsteatern i Stockholm. Priset består av, förutom äran och uppmärksamheten, en skulptur av Ernst Billgren som nu står i Microsofts reception.
Tidigare i år blev Microsoft Sverige utnämnt till Sveriges bästa arbetsplats av Great Place To Work. Båda dessa pris är tillsammans en bekräftelse på att vi tänker rätt, inte bara när det gäller tekniken, utan även när det de övriga två delarna - platsen och personerna – som krävs för framgångsrika förändringsprojekt. -
Microsoft Releases Security Advisory 2914486
Today we released Security Advisory 2914486 regarding a local elevation of privilege (EoP) issue that affects customers using Microsoft Windows XP and Server 2003. Windows Vista and later are not affected by this local EoP issue. A member of the Microsoft Active Protections Program (MAPP) found this issue being used on systems compromised by a third-party remote code execution vulnerability. These limited, targeted attacks require users to open a malicious PDF file. The issues described by the advisory cannot be used to gain access to a remote system alone.
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Installing ARR manually without WebPI
Microsoft’s Application Request Router (ARR) IIS Extension is a complex piece of software which integrates with several other components to do its job. These components are URL Rewrite, Web Farm Framework and ARR’s External Cache module. For things to work correctly, not only do you need all components, but they must also be installed in a specific order, which can be confusing. Several years ago, Microsoft introduced the Web Platform Installer (WebPI) mechanism, which makes it easy to manage installed components. It’s used with many things nowadays, and is also a good way to install ARR and all its components properly and easily.
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Our protection metrics – October results
Last month we introduced our monthly protection metrics and talked about our September results. Today, we’d like to talk about our results from October. If you want a refresh on the definition of the metrics we use in our monthly results, see our prior post: Our protection metrics – September results.
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Security and policy surrounding bring your own devices (BYOD)
As the proliferation of devices continues to capture the imagination of consumers, and has ignited what is referred to as bring your own device (BYOD) revolution, many IT departments across the globe are now facing increased security considerations. While organizations encourage BYOD for cost savings and productivity, it is also important to have robust security policies supporting BYOD.
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Gobble gobble! 8 apps you need to make it through Thanksgiving!
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Update Rollup 5 for System Center Advisor is available
Microsoft has released the on-premises client Update Rollup 5 for Microsoft System Center Advisor. This update is dated November 12, 2013. The article linked below describes the following information about the update: -
Join our ITPro Customer Panel and help shape future Microsoft Virtualization, Cloud, and Datacenter Management Products
Microsoft Windows Server and Systems Center Customer Research team is looking for ITPros to participate on an IT Pro panel. -
Molnsatsning lyfter SATS
En aggressiv molnstrategi med tyngdpunkt på produkter från Microsoft ger träningskedjan SATS en bättre IT-miljö. Därmed underlättas företagets fortsatta expansion samtidigt som kunderna erbjuds bättre service.
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Industridesigners möjliggör för fler att jobba hemma
Microsoft som under två år drivit initiativet Jobba hemma-dagen tar nu hjälp av tre inspiratörer för att lösa problem och utmaningar med att jobba utanför kontoret.
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Carberp-based trojan attacking SAP
Recently there has been quite a bit of buzz about an information-stealing trojan that was found to be targeting the logon client for SAP. We detect this trojan as TrojanSpy:Win32/Gamker.A.
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Windows Phone 8 växer med Instagram
Nu finns Instagram och Waze till Windows Phone 8. Apparna är bara två i raden av de nu över 190 000 apparna i Windows Phone Store.
- Instagram är den mest sökta appen till Windows Phone 8, så självklart känns det fantastiskt roligt att våra användare idag kan ladda hem den. Det är verkligen ett styrkebesked att allt fler utvecklare satsar på Windows Phone 8, dagligen utökas utbudet med nästan 500 appar, säger Anna Ström, affärsområdeschef för Windows Phone på Microsoft i Sverige -
Swedavias flygplatsapp för Windows Phone 8 och Windows 8
Nu lanseras Swedavias flygplatsapp även för Windows Phone 8 och Windows 8. I appen får resenärerna tillgång till en rad ”on the go” funktioner förknippade med resan. Resenärerna får enkelt information om ankomst- och avgångstider i realtid såväl som gate- och boardingtime. Nu går det också att snabbt ta reda på ankomsttiden för bagaget.
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Karlstad utsedd till Sveriges IT-kommun 2013
När Microsofts Marie Ygge delade ut priset Sveriges IT-kommun 2013 var det Karlstad Kommun som tog hem segern, för sitt framgångsrika arbete med att utveckla och förbättra kommunens verksamheter och service med hjälp av IT. Priset delades ut under Kvalitetsmässans invigningsgala på GöteborgsOperan igårkväll .
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Microsoft utser årets partner 2013
I går hölls Microsofts årliga partnerevent på Folkets Hus i Stockholm och dagens höjdpunkt var när årets partner 2013 utsågs. De priser som delas ut av Microsoft är uppdelade i åtta kategorier, och vinnarna har tagits fram bland Microsofts närmare 4 000 samarbetspartner i Sverige. Grattis till alla vinnande partner!
Årets Cloud Partner: Avanade Sweden AB -
Joining the Cloud Security Alliance Board
By Adrienne Hall, General Manager, Trustworthy Computing
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Ransomware: Ways to Protect Yourself & Your Business
By Tim Rains, Director, Trustworthy Computing
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Backup the best defense against (Cri)locked files
Crilock – also known as CryptoLocker – is one notorious ransomware that’s been making the rounds since early September. Its primary payload is to target and encrypt your files, such as your pictures and Office documents. All of the file types that can be encrypted are listed in our Trojan:Win32/Crilock.A and Trojan:Win32/Crilock.B descriptions.
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Microsoft Next: Välkommen till Microsofts huvudkontor 27-28 november
Den 27-28 november bjuder vi in dig till vår hemmaplan med tvådagarskonferensen Microsoft Next. Ny teknik förändrar hur vi jobbar och utmanar våra tankesätt. Vilken roll får kontoret när vi inte längre behöver vara där? Vad kommer morgondagens medarbetare att kräva av sin arbetsgivare? Det Nya Arbetslivet handlar lika mycket om ledarskap och kultur som de tekniska lösningarna.
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Norrtäljeskola en av 80 skolor i världen att utses till mentorskola
Som en av 80 skolor i världen, och som enda svenska skola, utses Rodengymnasiet i Norrtälje kommun till mentorsskola i Microsofts internationella utbildningssatsning.- Rodengymnasiet använder inte bara teknik i skolan på ett innovativt sätt. De har också fått utmärkelsen för sin passion för innovativt lärande och för att man på ett föredömligt sätt på ett strategiskt vis bygger hållbar skolutveckling i vardagen, säger Eva Pethrus, ansvarig för Partnerskap i Lärande på Microsoft.- Vi är mycket glada över utmärkelsen! Våra duktiga lärare har alla hjälpts åt för att göra detta möjligt, säger Katarina Björk, rektor på Rodengymnasiet.Utnämningen innebär att lärare, elever och skolledare på Rodengymnasiet kommer att delta i internationella nätverk och kompetensutveckling som Microsoft anordnar. De får bland annat en inbjudan till Microsofts utbildningsforum i Barcelona i mars, för att dela med sig av sina lärdomar och inspireras av andra.Microsoft har utsett 80 mentorsskolor som representerar ledarskap och innovation i klassrummet, och som är fast beslutna att förbereda eleverna för 21st Century Learning. 250 mentorsskolor var nominerade från 75 länder.Ytterligare information om Microsofts syn på utbildning och vad som görs för att stötta lärande runtom i världen finns i Anthony Salcitos blogginlägg.Kontakt:Katarina BjörkRektor, Rodengymnasiet0176-717 64 -
Varför jobbar inte du hemma idag?
Det var precis vad vi frågade stockholmarna i morgonrusningen! Som en start på nedräkningen till nästa års Jobba hemma dag ville vi ta del av stockholmarnas tankar kring att jobba hemma. Sedan bad vi våra främsta experter ge sina bästa råd hur man kan lösa de utmaningar som uppstår med hemmaarbete.
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Golfanläggningar lyfter med molnet
Golfservices Norden arbetar sedan starten 2011 med att ge golfanläggningar nöjdare medlemmar samt att öka anläggningarnas lönsamhet. För att detta ska vara möjligt är en väl fungerande IT-plattform en föruts
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Enhanced Mitigation Experience Toolkit (EMET) 4.1 Released
Posted by TwC Staff
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know about many of the ways Microsoft works to improve security in our own products and services, as well as the broader technology industry. -
MBSA 2.3 and the November 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast, Q&A, and Slide Deck
Today we’re publishing the November 2013 Security Bulletin Webcast Questions & Answers page. The majority of questions focused on the ActiveX Kill Bits bulletin (MS13-090) and the advisories. We also answered a few general questions that were not specific to any of this month’s updates, but that may be of interest.
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Febipos for Internet Explorer
In a previous blog post we discussed Trojan:JS/Febipos.A, a malicious browser extension that targets the Facebook profiles of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox users. We recently came across a new Febipos sample that was specifically developed for Internet Explorer - we detect it as Trojan:Win32/Febipos.B!dll.
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Make it FAST!
Going fast is always fun, but when it comes to your hardware, it could mean saving a lot of money on hardware and stretching your budget to the max. Software developers usually spend a lot of time and energy on making their product run as lean and efficient as possible, but ultimately, every customer uses his systems differently, and so there’s no one-size-fits-all. For this reason, most products allow you to tweak some settings to squeeze a bit more performance out of your system.
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New in Software Assurance: Problem Resolution Support Web
Hi everyone, this is Siddharth Jha from the DPM team and I wanted to bring a product support related update to your attention. -
New Lync Online Guided Walkthrough Helps Office 365 Admins Troubleshoot Sign-in Issues
Contributors: Darrin Hanson | Patrick Kelley | Premal Gandhi | Tim Lulofs | Peter Krebs Publication date: November 13, 2013 Product version: Lync Online The Lync Online Sign-in Guided Walkthrough ( http://aka.ms/LyncSignIn ) offers admins a customized...(read more)
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Authenticity and the November 2013 Security Updates
If you haven't had a chance to see the movie Gravity, I highly recommend you take the time to check it out. The plot moves a bit slowly at times, but director Alfonso Cuaron's work portrayal of zero gravity is worth the ticket price alone. Add in stellar acting and you end up with an epic movie that really makes you miss the shuttle program. Still, the movie has its detractors. Specifically, astrophysicist and geek icon Neil deGrasse Tyson has been critical about the movie's authenticity. To deGrasse Tyson, a lack of authenticity disrupts the movie-going experience.
Similarly, a lack of authenticity can disrupt your computing experience, which leads me to a couple of interesting items in this month's release. Two advisories this month deal with authenticity by focusing on certificates and cryptography. The first is Security Advisory 286725, which disables the use of the RC4 stream cipher. As computing power increases, cryptographic attacks that were once only theoretical become practical - this is the case with RC4, which was originally designed in 1987. That's the same year The Simpsons first appeared as shorts on The Tracy Ullman Show. Computing has changed somewhat in that time.
We've already taken this step in Windows 8.1 and Internet Explorer 11, and now we're providing an update to disable its use in other operating systems as well. Rather than automatically disable the cipher, the update provides a registry key that allows developers to eliminate RC4 as an available cipher in their applications. The SRD blog provides a deep dive into RC4 and the implications of disabling it.
Security Advisory 2880823 also impacts cryptography and authenticity but addresses SHA1. We aren't going to surprise the world by saying we're turning off support for SHA1 today, but we are announcing a new policy for Certificate Authorities (CAs) that deprecates the use of the SHA1 algorithm in SSL and code signing certificates in favor of the SHA2 algorithm. After January 2016, only SHA2 certificates can be issued. The good folks over on the PKI blog go into more detail about the change.
We have an update regarding a cryptographic function as well, MS13-095 addresses an issue in Digital Signatures that could cause a web service to stop responding if it receives a specially crafted X.509 certificate. Since these certificates are used to ensure authenticity, having the web service go down during negotiation is suboptimal.
Of course, another way to help ensure authenticity throughout your computing experience is to use EMET. An updated version of the program is available today. Of the many improvements, there is an update to the default settings that includes two new application protection profiles for applications. There's also an update for the Certificate Trust profile that offers more applications protection. Full details about this release can be found on the SRD blog. It may not patch any holes, but it can make it harder to reach any issue that may exist on a system and, if your family is like mine, it will significantly reduce calls from relatives looking for tech support.
Of course it takes more than just authenticity to make a secure computing experience, which leads us to the other updates for November. Today, we released eight bulletins, three Critical and five Important, addressing 19 unique CVEs in Microsoft Windows, Internet Explorer, and Office. For those who need to prioritize their deployment planning we recommend focusing on MS13-090, MS13-088, and MS13-089.
Our Bulletin Deployment Priority graph provides an overview of this month's priority releases (click to enlarge).
MS13-090 | Cumulative Security Update of Active X Kill Bits
This update addresses a remote code execution issue in an ActiveX control by providing a kill bit for associated ActiveX controls. We are aware of limited attacks that exploit this issue. The code execution occurs at the level of the logged on user, so non-admin users would face less of an impact. The remote code execution vulnerability with higher severity rating be fixed in today's release and we advise customers to prioritize the deployment of MS13-090 for their monthly release. As usual, customer with Automatic Updates enabled will not need to take any action to receive the update. Additional information about this vulnerability is available on the Security Research & Defense blog.
MS13-088 | Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer
This security update resolves ten privately reported vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer. The most severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted webpage using Internet Explorer. An attacker who successfully exploited the most severe of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the current user.
MS13-089 | Vulnerability in Windows Graphics Device Interface Could Allow Remote Code Execution
This update addresses one privately reported vulnerability in Microsoft Windows. The vulnerability could allow remote code execution if a user views or opens a specially crafted Windows Write file in WordPad. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the current user.
Last but not least, we are also providing an update for users of DirectAccess (DA) through Security Advisory 2862152. This security feature bypass issue would require a man-in-the-middle attacker to be successful, but if someone can snoop on your DA connection, it's possible they could impersonate a legitimate DA server in order to establish connections with legitimate DA clients. The attacker-controlled system could then intercept the target user's network traffic and potentially determine the encrypted domain credentials. This update, along with the new configuration guidelines available in KB2862152, helps ensure the authenticity of DA connections.
Watch the bulletin overview video below for a brief summary of today's releases.
Our risk and impact graph shows an aggregate view of this month's Security and Exploitability Index (click to enlarge).
For more information about this month's security updates, including the detailed view of the Exploit Index broken down by CVE, visit the Microsoft Bulletin Summary Webpage.
Jonathan Ness and I will host the monthly bulletin webcast, scheduled for Wednesday, November 13, 2013, at 11 a.m. PST. I invite you to register here and tune in to learn more about this month's security bulletins and advisories. We'll provide authentic answers to your update deployment questions, but no zero gravity effects will be employed.
For all the latest information, you can also follow the MSRC team on Twitter at @MSFTSecResponse.
I look forward to hearing your questions in the webcast tomorrow.
Thanks,
Dustin Childs
Group Manager, Response Communications
Microsoft Trustworthy Computing -
MSRT November 2013 - Napolar
We first noticed the new family we named Win32/Napolar being distributed in the wild in early August this year. It quickly became a big problem on our customers’ machines.
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ActiveX Control issue being addressed in Update Tuesday
Late last Friday, November 8, 2013, a vulnerability, CVE-2013-3918, affecting an Internet Explorer ActiveX Control was publically disclosed. We have confirmed that this vulnerability is an issue already scheduled to be addressed in “Bulletin 3”, which will be released as MS13-090, as listed in the November Advanced Notification Service (ANS). The security update will be distributed to customers tomorrow via Windows Update at approximately 10:00 AM PDT. Customers who have Automatic Updates enabled will not need to take any action to receive the update.
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Security Intelligence Report (SIR) v15 Now Available
Posted by TwC Staff
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Cumulative Update for Lync Desktop Client 2013: November 2013
Abstract: Microsoft Support has released a cumulative update for Lync 2013 Desktop Client for Windows, which includes new functionality. Author: Nikolay Muravlyannikov, Program Manager II Publication date: November 12, 2013 Product version: Lync...(read more)
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Updated Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Documentation Help File (.chm) Available on the Download Center
We've posted an updated Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Documentation Help File on the download center. The updated file includes all changes made to topics in the Lync Server TechNet Library since the release of Lync Server 2013, including bug fixes and updates...(read more)
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Clarification on Security Advisory 2896666 and the ANS for the November 2013 Security Bulletin Release
Today, we’re providing advance notification for the release of eight bulletins, three Critical and five Important, for November 2013. The Critical updates address vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer and Microsoft Windows, and the Important updates address issues in Windows and Office.
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Microsoft Releases Security Advisory 2896666
Today we released Security Advisory 2896666 regarding an issue that affects customers using Microsoft Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Office 2003 through 2010, and all supported versions of Microsoft Lync. We are aware of targeted attacks, largely in the Middle East and South Asia. The current versions of Microsoft Windows and Office are not affected by this issue. The exploit requires user interaction as the attack is disguised as an email requesting potential targets to open a specially crafted Word attachment. If the attachment is opened or previewed, it attempts to exploit the vulnerability using a malformed graphics image embedded in the document. An attacker who successfully exploited the vulnerability could gain the same user rights as the logged on user.
While we are actively working to develop a security update to address this issue, we encourage our customers concerned with the risk associated with this vulnerability, to deploy the following Fix it from the advisory: -
Updates: RAMMap v1.32, Sigcheck v2.01
RAMMap v1.32: This fixes a bug in v1.30 that caused RAMMap to fail on Windows 8.
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Upatre: Emerging Up(d)at(er) in the wild
The MMPC is constantly monitoring emerging threats that are impacting our customers the most.
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System Center User Group: Netherlands – Update & Announcement
Greatness of a small country: Client, Data, and Cloud Management
