News

Microsoft Windows software

• April 30, 2021 30 Apr'21

  End of support for Build 1909 leaves some Windows open to attack

  Biannual Windows updates free IT staff from major updates, but some people prefer older builds of Windows, which leaves a gaping security hole

• April 28, 2021 28 Apr'21

  Microsoft results get a pandemic jab

  Covid-19 has stimulated businesses to digitise more, and this is reflected in Microsoft’s latest results

• April 27, 2021 27 Apr'21

  Leaky Azure storage account puts software developer IP at risk

  Source code for multiple products was left exposed in an unsecured Microsoft Azure cloud storage account, say researchers, but attributing responsibility for the error has proved difficult

• April 15, 2021 15 Apr'21

  How Windows patching leaves security exposed

  Four years on since it devastated IT systems across the NHS, WannaCry remains a threat to organisations around the world

• April 14, 2021 14 Apr'21

  FBI accesses ProxyLogon target servers to disrupt cyber criminals

  US Justice Department reveals successful court-authorised effort to clamp down on ProxyLogon exploitation

• April 14, 2021 14 Apr'21

  NSA unearths more MS Exchange vulnerabilities

  Microsoft patches more critical vulnerabilities in Exchange Server a month after the ProxyLogon incident, after being warned by the US National Security Agency

• April 08, 2021 08 Apr'21

  Microsoft accused of stifling secondhand software market

  In 2012, UsedSoft won a case for second user software, which has enabled the market to grow across Europe. But it is now under threat

• March 25, 2021 25 Mar'21

  Warning: AWS IAM behaves differently to directory services

  IT admins use group policies to manage user access via Active Directory, but AWS takes a subtly different approach, which can be exploited

• March 18, 2021 18 Mar'21

  Coronavirus: How PCs in quarantine and intensive care units can be managed remotely

  NHS IT staff generally have limited access to deployed devices, especially if that device is in an operating theatre or intensive care unit

• March 16, 2021 16 Mar'21

  Microsoft releases one-click ProxyLogon mitigation tool

  Microsoft’s mitigation tool is designed to help customers without dedicated security or IT teams navigate fixing their vulnerable Exchange servers

• March 15, 2021 15 Mar'21

  Microsoft Exchange ProxyLogon attacks spike 10 times in four days

  Exploitations of the Microsoft Exchange ProxyLogon vulnerabilities have increased tenfold in just four days

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  NCSC issues emergency alert on Microsoft Exchange patch

  UK’s national cyber agency calls on organisations affected by the ProxyLogon vulnerabilities to patch their Microsoft Exchange Servers immediately

• March 12, 2021 12 Mar'21

  DearCry ransomware targets vulnerable Exchange servers

  As predicted, ransomware gangs have started to target vulnerable instances of Microsoft Exchange Server, making patching an even greater priority

• March 11, 2021 11 Mar'21

  Norwegian government falls victim to Microsoft attacks

  Norway’s parliament, the Storting, suffers second major cyber incident in a year as threat groups capitalise on vulnerable Microsoft Exchange Servers

• March 10, 2021 10 Mar'21

  Patch Tuesday overshadowed by Microsoft Exchange attacks

  Microsoft’s March Patch Tuesday update drops amid ongoing fall-out from widespread Exchange attacks

• March 05, 2021 05 Mar'21

  Mandiant: MS Exchange bugs first exploited in January

  Analysis from technical teams at FireEye’s Mandiant tracked activity exploiting newly disclosed vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange Server more than a month ago

• March 04, 2021 04 Mar'21

  Microsoft Exchange CVEs more widely exploited than thought

  US CISA issues emergency guidance as impact of four newly disclosed Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities becomes clearer

• March 03, 2021 03 Mar'21

  Emergency patch addresses MS Exchange Server zero-days

  Microsoft releases an emergency patch to address multiple zero-day exploits directed at on-premise installations of Exchange Server

• February 24, 2021 24 Feb'21

  Microsoft builds industry-specific clouds for financial services and manufacturing firms

  Software giant follows up launch of industry-specific cloud offerings for retail and healthcare organisations with a commitment to do the same for non-profits, manufacturing and financial services firms

• February 10, 2021 10 Feb'21

  Windows 10, Server 2019 users must patch serious zero-day

  Another dangerous zero-day exploit is among 56 vulnerabilities patched by Microsoft in February’s Patch Tuesday update

• February 04, 2021 04 Feb'21

  SolarWinds chases multiple leads in breach investigation

  Investigators at SolarWinds are exploring multiple theories as to how the company’s systems were compromised

• January 20, 2021 20 Jan'21

  Malwarebytes also hit by SolarWinds attackers

  The nation state group that attacked SolarWinds in December got inside Malwarebytes by exploiting privileged access to its Microsoft Office 365 tenant, the firm reveals

• January 13, 2021 13 Jan'21

  Critical zero-day features in first Patch Tuesday of 2021

  Microsoft releases fixes for 84 bugs on the first Patch Tuesday of 2021, including a critical zero-day vulnerability in Microsoft Defender

• December 09, 2020 09 Dec'20

  Patch Tuesday: Microsoft presents just 58 CVEs for Christmas

  The final Patch Tuesday of 2020 contains 58 fixes, a minnow compared to some recent drops, but many are still of high importance

• November 26, 2020 26 Nov'20

  Robots taking jobs, but creating careers

  Robotic process automation developers tell Computer Weekly about the job they never expected to be doing

• November 11, 2020 11 Nov'20

  Microsoft drops fix for serious zero-day among 112 Patch Tuesday updates

  November’s Patch Tuesday contains fixes for 112 bugs, including a potentially serious zero-day exploit that malicious actors are already taking advantage of

• October 14, 2020 14 Oct'20

  Microsoft fixes 87 bugs in October 2020 Patch Tuesday

  Smaller October Patch Tuesday update includes fixes for critical bugs in Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019

• September 29, 2020 29 Sep'20

  Organisations locked out by Azure AD crash

  The Azure Active Directory was unavailable for a few hours in the evening of 28 September, preventing many from accessing MS online services

• September 24, 2020 24 Sep'20

  Race to patch as Microsoft confirms Zerologon attacks in the wild

  Don’t be the organisation that made the headlines because it failed to patch. Microsoft says it is seeing cyber attacks ramping up around the Zerologon CVE-2020-1472 bug

• September 09, 2020 09 Sep'20

  September’s Patch Tuesday heavy on RCE vulnerabilities

  Microsoft’s September update contains patches for 129 common vulnerabilities and exposures, including a high number of remote code execution issues

• August 12, 2020 12 Aug'20

  Microsoft patches two zero-days with active exploits

  Microsoft drops another major Patch Tuesday update, including fixes for two zero-day exploits that are already being exploited by cyber criminals

• August 10, 2020 10 Aug'20

  CIO interview: DFS’s Russell Harte on the Google ecosystem

  The furniture retailer has standardised on G Suite and has bought into the Google Cloud Platform and Chrome OS devices

• August 06, 2020 06 Aug'20

  Samsung and Microsoft extend Windows and Office 365 integration

  Samsung fleshes out OneDrive, Outlook and OneNote integration. Microsoft offers Link to Windows, to extend phones to Windows 10 PCs

• August 04, 2020 04 Aug'20

  Nordic enterprises look for SAP price reductions as they navigate Covid-19

  Businesses in the Nordics are using SAP Cloud Platform to address Covid-19 challenges and are also seeking price reductions

• July 29, 2020 29 Jul'20

  Serious BootHole vulnerability puts millions of systems at risk

  BootHole is a GRUB2 bootloader vulnerability and puts millions of PCs, servers and other devices at risk of compromise

• July 23, 2020 23 Jul'20

  Microsoft results show impact of tech-driven business resilience

  While economies are set to shrink, businesses are leaning on tech to support operations, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella

• July 15, 2020 15 Jul'20

  Patch Tuesday: Microsoft fixes 123 bugs in July 2020 update

  The bugs start coming and they don’t stop coming; Microsoft has issued yet another bumper Patch Tuesday update

• July 15, 2020 15 Jul'20

  HSBC chooses AWS for public cloud business operations

  HSBC will use a cloud platform from Amazon Web Services across its business operations to accelerate its public cloud use

• July 14, 2020 14 Jul'20

  Check Point unearths critical SigRed bug in Windows DNS

  SigRed vulnerability is highly dangerous, but is being fixed as part of the July 2020 Patch Tuesday update

• July 09, 2020 09 Jul'20

  Locked-down Nationwide staff make 2.5 million video calls in June

  Home-working technologies are no longer just a contingency for large companies, with future working practices set to change

• July 06, 2020 06 Jul'20

  CIO interview: David Allison, global head of IT, First Quantum Minerals

  For his first global CIO role, the IT chief had to tackle unusual challenges such as reliable networking and IT use in inhospitable mining environments in developing countries

• June 10, 2020 10 Jun'20

  Decade-old vulnerability among 129 Patch Tuesday fixes

  A 10 year-old bug in Windows Group Policies could easily enable attackers to gain highly privileged user status on target systems, opening the doors to a wave of cyber attacks

• June 04, 2020 04 Jun'20

  Why this is the right time for IT

  The coronavirus has put the spotlight on IT capabilities, and people are now willing to embrace technology-driven change to working practices

• June 03, 2020 03 Jun'20

  How Teams and Office 365 connect NHS staff during the lockdown

  NHS’s AGEM Commissioning Support Unit has migrated from on-premise SharePoint to Office 365 and is now using Teams

• May 29, 2020 29 May'20

  The software innovation impact of coronavirus

  Software developers can work remotely, but if workers are expected to work remotely in the long term, can organisations maintain a software innovation cycle?

• May 26, 2020 26 May'20

  MoD cuts through competition barriers to sign direct private cloud deal with Microsoft

  The Ministry of Defence has justified its decision to directly award Microsoft a 23-month private cloud deal by stating the firm is the only one able to meet its precise technical and data protection needs

• May 20, 2020 20 May'20

  Microsoft Build 2020: Nadella praises developers for their work during pandemic

  IT has played a key role in supporting people and businesses during the coronavirus lockdown

• May 20, 2020 20 May'20

  Build 2020: How Microsoft aims to build trust in artificial intelligence

  Microsoft has outlined its toolset for making AI models explainable with the InterpretML and AboutML tools

• May 19, 2020 19 May'20

  Microsoft Build 2020: Focus on protecting data for AI development

  Microsoft Build is always a vital event for developers across the IT industry. This year, Microsoft has expanded its AI emphasis

• May 13, 2020 13 May'20

  Microsoft fixes 16 critical vulnerabilities on Patch Tuesday

  The trend towards mammoth Patch Tuesdays continues as Microsoft fixes 111 vulnerabilities

• April 15, 2020 15 Apr'20

  Centrica deploys Citrix Cloud services on Azure to manage demand

  Utility firm Centrica turns to Citrix on the Azure cloud to deal with its seasonal peak in call centre usage, which affects its virtual desktop environment

• April 15, 2020 15 Apr'20

  Microsoft patches 19 critical bugs in another heavy Patch Tuesday

  The volume of vulnerabilities being uncovered by Microsoft remains high, with more than 100 fixes pushed out in April’s Patch Tuesday

• April 02, 2020 02 Apr'20

  Jack Schofield, tech journalist and Computer Weekly contributor, dies

  In his Computer Weekly articles, Schofield discussed the early success of the web, why the BlackBerry should be waterproof, and how Microsoft overtook IBM

• March 16, 2020 16 Mar'20

  Bill Gates steps down from Microsoft board to focus on philanthropic efforts

  The co-founder of Microsoft has decided to step down from Microsoft's board to spend his time ‘focusing on how to solve some of the world's biggest problems’

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Microsoft locks down new vulnerability with EternalBlue echoes

  Microsoft has moved to get ahead of a serious remote code execution vulnerability in Microsoft Server Message Block 3.1.1, which was accidentally disclosed then missed in its March Patch Tuesday update

• March 11, 2020 11 Mar'20

  Microsoft fixes 26 critical vulnerabilities in another heavy Patch Tuesday

  March’s Patch Tuesday is another big one for Microsoft, addressing 115 vulnerabilities, 26 of them critical

• February 19, 2020 19 Feb'20

  Questions raised over Office 365 shared content policy

  Buried 300 words into Microsoft’s standard service level agreement is a clause that affects intellectual property and privacy

• February 12, 2020 12 Feb'20

  Internet Explorer zero day among 99 Patch Tuesday problems

  After an eventful January Patch Tuesday that marked the end of support for Windows 7, the February 2020 update is another whopper, fixing close to 100 vulnerabilities

• February 07, 2020 07 Feb'20

  RobbinHood ransomware tricks Windows into deleting defences

  By subverting kernel memory settings in Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, the RobbinHood ransomware can now delete cyber security defences from target systems

• January 30, 2020 30 Jan'20

  Microsoft earnings get a lift from Windows 7 extended security

  Azure powers Microsoft’s Q2 2020 earnings, but the company is not only seeing a boost from Windows 365, but also extended Windows 7 support

• January 23, 2020 23 Jan'20

  Travelex hackers shut down German car parts company Gedia in massive ‘cyber attack’

  Car parts manufacturer says cyber attack will have far-reaching consequences for its business, and it has put emergency plans in place to continue deliveries

• January 22, 2020 22 Jan'20

  Internal error left Microsoft customer service data exposed

  Customer service and support records of nearly 250 million Microsoft customers left exposed after database misconfiguration

• January 22, 2020 22 Jan'20

  Windows 7: The pieces are coming together for a PC rethink

  As organisations migrate off the unsupported Microsoft Windows 7 operating system to Windows 10, CIOs must assess their hardware refresh strategy

• January 16, 2020 16 Jan'20

  Lloyds Banking Group to create digital workplace with Microsoft

  Bank is transforming how its staff work as part of a multibillion-pound digital transformation

• January 15, 2020 15 Jan'20

  Last Windows 7 patch updates critical remote desktop flaw

  It is no longer being supported with free updates, but Microsoft's final Patch Tuesday for Windows 7 fixes a major flaw in the 10-year-old operating system

• January 15, 2020 15 Jan'20

  NSA Windows 10 security disclosure raises questions

  In an unprecedented move, the NSA has got out in front of a critical cryptographic flaw in Windows 10, but in doing so has raised multiple questions

• January 14, 2020 14 Jan'20

  Gartner: Windows 7 will continue to drive 2020 business PC sales

  With end of support, businesses are rushing to upgrade their desktop PC estate to Windows 10, driving growth in the PC market

• January 14, 2020 14 Jan'20

  Turn the end of Windows 7 support into a security advantage

  CISOs can take advantage of the end of support for Microsoft Windows 7 by making the case for more investment in cyber security

• January 14, 2020 14 Jan'20

  Windows 7: Dead or alive?

  Far from being dead and buried, Windows 7 is set to remain alive and kicking in many organisations as they struggle with complex migration challenges

• January 10, 2020 10 Jan'20

  Microsoft led enterprise IT pack in revenue growth terms over past decade, research shows

  In the final despatch from Synergy Research Group's look back at the IT trends that shaped the past decade, Microsoft emerges as the tech firm that managed to grow its enterprise revenue share the most throughout the 2010s

• December 20, 2019 20 Dec'19

  Top 10 end-user computing stories of 2019

  The Windows desktop and laptop are not going away, but desktop IT is changing. Computer Weekly looks at the top trends in end-user computing

• December 09, 2019 09 Dec'19

  China bans foreign computing kit from government contracts

  All government offices and public institutions must eliminate foreign hardware and software within three years, according to a leaked directive dubbed 3-5-2

• November 28, 2019 28 Nov'19

  How Intel has put the brakes on Windows 10 refresh

  IT departments have until 14 January 2020 to update their PCs to Windows 10, but a shortage of Intel chips may scupper their plans

• November 27, 2019 27 Nov'19

  Dell admits Intel chip delay could impact Windows refresh

  In the earnings call for Dell’s Q3 2019 results, the company admitted that up to one-third of Windows PC refresh orders may not be fulfilled until 2020

• November 08, 2019 08 Nov'19

  Security pros urged to get ahead of incoming BlueKeep exploits

  The BlueKeep RDP vulnerability is beginning to be exploited in the wild, and security teams have no excuse for not trying to get in front of it, says Microsoft

• November 05, 2019 05 Nov'19

  Ransomware authors seeking new ways to avoid being spotted

  Sector analysis from Sophos has revealed some insight into how malware authors are adapting to thwart cyber security controls

• November 01, 2019 01 Nov'19

  How to break free from traditional desktop productivity

  Over the last few years, the acceptance of cloud platforms in business has opened up opportunities for employees to work differently. We investigate

• October 30, 2019 30 Oct'19

  Executive interview: Why the times are a changin’ in collaboration

  Companies are aware that the next wave of talent wants to work collaboratively, but how do you collaborate and what policies discourage collaboration?

• October 28, 2019 28 Oct'19

  Windows 7 upgrade haunts health service tech vision

  Windows 7 issues at the NHS are making headlines, 15 months after the release of the review of how legacy IT was exploited by the WannaCry attack

• October 14, 2019 14 Oct'19

  The Security Interviews: Applying AI to Lego, and security

  Ann Johnson, Microsoft corporate vice-president of cyber security, is on a mission to prove that artificial intelligence holds great promise for the security sector, and she has the analogies to back it up

• October 04, 2019 04 Oct'19

  Microsoft delivers Surface with benefits for enterprise IT

  It may not be headline-grabbing news, but the Surface Pro has screws – it can be taken apart and components such as disk drives can be swapped out

• September 27, 2019 27 Sep'19

  Nodersok malware campaign is infecting thousands, Microsoft warns

  Thousands of Windows endpoints in the US and Europe have been infected by a new fileless malware campaign in the past few weeks

• September 03, 2019 03 Sep'19

  Aberdeen Standard Investment deploys Igel for VDI

  The investment management group is rolling out virtual desktop infrastructure globally and will use the secure Linux platform Igel to manage the VDI environment

• August 21, 2019 21 Aug'19

  Warwickshire county council deploys Microsoft cloud productivity suite

  Teams, Office 365 and other cloud-based tools are being rolled out to give council staff greater flexibility

• August 15, 2019 15 Aug'19

  Google vs Microsoft: Digging into the public cloud email market duopoly

  The public cloud email sector is a veritable two-horse race, with Microsoft and Google being the ones to beat, but it is unlikely ever to become a “winner takes all” market, says Gartner

• July 23, 2019 23 Jul'19

  Use Windows 7 end of life to update desktop productivity

  The end of support for Windows 7 should be seen as the end of an era for traditional desktop IT. So what does 21st century desktop productivity look like?

• July 19, 2019 19 Jul'19

  Microsoft gets boost in SaaS revenue and pushes Teams platform

  It is still a long way behind AWS, but the Microsoft cloud is the company’s big money-maker. It is also seeing Teams establish itself as a platform

• July 17, 2019 17 Jul'19

  Suspected malicious MS Office tool maker arrested

  Dutch police have arrested a man suspected of producing and selling toolkits to create malicious Microsoft Office documents

• July 12, 2019 12 Jul'19

  Windows 10 to enable passwordless sign-in

  Windows 10 users will soon be able to sign in to devices without using a password to encourage the use of two-factor authentication methods to improve security

• July 12, 2019 12 Jul'19

  European PC business boosted by Windows 10 refresh

  With Windows 7 support due to end on 14 January 2020, European organisations are refreshing their PCs as part of their Windows 10 upgrade

• July 03, 2019 03 Jul'19

  Sodin ransomware exploiting Windows zero-day, Kaspersky warns

  Security researchers are warning that a recently discovered type of ransomware is now exploiting a zero-day Windows vulnerability, and does not require user interaction to trigger an infection

• June 26, 2019 26 Jun'19

  NHS Wales provides 100,000 staff with Microsoft 365

  Cloud-based suite will help Welsh healthcare service drive digitisation initiatives and support greater collaboration and video-based consultations

• June 24, 2019 24 Jun'19

  Chef demos Windows Server 2008 migration

  Windows Server 2008 R2 reaches end of support in January 2020. Businesses using older Windows server software have little time to redevelop code

• April 25, 2019 25 Apr'19

  Cloud uptake drives third-quarter sales for Microsoft

  Demand for Microsoft’s cloud offerings spiked again during the firm’s third quarter, reports Redmond

• April 08, 2019 08 Apr'19

  PC industry suffers as Microsoft severs link between Windows and hardware refreshes

  If Microsoft succeeds, a Windows upgrade will no longer mean that businesses need to refresh their PC estate

• April 02, 2019 02 Apr'19

  Welsh government buys Microsoft Office 365 for teachers and pupils

  The Welsh government will provide Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus across 1,521 maintained schools in Wales

• March 29, 2019 29 Mar'19

  Middle East countries accelerate quantum computing research

  Gulf countries must invest in quantum computing research to ensure they continue to to remain digital pioneers

• March 25, 2019 25 Mar'19

  Leading PC makers set to expand product range to target existing customers

  With little growth forecast, PC manufacturers are trying to tie in additional services with their hardware to lock in customers

• February 18, 2019 18 Feb'19

  IT Priorities 2019: IT professionals plan a big push to migrate off Windows 7

  With the clock ticking to Windows 7 end of support, more than half of the IT professionals who took part in a survey have a Windows 10 migration as their top IT project this year

• January 31, 2019 31 Jan'19

  Microsoft cloud powers earnings boost

  CEO Satya Nadella claims Azure compute services are the starting point for digitisation, as businesses add higher value services like AI