TEC Talk Series 2023

The continual issue of Active Directory (AD) misconfigurations and the rise in AI tools leveraging vulnerability databases pose a substantial challenge to our current AD cyber resilience strategies. In this illuminating TEC Talk, "AD-Based Attacks in 2023: What We've Learned So Far," we dive deep into:

• The nature and implications of AD vulnerabilities, including potential avenues for privilege escalation and full domain compromise.
• Strategies for identifying and rectifying prevalent AD misconfigurations that could be exploited as attack entry points.
• The increasing risks associated with AI systems that harness known AD weaknesses and vulnerabilities for nefarious purposes.
• Developing holistic strategies to safeguard AD against a progressively complex attack landscape.
• Strengthening your organization's resilience and recovery mechanisms to combat these threats effectively.

By the conclusion of this on-demand webcast, you will possess a more nuanced understanding of the evolving cybersecurity threats and valuable insights to bolster your defenses. We're pleased to welcome industry veterans Paul Robichaux, Microsoft MVP and Practical Protection Corner Author on Practical365.com, and Bryan Patton, CISSP and Principal Solutions Consultant at Quest Software, who bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the discussion.

Speakers:

Paul Robichaux, Microsoft MVP and Practical Protection Corner Author on Practical365.com

Bryan Patton, CISSP and Principal Solutions Consultant at Quest Software

Microsoft recently announced that Exchange Online will block old Exchange Servers by throttling and then rejecting their inbound email into Exchange Online. What does this mean to you and your organization?

In this session, Tony Redmond, Microsoft Office Apps & Services MVP and Consultant, Malte Schoch, Quest Product, and Becky Cross, Technical Product Manager, discuss:

• What might happen if your org is using older on-premises Exchange servers?
• What should you be thinking about now so that you don’t end up with blocked messages and unhappy users?
• And maybe most importantly, why running an older on-premises Exchange server will add risk to your business?

Speakers:

Tony Redmond runs his own consulting company and is the lead author for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook. He is also the Editorial Director of Practical365.com. Tony is a frequent conference speaker, blending a mixture of executive and technological insight into the topics he covers.

Malte Schoch is a Principal Product Manager at Quest Software where he drives the direction of the On Demand Migration platform. Malte has more than 10 years of experience in IT and is a migration specialist in mergers, acquisitions, and divestitures.

Becky Cross is a Technical Product Manager at Quest Software. She is experienced with architecting migration and integration solutions and helps to guide product improvements that help companies achieve smooth integrations in today’s global workforce.  Becky specializes in migrations, integrations, and long-term coexistence for Exchange, Active Directory, Azure AD, and Office365 environments.

Microsoft Teams tenant-to-tenant migrations can be particularly challenging to plan and run, with workloads sprawling across vast data sources.

To ensure a smooth and successful migration, there are a few key elements to consider, from preparing the target environment to identifying your order of operations.

In this session, M365 administrators will learn how to become a Teams hero by overcoming the most frustrating elements of a Teams migration. Randy Rempel, Quest’s Principal Product Manager, and Sofya Serna Perez, Quest’s Software Presales Engineer, discuss:

• Key actions to take to ensure a successful Teams migration.
• The most frequent and the most disruptive Teams migration issues.
• Common misconceptions surrounding Teams migrations.

Speakers:

Randy is a seasoned IT professional with decades of experience, currently serving as a Principal Product Manager at Quest. He is dedicated to delivering solutions that empower customers and partners to achieve their desired business outcomes.

Sofya, Software Presales Engineer at Quest, is a seasoned expert in collaboration, boasting over a decade of experience in Microsoft Platform solutions. Her extensive skill set includes building custom software and solutions, executing migrations, providing IT consulting, delving into business analytics and administering Microsoft collaboration environments for enterprise-level clients.

Active Directory is over twenty years old – ancient in terms of technology. Yet it still serves as the primary authentication source for over 90% of enterprises. Even for organizations that are moving more and more to Azure AD, attackers are gaining access to cloud environments because as Alex Weinert, Vice President of Microsoft Identity Security, said in his TEC 2022 keynote, “on-premises is where we’re being attacked.”

In this TEC Talk, Michael Van Horenbeeck, Microsoft Certified Solutions Master, discusses:

• How Active Directory is being used and abused
• How to modernize and secure your Active Directory
• How you can reduce and secure your attack surface

Speaker:

Michael Van Horenbeeck is the CEO at The Collective. He is also a Microsoft Certified Solutions Master (MCSM) and Azure Threat Protection MVP from Belgium – one of the few people in the world to hold both the coveted certification and award at the same time. He is a dynamic tech enthusiast and focuses on Security and Identity Management, with a history in Messaging and Collaboration.  

You can find Michael on Twitter and LinkedIn, and follow his ramblings through his company's website.

Microsoft 365 security is a big space, ranging from Azure AD to individual workload features like RBAC for Applications. It’s hard to keep on top of every single lever that controls different security capabilities available in the basic Office 365 licenses or add-on Microsoft products.

In this session, Tony Redmond, Microsoft Office Apps & Services MVP and Consultant, covers five areas where he thinks many Microsoft 365 tenants can improve their security posture, including:

• Protecting every account with multi-factor authentication and conditional access policies.
• Ensuring apps use exactly the permissions they need and no more.
• Securing sensitive information against unauthorized access, and more.

Speaker:

Tony Redmond runs his own consulting company and is the lead author for the Office 365 for IT Pros eBook. He is also Editorial Director of Practical365.com. Tony is a frequent conference speaker, blending a mixture of executive and technological insight into the topics he covers.