thoughts on information technology and other important things in life
Azure AD B2B Collaboration is now Generally Available! Azure AD B2B collaboration capabilities enable any organization using Azure AD to work safely and securely with users from any other organization, with or without Azure AD.
You will find the documentation on the following site:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/active-directory-b2b-what-is-azure-ad-b2b
VMware are providing vSphere PowerCLI to make it possible to administer vSphere and vCloud Director using PowerShell.
A good startingpoint is the VMware vSphere PowerCLI Documentation page that is available at: https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/ps_pubs.html
If you´re in a hurry you could follow my quick starting guide below:
Step 1. Download and install VMware vShere PowerCLI:
VMware vSphere PowerCLI is available for download from http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/PowerCLI/index.html
Select the release you want to download from the drop-down list and click on the download-link.
Double-click on the downloaded installation-package and follow the instructions to install PowerCLI.
Step 2. Start PowerCLI and connect to a vCenter Server:
Double-click on the “VMware PowerCLI” icon to start PowerCLI.
Use the CmdLet ‘Connect-VIServer’ as shown below to connect to the vCenter Server:
Connect-VIServer -Server <server-IP> -Protocol https -Username '<Username>' -Password '<Password>'
Now you are ready to explore and manage the VMware vCenter environment using PowerShell. Start by executing the following CmdLet to list all available commands.
Get-VICommand
Bruce Schneier has published a good collection of links to IoT security and privacy guidlines on his blog:
https://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2017/02/security_and_pr.html
Powershell makes it really easy to compare text-files, just use the following oneliner to compare two files:
Compare-Object -ReferenceObject (Get-Content c:\path\to\file1.txt) -DifferenceObjet (Get-Content c:\path\to\file2.txt)
Reference: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee156812.aspx
Microsoft released an interesting whitepaper with their recommendations for password management:
http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/265143/Microsoft_Password_Guidance.pdf
I found a good blogpost that lists the most essential tools for penetration testing:
http://www.paladinsec.com/penetration-testing-tools-equipment/
To summarise the post, the following tools are a good start:
– Laptop
– Vulnerability scanner (OpenVAS, Nexpose, Nessus)
– Word processor (Word, Writer)
– Internet access
– Liability insurance
– Virtualization (VirtualBox, VMware, Hyper-V)
– Kali Linux and a virtual Windows PC
– Network cables and a switch
Google released their “Vendor Security Assessment Questionnaire” as open source:
https://security.googleblog.com/2016/03/scalable-vendor-security-reviews.html
Good description on how to crack passwords (in Swedish):
https://penetrationstest.se/sa-knacker-du-losenord/
Microsoft released a new tool for analyzing and comparing sets of Group Policy Objects (GPOs). The tool is is deliverd in a .zip file and requires no installation.
http://blogs.technet.com/b/secguide/archive/2016/01/22/new-tool-policy-analyzer.aspx
A short guide for troubleshooting Windows Update Agent:
1. Download and execute//install “System Update Readiness Tool (CheckSur)” from https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/947821.
Check the following log for errors C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CheckSUR.log
2. For any updates that could not be repaired by CheckSur, download the msu-package manually from Microsoft Catalog, http://catalog.update.microsoft.com/v7/site/Home.aspx or from Microsoft Download Center, http://www.microsoft.com/download
3. Create the folder C:\Windows\CheckSur\packages if it doesnt already exists and move the downloaded updates there.
4. Execute “System Update Readiness Tool (CheckSur)” again.
5. Install updates from Windows Update.