Tag: Office 365

Strengthening Security: MFA Required for Microsoft Admin Access

Starting on or after October 15, 2024, Microsoft will implement a significant security enhancement by mandating multi-factor authentication (MFA) for admins accessing the Microsoft Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, and Microsoft Intune admin center. This requirement will also extend to any services accessed through the Intune admin center, such as Windows 365 Cloud PC. The introduction of MFA is a proactive measure to bolster security, providing an extra layer of protection against unauthorized access. Microsoft strongly recommends enabling MFA as soon as possible to take full advantage of its security benefits. For detailed guidance, admins are encouraged to review the document “Planning for mandatory multifactor authentication for Azure and admin portals.”

This change will have a direct impact on organizations by necessitating the activation of MFA for their tenants. Admins will need to ensure that MFA is enabled to maintain access to the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, and Intune admin center post-implementation. The transition to mandatory MFA underscores Microsoft’s commitment to enhancing security protocols and safeguarding sensitive information.

To prepare for this change, organizations must set up MFA before the October 15, 2024 deadline. This proactive step will ensure that admins can seamlessly access the necessary portals without interruption. In cases where setting up MFA before the deadline is not feasible, organizations have the option to apply for a postponement of the enforcement date. However, it is crucial to note that if MFA is not configured before the enforcement begins, admins will be prompted to register for MFA upon their next sign-in to the Azure portal, Microsoft Entra admin center, or Intune admin center.

The introduction of mandatory MFA is a strategic move by Microsoft to enhance the security framework of its admin portals. By requiring an additional authentication factor, Microsoft aims to mitigate the risks associated with single-factor authentication, such as password breaches and unauthorized access. This initiative reflects a broader industry trend towards strengthening security measures in response to evolving cyber threats.

Organizations are advised to communicate this upcoming change to their admin teams and ensure that all relevant documentation is updated accordingly (see Planning for mandatory multifactor authentication for Azure and admin portals). By doing so, they can facilitate a smooth transition to the new security requirements and minimize any potential disruptions. The implementation of MFA is not just a compliance measure but a critical step towards safeguarding organizational data and maintaining the integrity of admin operations.

Microsoft’s decision to mandate multi-factor authentication for admin access to key portals is a pivotal enhancement in its security strategy. This change, effective from October 15, 2024, will require organizations to enable MFA to ensure uninterrupted access for their admins. By taking proactive steps to implement MFA, organizations can significantly bolster their security posture and protect against unauthorized access. Admins are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the new requirements and prepare accordingly to leverage the full benefits of this enhanced security measure.

By mandating MFA, Microsoft is taking a significant step towards bolstering the security of its admin portals. Organizations should prepare for this change to ensure seamless access and enhanced protection for their admin operations.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2024/08/cloud-computing/strengthening-security-mfa-required-for-microsoft-admin-access/

Viva Connections and Other Changes to Microsoft 365

Microsoft has announced several changes to the Microsoft 365 cloud.  These new features will be of interest to both end users and companies alike.  If you’ve opted in to see preview features, some of these items may be visible now.

Microsoft Viva Connections

At this point, many people are familiar with Microsoft’s existing product, Viva Insights.  Microsoft is releasing a new module to the Viva family called Viva Connections. Viva Connections helps users stay connected with the latest and greatest communications. The goal is to empower users to take a more active role in their data and collaboration and allow users to interact with content more than ever before by commenting and reacting.

The main interface to Viva Connections is the dashboard, which is customizable.  The interface becomes a gateway to a more modern employee experience.  Viva Connections allows users to save a SharePoint article for later consumption and provides a platform for the company to push announcement videos to users.  Viva Connections is currently in public preview and can be viewed from within Microsoft Teams.  Here are some examples of the new interface (courtesy of Microsoft):

For more information, take a look at Microsoft’s page for the Viva Connections Public Preview.

Other Features Coming to Microsoft 365

While Viva Connections is the hot topic making the headlines, there are several other new features coming to the Microsoft 365 cloud. 

One Player Video Playback in OneDrive/SharePoint

Changes to the video controls in SharePoint and OneDrive for Business will allow you to pop-out video for a more immersive experience.  The new pop-out video provides new options to change playback speed from 0.5x up to 2x, and skip forward and back by 10 seconds. This new functionality makes reviewing videos, such as recorded meetings, easier and more efficient.

For example, Whiteboards will no longer be stored in SharePoint, but rather in the OneDrive of the creator. Also, Yammer now allows for nested replies, which improves conversation experience and keeps things in context.

Teams – Reply to Message

Microsoft Teams now allows users to respond to a specific message within a thread or conversation.  Previously, you could reply to a whole conversation, but this was confusing when someone replied to a message further in the past.  When replying to a specific message, a copy of the original message is quoted for reference. 

Changes to SharePoint Online

The text web part in SharePoint is getting a minor update.  Now you can paste images into a text web part.  This automatically creates a gap around the pasted image so that text wraps as desired. There are also options to align to the left, right, and center.  Also, formatting is updated so that spacing between headers and body, and between bullet points, is reduced slightly.

SharePoint Navigation in team sites can be switched between vertical and horizontal.  You can now choose the design (left or top navigation) that works best for your team.

Share a list with a hyperlink.  Now, the same rules that apply to sharing files/folders now also apply to sharing a list.

Microsoft Lists applied filters are being updated.  You can now see which filters are applied.  With a single click, you can view and adjust your filters, making this process a little more seamless.

Changes to Microsoft Planner

Microsoft is updating Recommended Plans in the Planner service.  Now you can discover plans that are relevant to your work. This makes it easier to find tasks that are assigned to you but you haven’t noticed yet. Recommended Plans can be found in the left pane between Favorites and Recent.

There are also new options for managing Planner tasks. Previously, you could only move tasks between plans within the same team. Now users can move tasks to any Planner plan across Teams.  To use this, click on the ellipse menu in the upper right corner of a task, and select Move task.

While most of these are not gigantic leaps forward, this shows a constant evolution that makes the Microsoft cloud better for everyone. 

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2021/10/cloud-computing/viva-connections-and-other-changes-to-microsoft-365/

Accessibility Features Coming to Microsoft 365 in Fall 2021

Microsoft has announced improvements to the accessibility functionality of Microsoft Teams and Outlook to help improve the inclusiveness of the workplace.  Several of these features are aimed at improving the experience for “deaf and hard of hearing people and increase flexibility and focus for everyone.” Though, these features are useful for a far greater user base. 

Microsoft has made these improvements throughout the Microsoft 365 cloud, including Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams, and Viva. Here are some of the more notable changes Microsoft is releasing. For more details, see Microsoft’s post Creating inclusive hybrid work experiences – what’s new in Microsoft 365 accessibility features for Fall 2021

Support Employees’ mental health and wellness with Viva Insights

Microsoft states that “mental health conditions are the number one disability in the world today.” Viva can help users “achieve balance, collaborate intelligently, find greater focus, and be their best from wherever they work.” Viva Insights uses AI to improve work/life balance. The Protect Time experience helps block time on your calendar, so you have the time necessary to respond to messages and time to focus on work. There are improved Meditation options to increase calm. The new Virtual Commute experience helps you mentally close out the day by offloading tomorrow’s tasks. 

Multiple improvements announced for accessibility in Outlook

Improvements to Outlook for Windows’ Editor tool will offer the user “refinements to improve clarity, conciseness, inclusiveness, and more.” Microsoft’s goal is to “give you more confidence as a writer and communicator.”

Dictation now supports more voice commands and automatic punctuation. With these improvements to dictation, you can add recipients, add text to the subject line of an email, and verbally give the command to send an email. By turning on auto-punctuation, you no longer need to verbally say how you would like to punctuate your sentences and can speak much more naturally. This is available in the Outlook app for Windows and Mac (as well as the Microsoft Word application).

“Accessibility Checker MailTip” will automatically prompt you when you’re including inaccessible content. These reminders make Outlook more accessible than ever before.

Teams improved with Live Captions, Live Transcription, CART support, and improvements to views

Captioning is not new to Microsoft Teams, but here are some interesting improvements. Once enabled by an administrator, users can turn on Live Captions that only they can see during the meeting. Captions are generated automatically using Microsoft’s AI technology and have been expanded by increasing the number of supported languages to 28 and including support for speaker attribution. This functionality is now available in both Teams meetings and Teams Live Events.

Live Transcription can convert the spoken word to written text and can be available both during and after the meeting has ended. Once the feature is enabled by an administrator, this transcription happens in near real-time and can start automatically when the meeting recording begins. It can also be enabled without recording the meeting.

Live Captions and Live Transcription can be very useful tools but do have some limitations when there is a lot of technical terminology or when speakers have multiple accents.  To address these limitations, Microsoft is announcing CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) Captioning support for Teams. This is where a person is translating spoken word to text. This can be particularly useful in circumstances where translation/dictation software usually fails. To use this feature the user will receive a special link along with the meeting invite from the meeting organizer, which will connect them to their preferred CART captioner. The CART captioner will enter text in real time.

In the past, it has been challenging to view both a presentation and sign language interpreter on the screen simultaneously. Teams was limited to viewing one or the other. This is now changing in Microsoft Teams. Now you can spotlight or pin multiple videos at the same time. This can allow a user to view a sign language interpreter and a presentation screen on a video call. Pinning changes the view for the user only. Spotlighting is done by a presenter (or organizer) and allows them to highlight up to 7 different feeds which are displayed to all attendees.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2021/10/cloud-computing/accessibility-features-coming-to-microsoft-365-in-fall-2021/

Public Preview: Azure Active Directory Connect pass-through authentication

Imagine if you could set up single sign-on for your online services with just the check of a box, and allow all of your users to authenticate to services such as Office 365 automatically.  Imagine you could do this without the complexity of ADFS and the many hours of planning and implementation that go along with it.

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced the public preview of Azure Active Directory Connect pass-through authentication.  This new method of authentication allows for a single sign-on (SSO) experience without the need for Active Directory Federation Services (ADFS). Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2016/12/cloud-computing/public-preview-azure-active-directory-connect-pass-through-authentication/

OneDrive for Business is now 5 TB

If you’re an Office 365 Enterprise customer, there is news from Microsoft.  OneDrive for Business storage will be increased from 1 TB to 5 TB allocated storage per user.  This is some good news in the wake of Microsoft announcing it was not going to honor its claim of unlimited storage for OneDrive (personal not business).  Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2016/01/cloud-computing/onedrive-for-business-is-now-5-tb/

TechEd North America: Enabling Enterprise Mobility with Windows and Microsoft Office 365

How do we deal with mobility as IT Pros? This video with Brad McCabe and Alan Meeus will show how you can manage mobile devices using Windows and Office 365. Using these tools gain peace of mind while lowering your total cost of ownership.

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2014/05/cloud-computing/teched-north-america-enabling-enterprise-mobility-with-windows-and-microsoft-office-365/

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD): Is BYOD Bad for Your Company?

Microsoft Surface RT Tablet

Microsoft Surface RT Tablet

Until recently when we thought of computing devices, we usually thought of PCs and laptops. Today, with tablets and smart phones selling in the millions on opening weekend, we have a very different picture of what a computing device is.

If you’re not familiar with it, BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is the idea of using a consumer computing device (such as an iPad or Surface RT tablet) to get work done, either in the office, at home, or on the road. Most of these devices were not designed to “get work done”, but instead to consume content (ex: checking email, reading news websites/apps, etc.). These devices are not managed, and may not have even the most basic security features enabled. This can spell disaster for any corporate network. Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2012/11/cloud-computing/bring-your-own-device-byod-is-byod-bad-for-your-company/

The difference between POP3 and Exchange

Microsoft ExchangeI have been asked many times by customers “What type of email account do I have”, and why would I want to upgrade from a POP account to Microsoft Exchange?  Let me explain some of the differences of each technology and the benefits of each. Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2012/10/cloud-computing/the-difference-between-pop3-and-exchange/

Cloud Computing: Why Go to the Cloud?

What is Cloud Computing?

There are many definitions as to what constitutes “Cloud Computing”. Some organizations say that server failover clustering is a requirement. Others say that metered services are required. At its core, cloud computing simply means that these products/services are hosted on the web and you pay for what you use (to varying degrees). Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2012/03/cloud-computing/cloud-computing-why-go-to-the-cloud/

When is a computer too old? The Cloud may be changing how we think about this.

When is a computer too old? This question is getting harder and harder to answer. Traditional PC lifecycle thinking says that a PC is efficient to use up to 4 years old, and no longer cost effective to use beyond 5 years old. This is because the cost of maintaining the system is greater than the value of this old PC or laptop. Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2012/02/cloud-computing/when-is-a-computer-too-old-the-cloud-may-be-changing-how-we-think-about-this/

Microsoft’s Replacement for BPOS: Microsoft Office 365

office_365What Is Office365?
Office365 is an integrated cloud solution for hosted Exchange email, hosted SharePoint, and hosted Lync. It is not, however, the next version of Microsoft Office. This service is an upgrade to Microsoft’s existing BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) cloud offering. In addition, this service offers several new packages which should be attractive to both very small businesses and large enterprises alike.

 

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.robertborges.us/2011/04/cloud-computing/microsofts-replacement-for-bpos-microsoft-office-365/