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ComputerWorld

ComputerWorld Independent 

Jamf CIO: Apple will be the No. 1 enterprise endpoint by 2030

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 16 Jun 2022 04:02:00 -0700

I spoke with Jamf CIO Linh Lam on a recent UK visit to mark the company’s 20th anniversary. The 2020 Bay Area CIO of the Year Finalist joined Jamf in 2021 – and thinks Apple will be the top enterprise endpoint by 2030 as its current momentum accelerates.

The changing landscape of enterprise IT

“The way the demand is growing and the expectations of younger generations joining the workforce, Apple devices will be the number one endpoint by 2030,” she told me.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Before Patch Tuesday, a to-do list to avoid trouble

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Credit to Author: Susan Bradley| Date: Mon, 13 Jun 2022 10:11:00 -0700

You could call today Patch-Tuesday Eve. It’s the day before Windows machines get offered updates from Microsoft. What should you be doing to prepare?

It depends on what kind of computer user you are.

If your files are stored in the cloud

You keep everything in the cloud, you use a Microsoft account, you don’t mind reinstalling your OS if need be. Your data is protected by a username and a password, and if you are savvy, your data is protected by two-factor authentication.  

Prior to Patch Tuesday, you might decide you don’t need to back up your computer system since you know if something happens to your computer, you can reinstall the operating system and merely reconnect to your various online storage services. You’ve double-checked that all cloud services you use have file versioning enabled, so if you need to roll back to a prior version of a file, you can do so.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

WWDC: Apple, Cloudflare, Fastly plot the end of CAPTCHA

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2022 08:59:00 -0700

Apple took several steps toward a password-free future at its Worldwide Developer Conference, but another component of its strategy will be to replace CAPTCHA (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart) with a more private solution.

Introducing: Private Access Tokens

Apple is working with Cloudflare (with whom most think it developed the tech behind iCloud Private Relay). It is also working with Google and Fastly to deploy a standardized alternative to CAPTCHA called Private Access Tokens.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Microsoft commits to ban non-competes and increase pay transparency in the US

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Credit to Author: Charlotte Trueman| Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2022 04:21:00 -0700

Microsoft has launched four new employee workforce initiatives aimed at creating a more transparent workplace culture, including the banning of non-compete clauses in contracts and a commitment to improved pay transparency.

The four commitments have been categorized by Microsoft as:

  • Empowering employee mobility
  • Fostering a safe space for concerns
  • Increasing pay transparency
  • Conducting a civil rights audit

The new policies aim to address concerns raised by employees that current non-compete obligations are being used as a forced retention tactic. Consequently, the company will be removing non-compete clauses from US employee agreements and will not enforce existing clauses for workers outside of Microsoft’s senior leadership team.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

WWDC22: Apple brings declarative device management to the Mac?

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2022 08:11:00 -0700

More opportunities for engineers and developers to implement declarative device management solutions are likely to emerge at WWDC 2022, at least, according to MacAdmins.

Speaking during the pre-event podcast, speakers argue that Apple will eventually require that all mobile device management (MDM)  providers introduce support for declarative management. Might this include bringing declarative device management to the Mac?

What is declarative device management?

Apple first introduced declarative device management last year, largely for two reasons: to make devices more proactive, and to reduce the impact on MDM servers that handle large fleets of devices. This should boost performance and scalability.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

After a Windows update, what should you expect?

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Credit to Author: Susan Bradley| Date: Mon, 06 Jun 2022 05:17:00 -0700

Let’s get this straight: It’s not normal for a Windows update to remove software. It’s designed to install the update, not change software already in place on your system. 

At least, updates are not supposed to remove software. Since March, however, if you run the RDgateway broker service on Server 2022 (and only that version), the monthly cumulative updates have removed that service. This behavior is not normal; this is a bug.

As Microsoft notes in the Microsoft 365 Admin dashboard: “We have received reports that after installing KB5005575 or later updates on Windows Server 2022 Standard Edition, Remote Desktop Services Connection Broker role and supporting services might be removed unexpectedly. We have expedited investigation and are working on a resolution. Note: Windows Server 2022 Datacenter edition and other versions of Windows Server are not affected by this issue.”

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Apple confirms the scale of App Store fraud

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2022 08:30:00 -0700

Apple says millions of fraudulent attempts are made against the App Store and its users each year. The company prevented $1.5 billion in fraudulent transactions in 2021, it said, in line with similar levels of fraud in 2020.

How people attempt to commit App Store fraud

The company explains how fraudsters attempt to commit fraud via the store.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Windows 11: Should you bypass the hardware block?

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Credit to Author: Susan Bradley| Date: Tue, 31 May 2022 12:55:00 -0700

If you’re like most PC users, your current computer can’t run Windows 11. Microsoft has placed a line in the hardware sand to ensure that only modern machines with certain specifications that harden security can run Windows 11. 

Well, sort of. The company provides a workaround, as I’ll discuss in a moment. Whether you should take advantage of this loophole to upgrade PCs (whether yours or your users’) to Windows 11 is the question.

First, if you want to know if a computer can run Windows 11, you can use the PC Health Check app, Microsoft’s diagnostic tool. But if your PC doesn’t support Windows 11, Microsoft’s app doesn’t do a great job of explaining why. Instead, I recommend using either the Windows 11 Requirements Check Tool from ByteJams.com or WhyNotWin11, available on Github. Both tools provide granular detail about why a machine won’t run Windows 11. On my personal laptop at home, for instance, the processor can’t support hardware for hypervisor enforced code integrity, nor does Windows 11 like the graphics display.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Why Industry 4.0 must think more like Apple

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Credit to Author: Jonny Evans| Date: Tue, 31 May 2022 12:16:00 -0700

For industrial applications, the Internet of Things risks becoming the Internet of Thieves. Perhaps industries making use of connected solutions should take a leaf out the Apple book and lock down their infrastructure.

What the ethical hackers say

As digital processes become deeply embedded across every industry, it makes sense that industrial control systems were tested at this year’s Pwn2Own contest. Hackers were asked to seek out vulnerabilities in industrial software and systems.

Contest winners Daan Keuper and Thijs Alkemade found that once they managed to break into the IT networks used at these companies, it was “relatively easy” to then cause havoc with systems and equipment.

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ComputerWorld Independent 

Google’s open-source security move may be pointless. In a perfect world, it should be.

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Credit to Author: Evan Schuman| Date: Tue, 31 May 2022 02:30:00 -0700

One of the bigger threats to enterprise cybersecurity involves re-purposed third-party code and open-source code, so you’d
think Google’s Assured Open Source Software service would be a big help.

Think again.

Here’s Google’s pitch: “Assured OSS enables enterprise and public sector users of open source software to easily incorporate the same OSS packages that Google uses into their own developer workflows. Packages curated by the Assured OSS service are regularly scanned, analyzed, and fuzz-tested for vulnerabilities; have corresponding enriched metadata incorporating Container/Artifact Analysis data; are built with Cloud Build including evidence of verifiable SLSA-compliance; are verifiably signed by Google; and are distributed from an Artifact Registry secured and protected by Google.”

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