18May2020
15Apr2020
We need “MDATP Lite,” not full MDATP, in order to complete Defender’s value proposition in the SMB–and this is what it looks like
TL;DR: Just give me the device risk level with a description of "why" so I can follow up with potentially at-risk users. You can keep Advanced Hunting, etc. So many people I talk to in the SMB community think that they want MDATP. Well, it is available now as an independent...
08Apr2020
Updated! Checklist co-developed with Microsoft: Set up your SMB customers for secure remote working
I had the great pleasure to participate in a webinar today with David Bjurman-Birr (Partner Architect) and Jon Orton (Director of Product Marketing for Microsoft 365 SMB). David and I recently developed a checklist together for Microsoft 365 Business Premium, aimed at helping partners who work in the SMB space...
06Apr2020
Inventory and Control of Apps within and beyond the perimeter with Microsoft 365
Managing devices is a topic I have probably burnt my readers out on by this point, so it's time we move into the next stage: wrangling all those crazy third-party applications hiding out in your environment! To build up a foundation of good security, we must identify our apps and...
24Mar2020
Limiting privilege is a process, not an event
In some past blogs I have highlighted the importance of devices in your security, management and compliance journey. Why do I harp on that? Because it is the starting point. The mantra takes various forms, but basically you cannot protect what you cannot see. This applies to devices of course, but...
04Mar2020
Migration paths to Microsoft 365: Devices before data??
I have literally written the book on this topic, but one question I did not directly address is the order in which you might migrate the various workloads from traditional infrastructure to Microsoft 365. First, just know that you can tackle your migration in whatever order works best for you, but...
26Feb2020
Reader Question: Differences between Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Business
Hi Alex, I’m working on getting some of my clients over to M365 Business from O365 Business Premium. I’ve searched the web and I can’t seem to find a good explanation on the difference between Windows 10 Pro and Windows 10 Business. Is there a difference between Windows Defender in...
11Feb2020
Boost your security with Hybrid Azure AD Join: From Zero to Conditional Access in one afternoon
"Alex, I work at a non-profit and I would love to take advantage of the better security in Microsoft 365 Business (we have Business Premium now), but it sounds like it is for "cloud-only" customers? Is that right?? We are using Office 365 for Exchange, but we can't go cloud-only...
21Jan2020
Understanding file server migrations to Microsoft 365
In my opinion, there is only one viable migration path to move data from old file servers to Microsoft 365: it has to be a user-engaged migration. IT people always ask me about tools--stuff like the SharePoint migration tool or Microsoft's recent acquisition of mover.io, and there are even fancier...
28Dec2019