Kurt Shintaku's Blog

Exciting news for folks trying to get off of AD FS! As announced on the Microsoft Entra blog:

“We’re excited to announce that the migration tool for Active Directory Federation Service (AD FS) customers to move their apps to Microsoft Entra ID is now generally available! Customers can begin updating their identity management with more extensive monitoring and security infrastructure by quickly identifying which applications are capable of being migrated and assessing all their AD FS applications for compatibility. “

In November we announced AD FS Application Migration would be moving to public preview, and the response from our partners and customers has been overwhelmingly positive. For some, transitioning to cloud-based security is a daunting task, but the tool has proven to dramatically streamline the process of moving to Microsoft Entra ID.

A simplified workflow, reduced need for manual intervention, and minimized downtime (for applications and end users) have reduced stress for hassle-free migrations. The tool not only checks the compatibility of your applications with Entra ID, but it can also suggest how to resolve any issues. It then monitors the migration progress and reflects the latest changes in your applications. Watch the demo to see the tool in action.”

Read more at:

• Move to cloud authentication with the AD FS migration tool!
  https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-entra-blog/move-to-cloud-authentication-with-the-ad-fs-migration-tool/ba-p/4174841

Deprecating NT LAN Manager (NTLM) has been a huge ask from our security community as it will strengthen user authentication, and so we are announcing that deprecation of NTLM is planned in the 2nd half of 2024 in Windows.

Why?

• No server authentication (read: can’t verify malicious authentication servers)
• Legacy MD4 encryption used for hashing password (read: weak & guessable)
• Password submitted not salted (read: offline crackable)
• Only supports password-based authentication (read: no certs, biometrics, MFA, FIDO, etc.)
• Bugs (read: vulnerabilities)

Read more at:

• New Windows 11 features strengthen security to address evolving cyberthreat landscape | Microsoft Security Blog
• We, Microsoft, are deprecating NTLM, and want to hear from you : r/sysadmin (reddit.com)
• The Evolution of Windows Authentication
  • The Evolution of Windows Authentication (Video)
  • The Evolution of Windows Authentication (Blog)
• BlueHat Oct 23. S18: Deprecating NTLM is Easy and Other Lies we Tell Ourselves

The SharePoint Add-In model in SharePoint Online has been retired as of November 27th 2023. Microsoft will be retiring the SharePoint Add-In extensibility model over the following timeline:

• SharePoint Add-Ins will stop working for new tenants as of November 1st, 2024
• SharePoint Add-Ins will stop working for existing tenants and will be fully retired as of April 2nd, 2026

This applies to all environments including Government Clouds and Department of Defense. For more details, visit:

• BLOG: SharePoint Add-In retirement in Microsoft 365
  https://aka.ms/retirement/addins/update
• ARTICLE: SharePoint Add-In retirement in Microsoft 365
  https://aka.ms/retirement/addins/support
• Modernization guidance for existing SharePoint Add-In model implementations in Microsoft 365
  https://aka.ms/retirement/addins/guidance
• Frequently Asked Questions
  https://aka.ms/retirement/addins/faq

If you’ve ever looked at the list of updates that Azure publishes, as well as the announcements & releases published on the ridiculous number of Azure blogs (Azure SQL, Azure Networking, Azure Apps, Azure Updates, Azure Integration Services, Azure Compute, Azure AI Services, +30 others), you know it can be overwhelming.

I personally don’t have the time to go through every update that’s published because on any given day, we can release 3-4 major features or services.

Enter Azure Updates from AzureCharts.

This is a concise list of updates that are sourced from the published Azure update list as well as the many, many dozens of blogs that officially support Azure from Microsoft.

• Updates are filterable by month, 11 categories and over 70 Azure-specific services.
• Data is subscribeable using RSS or exportable to CSV.

To view & subscribe to this Azure Updates list from AzureCharts, visit:

• https://aka.ms/az-updates

This is a great audio interview about the use value of AI in government from KQED, discussing:

✅ Reducing repetition to help with the overwhelming volume of work
✅ Rewriting content to make it easier to understand
✅ Reducing the volume of text in a regulation for comprehension
✅ Translating council meetings to extend community reach
✅ Identifying unsafe intersections that require attention

The interview features conversations with:

• Jason Elliott, deputy chief of staff to Governor Gavin Newsom
• Jennifer Pahlka, author, “Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better”; senior fellow, the Nisaken Center and the Federation of American Scientists
• Khaled Tawfik, chief information officer, Information Technology Department of the City of San Jose

Listen to the 55min recording here:

• “Generative AI is Coming to California’s Public Sector. What Now?” – KQED
  https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101906001/generative-ai-is-coming-to-californias-public-sector-what-now