RunAs Radio

Is the cloud secure? Richard chats with Screaming in the Cloud's Corey Quinn about the latest spate of security issues in AWS and Azure - and the responses to those issues. Corey talks about the risks the cloud providers are creating, not being clear when an exploit is found, to let people know how much visibility they have into the problem. Mitigating an exploit is not enough - you have to be able to answer the question about whether or not the cloud is secure. The alternatives are worse!Links:CosmosDB ExploitInsecure AWS BucketsAzure Container Services ExploitMicrosoft Zero TrustAmazon Zero TrustRecorded September 9, 2021

Should you inject a little chaos into your systems? Julie Gunderson says yes! Richard chats with Julie about how deliberate failing portions of your system teach you more about your dependency and resiliency. But it's not just about breaking things - you need to build a hypothesis around how you see the reliability of the system and then create tests to challenge that reliability - and how to recover quickly if the test does harm to productivity! Julie talks about starting small, maybe just a development pipeline before moving on to more significant systems like production. The goal is to be resilient, but you're only resilient if you test!Links:Chaos MonkeyGremlin BootcampsPage it to the Limit PodcastRecorded October 12, 2021

Episode 800! Richard chats about making 800 episodes of RunAs with Microsoft Technical Fellow Jeffrey Snover. The conversation digs into the state of the IT business today, with the huge role of the cloud and digital transformation, and how it impacts the nature of work. Jeffrey talks about how the artificial intelligence in M365 is emerging as a tool to help people be more productive, by watching what they're working on and helping them to organize their information and efforts better. This leads to a discussion about privacy, understanding objectives and key results, and the ultimate goal of any system - better outcomes. Could this actually be the next generation of Microsoft technology? Hopefully it won't take another 800 shows to find out!Links:The Strength of Weak Ties Recorded October 11, 2021

Is ransomware getting worse? Richard talks to Microsoft VP of Cybersecurity Ann Johnson about the state ransomware today. Ann quotes Sutton's law: "Why do criminals rob banks? Because that's where the money is." An increasing number of cybercriminals have successfully extorted money from companies using ransomware. So yes, ransomware is becoming more popular amongst criminals and will continue to do so until it doesn't pay. Ann explains that the Zero Trust Security Model is essential - as are data backups that you know how to restore! Beyond our efforts at the IT level, Ann talks about ongoing relationships with organizations like the FBI to go after cybercriminals at a higher level, shutting down infrastructure and charging the criminals with crimes. Ransomware is getting worse, and it's up to us to fight back!Links:Cybersecurity During the PandemicRiskIQAfternoon Cyber Tea with Microsoft's Ann JohnsonRecorded August 23, 2021

What's the right way to have virtual desktops in the cloud? Richard talks to Aidan Finn about a virtualization project he was involved with that started with Citrix Cloud, which runs in Azure. Aidan talks about the number of virtual machines involved in a large-scale VDI implementation, many of which are infrastructure and plumbing. Why own the plumbing when you can get it as a service? The conversation then digs into Azure Virtual Desktop, which doesn't have all the bells and whistles of Citrix Cloud, but does simplify implementation a great deal. No virtualization implementation is ever simple, but working at the platform level can make it easier!Links:Citrix CloudRemote Desktop ServicesAzure Virtual DesktopPackerAzure MonitorAzure VM Image BuilderMSIXRecorded September 9, 2021

How do you add custom audio, video, and text communications into your organization? Richard chats with Mary Anne Noskowski about Azure Communications Services (ACS), a set of APIs and tooling that brings the features of Teams communications into custom applications and more. Mary Anne talks about Teams integration, providing a means to customize the guest access features into Teams via ACS. The conversation also digs into a few different scenarios for optimizing customer, vendor, and employee experience in communications. It's early days for ACS, but they are taking the reins from the Skype for Business APIs - and it's the same APIs that Teams depend on, so you know they will scale!Links:Azure Communication ServicesAzure Active DirectoryACS on Microsoft MechanicsACS Health Care Demo AppACS Retail Demo AppRecorded August 5, 2021

Are you stuck in the print nightmare? Richard talks to Jeremy Moskowitz about the ongoing battle over potential exploits through the point-and-print system in Windows. Jeremy talks about the discovery of the vulnerability in July 2021 and how it has led to a series of patches and registry key changes to resist a potential exploit. Meantime, people need to print! There are several workarounds with Group Policy, and Jeremy's own PolicyPak has some practical solutions. If you put some time into thinking through how your organization prints, you can find a solution that works and is secure!Links:July Windows Print Spooler Remote Code Execution VulnerabilityAugust Windows Print Spooler Remote Code Execution VulnerabilityRestrictDriverInstallationToAdministratorGroup Policy Settings for Controlling PrintersUltimate Guide to PrintNightmarePDQ DeployRecorded September 9, 2021

Making mistakes with reporting or analytics can lead to mistakes in business and a loss of trust - now what? Richard chats with Melissa Coates about building mechanisms in tools like PowerBI to make it easier to get correct results. Melissa talks about having a diligent core of analytics and a flexible edge - making sure the expert data stewards and building data flows and repositories for accurate analytics, allowing the self-service PowerBI users to explore. Sure, everyone needs some guard rails, but over-governance leads to tools going unused. Let them experiment and find value, then look at how to keep things under control!Links:Coates Data StrategiesPowerBIAzure PurviewAzure Data CatalogPowerBI Adoption RoadmapRecorded August 5, 2021

How does your organization work with files in Microsoft 365? Richard chats with Jason Moore about the role of OneDrive for Business, SharePoint, and the many tools available for files, folders, and lists in the M365 world. Jason talks about how under the hood, every file ends up in some pretty standard spots, like Azure Blob Storage - so you know that compliance, governance, and policy are consistent. The conversation also ranges over how different organizations come to different solutions based on their past experiences and skill sets - there's a lot of choice for a reason!Links:One Drive for BusinessM365 To Do AppM365 ListsRansomware Detection and Recovery in OneDriveM365 and Microsoft DefenderOneDrive Personal VaultOneDrive Photo StorageSharing OneDrive Files and FoldersRecorded August 6, 2021

Does Windows need a package manager? Richard talks to Sarah Lean about Windows Package Manager, aka winget. Of course, there have been package managers for Windows before winget, and Sarah talks about her favorite, Chocolatey. But winget is destined to be a part of Windows itself and opens the door to some great deployment automation. The conversation also dives into exporting - making a copy of the manifest of applications currently on a workstation. Could we get to full local workstation localization, where you could build and re-build workstations on demand? Maybe some next-level hot-desk workstations are possible!Links:Windows Package Manager on GitHubChocolateyInTune, aka Microsoft Endpoint ManagerAZCopyTechielass - Blog of Sarah LeanRecorded August 13, 2021