* Posts by DCdave

137 publicly visible posts • joined 29 Jan 2018

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Just the Browser claims to tame the bloat without forking

DCdave

No Powershell script for me thanks

Just downloaded the Firefox json and installed manually, job done, thank you kindly.

No need to do due diligence on the Powershell script that way, plus Chrome is mandated by the org, so changes there probably wouldn't work, not that I use it anyway.

Fake Windows BSODs check in at Europe's hotels to con staff into running malware

DCdave

Re: WTF can non techies override security software ?

Likely because they are non-techie enough to be running as local admin and will click on anything.

In a corporate environment I'd expect them to be a) not local admin and b) even local admins can't override the corporate security software e.g an addtional security token is required.

LastPass hammered with £1.2M fine for 2022 breach fiasco

DCdave

Re: Blasé approach to security

Also reading the article reveals that the PC of the person with access to the encryption key was compromised using a vulnerability in Plex Server, the presence of which suggests either BYOD or personal use on a work device. Once the PC was compromised the linking of personal and work accounts led to further compromise.

Microsoft reports 7.8-rated zero day, plus 56 more in December Patch Tuesday

DCdave

Re: hotpatching

Hotpatching has been available on Azure for specific SKUs for a while. In both cases it doesn't completely remove the need for reboots, but it does vastly reduce the need for them. We're still evaluating whether reducing the number of reboots is worth the asymmetric nature of when reboots still need to occur. Probably as our automation matures we will gravitate more and more towards hotpatching.

Death to one-time text codes: Passkeys are the new hotness in MFA

DCdave

Re: What is so bad about SMS

Interception at carrier: techspot.com/news/108364-whistleblower-warning-2fa-codes-sent-sms-trivially-easy.html

Redirect mobile number to another SIM (SIM swap): https://www.techadvisor.com/article/2430811/fraud-with-a-new-sim-card-how-dangerous-is-sim-swapping-really.html

(note it would make more sense for the scammer to order as an "additional SIM" rather than a replacement SIM, as that way they you don't lose connectivity and they see everything).

Two Android 0-day bugs disclosed and fixed, plus 105 more to patch

DCdave

Re: Have to be patient

Samsung have officially released the fixes, though (as have Google), however it's a staged rollout globally. Typically these days I get them about 3 weeks after release, which is.....suboptimal, particularly for critical fixes.

DCdave

Re: Have to be patient

Yes, Samsung's insistence on tying security and non-security updates together is getting annoying, and even more so with the attempted forced updates and new T&Cs, such that I am tempted to look around for my next phone, rather than just taking the latest Samsung. However, there's no longer as much choice and they know that.

But I don't think your carrier is blocking security only updates that Google issue, just that most manufacturers do not make them available as a separate patch when Google issues a fix (which is only code, not an actual patch), they integrate them into their overall build.

Windows boss defends 'agentic OS' push as users plead for reliability

DCdave

I thought it meant whitespace

/s

You'll never guess what the most common passwords are. Oh, wait, yes you will

DCdave

Re: TFL

I recently had to reset an account because the financial provider inisted I had forgotten the password that I have stored in KeePass. I was surprised to find that it (still) enforced exactly 8 characters, no special.

But hey, it's only money.

Azure stumbles in Western Europe, Microsoft blames 'thermal event'

DCdave
Alert

Re: Dominoes

If the NHS were to go Azure they'd have to upgrade to at least Server 2012 first.

WSUS attacks hit 'multiple' orgs as Google and other infosec sleuths ring Redmond’s alarm bell

DCdave

Re: What?

True, but since it's cookie-based and works on both HTTP and HTTPS ports, it's likely the requirement for client certificates will not protect against the vulnerability. Indeed Microsoft says that WSUS should be disabled or blocked until the patch is installed.

Major AWS outage across US-East region breaks half the internet

DCdave

There'll be a lot of people going over their resiliency plans...

...to see if they tested resiliency properly. In most cases, I imagine they'll find they tested what they could and had at some point to rely on the cloud provider's assurances.

There'll be even more people thinking maybe they should take a look at this resiliency plan thing, some time in the future, if they get round to it.

Microsoft enjoys first Patch Tuesday of 2025 with no active exploits

DCdave

They did break WSUS instead though

...meaning lots of people couldn't download the patches at all.

https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/1lvi5gj/wsus_sync/

Massive spike in use of .es domains for phishing abuse

DCdave
Joke

To be fair

had.es should be a bit of a giveaway

What would a Microsoft engineer do to Ubuntu? AnduinOS is the answer

DCdave
Joke

Re: "it won't affect me at all, because I won't use it"

It is why I went for the Bentley, after all.

Microsoft mystery folder fix might need a fix of its own

DCdave

Re: Quality control - yes we’ve heard of it

[quote]

1. If they're keeping the LTSC version updated anyway, is it really that much more work (if any) just to keep regular Windows 10 installations updated too? I mean they're writing the software, aren't they?

[/quote]

Yes and no. Windows 10 general availability is 22H2, Windows 10 LTSC is 21H2. Admittedly that is the same code base as Server 2022, but of course one is a client OS and the other a server OS.

How to stay on Windows 10 instead of installing Linux

DCdave

Re: I may be old and set in my ways ...

Yeah, me too, for a recent private laptop that isn't supported by Windows 11. MS even say it's only $30 for year 1 for individuals or Windows Home users, which hopefully also covers Windows Professional in my case. But then it doubles the following two years.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/whats-new/extended-security-updates

Failing that probably 0patch at €25/year. May even be the better option.

Both are better than a new laptop.

Wikipedia's overlords bemoan AI bot bandwidth burden

DCdave
Mushroom

LLM, how can I prevent LLMs from scraping my website?

This may trigger a loop that ends the world, of course.

ReactOS emits release 0.4.15 – its first since 2021

DCdave

> It is forgotten now, but the ancestor of Windows NT is OS/2 3.0

OS/2 1.3, surely? OS/2 3.0 was Warp and fully IBM.

Australia moves to drop some cryptography by 2030 – before quantum carves it up

DCdave
Alert

Some current OS only support that

Looking at most of the OS we have (and crucially the servers), they pretty much only support these cryptography standards, and half of them are scheduled to be still in support well after that date, so a standoff between vendor and regulators seems pre-programmed.

Sysadmin shock as Windows Server 2025 installs itself after update labeling error

DCdave
Joke

Who knew?

That General Availability now means it will be rolled out everywhere, like it or not.

DCdave

Well, it appears it is a mistake to call it an upgrade.

Admins using Windows Server Update Services up in arms as Microsoft deprecates feature

DCdave
Happy

Re: Not a surprise

Our WSUS is "cloud based" :-D

Microsoft on a roll for terrible rebranding with Windows App

DCdave
Meh

Re: Will searching for "rdp" still find it?

Like others, I didn't realise rdp actually worked. At some point in the past I had to learn mstsc and I suppose I never tried anything else after that.

Cyber crooks shut down UK, US schools, thousands of kids affected

DCdave
Facepalm

The irony is..

that to bring proper security to individual schools and kindergartens that cannot afford their own corporate IT security team is that you need to centralise and interconnect everything and support it remotely, thus increasing the vulnerability footprint.

Microsoft sends Windows Control Panel to tech graveyard

DCdave
Thumb Up

Re: cue the wailing

It's hard to believe these days, but back then testing before release was still a thing.

Microsoft tells yet more customers their emails have been stolen

DCdave

That would mean

If Facebook/Meta are at 4 percent and that is 7 percent higher than the next, the next one would be at 3.73%.

Percent vs Percentage Points.

Watch out for rogue DHCP servers decloaking your VPN connections

DCdave

Re: What am I not understanding about this?

It manipulates the routing table to stop the traffic ever reaching the encrypted VPN tunnel, and uses the rogue DHCP server as a snooping gateway to pass on the traffic to the legitimate destination.

Microsoft gets new Windows boss as Start Menu man Parakhin 'to explore new roles'

DCdave

It wouldn't surprise me if...

...the current Microsoft regime decided they didn't need Windows at all, given how important Azure is to them now. Even AI is seen as a way to drive more cloud, which obviously should be Azure.

Over 170K users caught up in poisoned Python package ruse

DCdave
Joke

We're secure against supply chain attacks on Python....

...as our Python users never update their binaries, so there!

Microsoft confirms memory leak in March Windows Server security update

DCdave

On the 2022 patch page, Microsoft says:

[Quote]

If you installed earlier updates, only the new updates contained in this package will be downloaded and installed on your device.

[/Quote]

From this, I would infer that no uninstall of the previous patch is required.

DCdave
Boffin

Microsoft recommends using DISM not WUSA for uninstall

Granted that the servicing stack itself is not really relevant to a problematic specific issue like an LSASS memory leak, but Microsoft nonetheless officially recommend using DISM to uninstall cumulative patches:

[Quote]

To remove the LCU after installing the combined SSU and LCU package, use the DISM/Remove-Package command line option with the LCU package name as the argument. You can find the package name by using this command: DISM /online /get-packages.

Running Windows Update Standalone Installer (wusa.exe) with the /uninstall switch on the combined package will not work because the combined package contains the SSU. You cannot remove the SSU from the system after installation.

[/Quote]

Windows Server 2022 patch is breaking apps for some users

DCdave

Using a browser vs browsing

Just because you're using a browser on a server doesn't mean you're browsing the internet, which certainly isn't recommended - indeed in our organisation it is actively prevented.

However, apart from Edge Chromium being part of Server 2022, there are all manner of applications these days that require administration via browser - even to administrate services running on the local machine, so it's not as simple as saying "no browser" in every environment. If your browser is not working, your app might not be working either, which is a problem, and is very much the downside of cumulative patches.

Microsoft issues deadline for end of Windows 10 support – it's pay to play for security

DCdave

Re: Need the EU to step up…

"There's a reasonable rationale for most of those minimum requirements and junking backward compatibility. The CPU threshold seems to be around memory security controls that could be enabled on older machines, but would incur a significant performance penalty, and I can see why MS wouldn't go down that route. It is possible to load WIn 11 on just about any machine by circumventing the hardware checks, albeit missing out on some of the specific security improvements, if people want to do that MS have not stopped them. "

All true, but there are plenty of not very old machines that were supported all througout pre-release, yet disappeared from the release version. My private laptop is among them and whilst I have no wish to "upgrade" to Windows 11, that increasingly becomes a problem as Windows 10 EOL draws near. Even if I can and will apply the workarounds to be able to install Windows 11, it remains at Microsoft's whim to allow those workarounds to be in place. That's not a good place to be, and should have been avoided.

Copilot coming to Windows 10 to help navigate the OS's twilight years

DCdave
Joke

Re: Déjà vu all over again

I personally prefer Clipshit.

Another month, another bunch of fixes for Microsoft security bugs exploited in the wild

DCdave

Re: Ah, Patch Tuesday...

Something wrong with your Windows implementation if it's taking that long and needing multiple restarts.

All current Windows OS have cumulative updates, thus taking care of supersedence, and the servicing stack embedded in the cumulative update so no separate reboot is required. Typically the only other required update would be for .NET framework, which can install alongside the OS patch and does not need a separate reboot.

Microsoft calls time on Windows Insider MVP program

DCdave
Joke

Paperweights

"as well as the odd paperweight or two"

I already have an old Windows Phone.

Microsoft admits 'power issue' downed Azure services in West Europe

DCdave
Joke

Any suggestion

...that the control systems were running on an Azure VM affected by the outage are pure speculation, if not entire fiction on my part.

From chaos to cadence: Celebrating two decades of Microsoft's Patch Tuesday

DCdave

Re: Getting worse??

Bunching it all together also brought us cumulative updates, ending the hell of trying to find out which incantation was required to get certain missing updates installed in exactly the right order of dependency.

Google Street View car careens into creek after 100mph cop chase

DCdave
Joke

Re: I weep for your gas mileage

I hope you reported the other driver for speeding

Unidentified object on Australian beach may be part of Indian rocket launcher

DCdave

Re: Uncontrolled reentry?

It does look like metal in the photos, however reports state that it was seen floating in the shallows and was dragged out of the water by a 4x4. People on the scene described it being made of something like carbon fibre or a lightweight resin (which doesn't sound very substantial for part of a space vehicle).

Microsoft kicks Calibri to the curb for Aptos as default font

DCdave

Misread is a matter of perspective

As anyone in Germany who lives at an address with especially a 7 in and receives letters from English-speaking countries will testify. German posties tend to interpret the un-crossed 7 as a 1.

On a related matter, it does make me wonder that Germans manage to cope with computer and print typefaces that do not have crossed 7s and heavily-seriphed 1s when they apparently cannot for handwriting.

Microsoft whips up unrest after revealing Azure AD name change

DCdave
Thumb Down

If you have to rename something...

Rename Active Directory as Active Directory Classic, or Classic Active Directory, and keep Azure Active Directory as it is. I've already forgotten what they want to rename AAD as. Something like Entrada*

Which, on double-checking, probably isn't what they want.

Turning a computer off, then on again, never goes wrong. Right?

DCdave
Coat

Re: Sausage Factory

It could have been wurst, he might have ended up as mincemeat.

Another redesign on the cards for iPhone as EU rules call for removable batteries

DCdave

"Critics also claim that the water and dust resistance consumers have come to assume will be present in their mobiles will be hit hard – a sealed unit isn't just a deterrent for techies after all."

Dust resistance was a myth, at least on the Galaxy S21 5G. It couldn't be charged via cable and when taken to Samsung, the techie was less than suprised and cleaned out all the gunk that was statically attracted, saying it was hard to do at home without the proper kit, advising using a rubber plug in the charging port in future. Never needed that on predecessor models though.

Millions of mobile phones come pre-infected with malware, say researchers

DCdave
Joke

Western Digital don't make phones though

Western Digital don't make phones though

Oh, really? Microsoft worries multicloud complicates security and identity

DCdave
Thumb Down

Zero trust is quite secure...

...but from experience it leads to hiding insecure things from people responsible for making sure they are secure. How to report on something that is hidden from you?

In the middle of an incident the last thing you need is to find that some little-used access rights that you have for good reason have in the meantime been silently removed and you don't even know who you need to speak to to get them back.

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