20May2019
14May2019
Introducing the Microsoft Office 365 Email Security Checklist
Update March 2023: This project morphed into the Microsoft 365 Best Practices Checklists, which includes a checklist and guide for each of the major services in Microsoft 365. You can get the product here. Okay. I think I have had enough. Enough of what? Enough of reports like this one. And...
09May2019
Three ways to disable basic authentication and legacy protocols in Exchange Online
One of the most common (and often successful) attacks we see in the wild is a simple brute force / password spray against weak accounts. Especially against shared mailboxes. From that foothold, the most common next step attackers will take is to send out spam/phishing emails from the compromised account,...
27Apr2019
Differences between Shared Mailboxes, Distribution Lists and Office 365 Groups
Before we begin our article today, I just want to say this: if you guys and gals aren't aware of the CIAOPS community yet, then you should definitely check it out. It's a great place to hang out, with lots of smart people both asking and answering good, hard questions....
18Apr2019
How to migrate company file shares and mapped drives to Office 365 using the SharePoint Migration Tool
I debated on writing about this tool for a long time. Because here's the thing: most file servers in production today are just huge garbage piles, built out of years of half-completed thoughts and haphazard document collaboration. Therefore, before we get into it, I first want to cover off on...
14Apr2019
Updated: How to migrate email to Office 365 Exchange Online with zero downtime (the easy way)
Some people will tell you that Hybrid is not a good idea for small business networks, since it is "too complex" or "too messy." Don't listen to the naysayers. They are just not aware yet of how stupidly simple it has become, with options like minimal hybrid and the brand...
08Apr2019
Managing Hybrid Exchange environments: a Cheat Sheet
Office 365 Exchange Online is pretty simple to manage if you are a "cloud-only" organization. Especially now that many edits can be made easily via the Microsoft 365 admin center, without even going into the Exchange Online admin area, separately. But, for those of us who are still tethered to a...
01Apr2019
Still Considering Office 365 E3? Think again.
I have a previous article on this topic, but the Microsoft 365 Business SKU seems to be getting new features left and right all the time. Recently we had the addition of password write-back (enabling self-service resets for hybrid users), which was a feature from Azure AD Premium that...
05Mar2019
Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection Plan 2
Recently, Microsoft changed up some of the SKU's relating to security & compliance out in the Microsoft/Office 365 universe. As part of these announcements, they renamed Office 365 Advanced Threat Protection (ATP) to Office 365 ATP Plan 1. Then, to create Office 365 ATP Plan 2, they simply bundled Plan...
18Feb2019