Microsoft Security: Are the Doors Falling Off?
January 22, 2024
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
“Microsoft Network Breached Through Password-Spraying by Russian-State Hackers” begs to be set to music. I am thinking about Chubby Checker and his hit “Let’s Twist Again.” One lyric change. Twist becomes “hacked.” So “let’s hack again like we did last summer.” Hit?
A Seattle-based quality and security engineer finds that his automobile door has fallen off. Its security system is silent. It must be the weather. Thanks, MSFT second class Copilot Bing thing. Good enough but the extra wheel is an unusual and creative touch.
The write up states:
Russia-state hackers exploited a weak password to compromise Microsoft’s corporate network and accessed emails and documents that belonged to senior executives and employees working in security and legal teams, Microsoft said [on January 19, 2024]. The attack, which Microsoft attributed to a Kremlin-backed hacking group it tracks as Midnight Blizzard, is at least the second time in as many years that failures to follow basic security hygiene has resulted in a breach that has the potential to harm customers.
The Ars Technica story noted:
A Microsoft representative said the company declined to answer questions, including whether basic security practices were followed.
Who did this? One of the Axis of Evil perhaps. Why hack Microsoft? Because it is a big, juicy target? Were the methods sophisticated, using artificial intelligence to outmaneuver state-of-the-art MSFT cyber defenses? Nope. It took seven weeks to detect the password guessing tactic.
Did you ever wonder why door fall off Seattle-linked aircraft and security breaches occur at Seattle’s big software outfit? A desire for profits, laziness, indifference, or some other factor is causing these rather high-profile issues. It must be the Seattle water or the rain. That’s it. The rain! No senior manager can do anything about the rain. Perhaps a solar wind will blow and make everything better?
Stephen E Arnold, January 22, 2024
Regulators Shift into Gear to Investigate an AI Tie Up
January 19, 2024
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
Solicitors, lawyers, and avocats want to mark the anniversary of the AI big bang. About one year ago, Microsoft pushed Google into hitting its Code Red button. Investment firms, developers, and wild-eyed entrepreneurs knew smart software was the real deal, not a digital file of a cartoon like that NFT baloney. In the last 12 months, AI went from jargon and eliciting yawns to the treasure map to the fabled city of El Dorado (even if it was a suburb of Grants, New Mexico. Google got the message quickly. The lawyers. Well, not too quickly.
Regulators look through the technological pile of 2023 gadgets. Despite being last year’s big thing, the law makers and justice deciders move into action mode. Exciting. Thanks, MSFT Copilot Bing thing. Good enough.
“EU Joins UK in Scrutinizing OpenAI’s Relationship with Microsoft” documents what happens when lawyers — after decades of inaction — wake to do something constructive. Social media gutted the fabric of many cultural norms. AI isn’t going to be given a 20 year free pass. No way.
The write up reports:
Antitrust regulators in the EU have joined their British counterparts in scrutinizing Microsoft’s alliance with OpenAI.
What will happen now? Here’s my short list of actions:
- Legal eagles on both sides of the Atlantic will begin grooming their feathers in order to be selected to deal with the assorted forms, filings, hearings, and advisory meetings. Some of the lawyers will call Ferrari to make sure they are eligible to buy a supercar; others may cast an eye on an impounded oligarch-linked yacht. Yep, big bucks ahead.
- Microsoft and OpenAI will let loose an platoon of humanoid art history and business administration majors. These professionals will create a wide range of informative explainers. Smart software will be pressed into duty, and I anticipate some smart automation to provide Teflon the the flow of digital documentation.
- Firms — possibly some based in the EU and a few bold souls in the US — will present information making clear that competition is a good thing. Governments must regulate smart software
- Entities hostile to the EU and the US will also output information or disinformation. Which is what depends on one’s perspective.
In short, 2024 will be an interesting year because one of the major threat to the Google could be converted to the digital equivalent of a eunuch in an Assyrian ruler’s court. What will this mean? Google wins. Unanticipated consequence? Absolutely.
Stephen E Arnold, January 19, 2024
A Swiss Email Provider Delivers Some Sharp Cheese about MSFT Outlook
January 17, 2024
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
What company does my team love more than Google? Give up. It is Microsoft. Whether it is the invasive Outlook plug in for Zoom on the Mac or the incredible fly ins, pop ups, and whining about Edge, what’s not to like about this outstanding, customer-centric firm? Nothing. That’s right. Nothing Microsoft does can be considered duplicitous, monopolistic, avaricious, or improper. The company lives and breathes the ethics of Thomas Dewey, the 19 century American philosopher. This is my opinion, of course. Some may disagree.
A perky Swiss farmer delivers an Outlook info dump. Will this delivery enable the growth of suveillance methodologies? Thanks, MSFT Copilot Bing thing. Thou did not protest when I asked for this picture.
I read and was troubled that one of my favorite US firms received some critical analysis about the MSFT Outlook email program. The sharp comments appeared in a blog post titled “Outlook Is Microsoft’s New Data Collection Service.” Proton offers an encrypted email service and a VPN from Switzerland. (Did you know the Swiss have farmers who wash their cows and stack their firewood neatly? I am from central Illinois, and our farmers ignore their cows and pile firewood. As long as a cow can make it into the slaughter house, the cow is good to go. As long as the firewood burns, winner.)
The write up reports or asserts, depending on one’s point of view:
Everyone talks about the privacy-washing(new window) campaigns of Google and Apple as they mine your online data to generate advertising revenue. But now it looks like Outlook is no longer simply an email service(new window); it’s a data collection mechanism for Microsoft’s 772 external partners and an ad delivery system for Microsoft itself.
Surveillance is the key to making money from advertising or bulk data sales to commercial and possibly some other organizations. Proton enumerates how these sucked up data may be used:
- Store and/or access information on the user’s device
- Develop and improve products
- Personalize ads and content
- Measure ads and content
- Derive audience insights
- Obtain precise geolocation data
- Identify users through device scanning
The write up provides this list of information allegedly available to Microsoft:
- Name and contact data
- Passwords
- Demographic data
- Payment data
- Subscription and licensing data
- Search queries
- Device and usage data
- Error reports and performance data
- Voice data
- Text, inking, and typing data
- Images
- Location data
- Content
- Feedback and ratings
- Traffic data.
My goodness.
I particularly like the geolocation data. With Google trying to turn off the geofence functions, Microsoft definitely may be an option for some customers to test. Good, bad, or indifferent, millions of people use Microsoft Outlook. Imagine the contact lists, the entity names, and the other information extractable from messages, attachments, draft folders, and the deleted content. As an Illinois farmer might say, “Winner!”
For more information about Microsoft’s alleged data practices, please, refer to the Proton article. I became uncomfortable when I read the section about how MSFT steals my email password. Imagine. Theft of a password — Is it true? My favorite giant American software company would not do that to me, a loyal customer, would it?
The write up is a bit of content marketing rah rah for Proton. I am not convinced, but I think I will have my team do some poking around on the Proton Web site. But Microsoft? No, the company would not take this action would it?
Stephen E Arnold, January 17, 2023
An Effort to Put Spilled Milk Back in the Bottle
December 15, 2023
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
Microsoft was busy when the Activision Blizzard saga began. I dimly recall thinking, “Hey, one way to distract people from the SolarWinds’ misstep would be to become an alleged game monopoly.” I thought that Microsoft would drop the idea, but, no. I was wrong. Microsoft really wanted to be an alleged game monopoly. Apparently the successes (past and present) of Nintendo and Sony, the failure of Google’s Grand Slam attempt, and the annoyance of refurbished arcade game machines was real. Microsoft has focus. And guess what government agency does not? Maybe the Federal Trade Commission?
Two bureaucrats to be engage in a mature discussioin about the rules for the old-fashioned game of Monopoly. One will become a government executive; the other will become a senior legal professional at a giant high-technology outfit. Thanks, MSFT Copilot. You capture the spirit of rational discourse in a good enough way.
The MSFT game play may not be over. “The FTC Is Trying to Get Back in the Ring with Microsoft Over Activision Deal” asserts:
Nearly five months later, the FTC has appealed the court’s decision, arguing that the lower court essentially just believed whatever Microsoft said at face value…. We said at the time that Microsoft was clearly taking the complaints from various regulatory bodies as some sort of paint by numbers prescription as to what deals to make to get around them. And I very much can see the FTC’s point on this. It brought a complaint under one set of facts only to have Microsoft alter those facts, leading to the courts slamming the deal through before the FTC had a chance to amend its arguments. But ultimately it won’t matter. This last gasp attempt will almost certainly fail. American regulatory bodies have dull teeth to begin with and I’ve seen nothing that would lead me to believe that the courts are going to allow the agency to unwind a closed deal after everything it took to get here.
From my small office in rural Kentucky, the government’s desire or attempt to get “back in the ring” is interesting. It illustrates how many organizations approach difficult issues.
The advantage goes to the outfit with [a] the most money, [b] the mental wherewithal to maintain some semblance of focus, and [c] a mechanism to keep moving forward. The big four wheel drive will make it through the snow better than a person trying to ride a bicycle in a blizzard.
The key sentence in the cited article, in my opinion, is:
“I fail to understand how giving somebody a monopoly of something would be pro-competitive,” said Imad Dean Abyad, an FTC attorney, in the argument Wednesday before the appeals court. “It may be a benefit to some class of consumers, but that is very different than saying it is pro-competitive.”
No problem with that logic.
And who is in charge of today Monopoly games?
Stephen E Arnold, December 15, 2023
The Power of Regulation: Muscles MSFT Meets a Strict School Marm
November 17, 2023
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
I read “The EU Will Finally Free Windows Users from Bing.” The EU? That collection of fractious states which wrangle about irrelevant subjects; to wit, the antics of America’s techno-feudalists. Yep, that EU.
The “real news” write up reports:
Microsoft will soon let Windows 11 users in the European Economic Area (EEA) disable its Bing web search, remove Microsoft Edge, and even add custom web search providers — including Google if it’s willing to build one — into its Windows Search interface. All of these Windows 11 changes are part of key tweaks that Microsoft has to make to its operating system to comply with the European Commission’s Digital Markets Act, which comes into effect in March 2024
The article points out that the DMA includes a “slew” of other requirements. Please, do not confuse “slew” with “stew.” These are two different things.
The old fashioned high school teacher says to the high school super star, “I don’t care if you are an All-State football player, you will do exactly as I say. Do you understand?” The outsized scholar-athlete scowls and say, “Yes, Mrs. Ee-You. I will comply.” Thank you MSFT Copilot. You converted the large company into an image I had of its business practices with aplomb.
Will Microsoft remove Bing — sorry, Copilot — from its software and services offered in the EU? My immediate reaction is that the Redmond crowd will find a way to make the magical software available. For example, will such options as legalese and a check box, a new name, a for fee service with explicit disclaimers and permissions, and probably more GenZ ideas foreign to me do the job?
The techno weight lifter should not be underestimated. Those muscles were developed moving bundles of money, not dumb “belles.”
Stephen E Arnold, November 17, 2023
An Odd Couple Sharing a Soda at a Holiday Data Lake
November 16, 2023
What happens when love strikes the senior managers of the technology feudal lords? I will tell you what happens — Love happens. The proof appears in “Microsoft and Google Join Forces on OneTable, an Open-Source Solution for Data Lake Challenges.” Yes, the lakes around Redmond can be a challenge. For those living near Googzilla’s stomping grounds, the risk is that a rising sea level will nuke the outdoor recreation areas and flood the parking lots.
But any speed dating between two techno feudalists is news. The “real news” outfit Venture Beat reports:
In a new open-source partnership development effort announced today, Microsoft is joining with Google and Onehouse in supporting the OneTable project, which could reshape the cloud data lake landscape for years to come
And what does “reshape” mean to these outfits? Probably nothing more than making sure that Googzilla and Mothra become the suppliers to those who want to vacation at the data lake. Come to think of it. The concessions might be attractive as well.
Googzilla says to Mothra-Soft, a beast living in Mercer Island, “I know you live on the lake. It’s a swell nesting place. I think we should hook up and cooperate. We can share the money from merged data transfers the way you and I — you good looking Lepidoptera — are sharing this malted milk. Let’s do more together if you know what I mean.” The delightful Mothra-Soft croons, “I thought you would wait until our high school reunion to ask, big boy. Let’s find a nice, moist, uncrowded place to consummate our open source deal, handsome.” Thanks, Microsoft Bing. You did a great job of depicting a senior manager from the company that developed Bob, the revolutionary interface.
The article continues:
The ability to enable interoperability across formats is critical for Google as it expands the availability of its BigQuery Omni data analytics technology. Kazmaier said that Omni basically extends BigQuery to AWS and Microsoft Azure and it’s a service that has been growing rapidly. As organizations look to do data processing and analytics across clouds there can be different formats and a frequent question that is asked is how can the data landscape be interconnected and how can potential fragmentation be stopped.
Is this alleged linkage important? Yeah, it is. Data lakes are great places to part AI training data. Imagine the intelligence one can glean monitoring inflows and outflows of bits. To make the idea more interesting think in terms of the metadata. Exciting because open source software is really for the little guys too.
Stephen E Arnold, November 16, 2023
Bing Chatbot Caught Allowing Malicious Ads to Slip Through
November 13, 2023
This essay is the work of a dumb humanoid. No smart software required.
Bing has been so excited to share its integrated search chatbot with the world. Unfortunately, there is a bit of a wrinkle. Neowin reports, “Microsoft Is Reportedly Allowing Malicious Ads to Be Served on Bing’s AI Chat.” Citing a report from Malwarebytes, writer Mehrotra A tells us:
“Bing AI currently adds hyperlinks to text when responding to user queries and some times, these hyperlinks are sponsored ads. However, when Malwarebytes asked Bing AI how to download Advanced IP Scanner, it gave a hyperlink to a malicious website instead of the official website. While, Microsoft does put a small ad label next to the link, it is easy to overlook and an unsuspecting user will not think twice before clicking the link and downloading a file that could very well damage their system. In this instance, the ad opened a fake URL that filtered traffic and took the real users to a fake website that mimics the official Advanced IP Scanner website. Once some one runs the executable installer, the script tries to connect to an external IP address. Unfortunately, Malwarebytes did not find the final intention or the payload but it could have easily being a spyware or a ransomware.”
Quite the oversight. The write-up concludes Microsoft is not sufficiently vetting marketing campaigns before they go live. We can only hope Malwarebyte’s discovery will change that.
Cynthia Murrell, November 13, 2023
The GOOG and MSFT Tried to Be Pals… But
October 30, 2023
This essay is the work of a dumb humanoid. No smart software required.
Here is an interesting tangent to the DOJ’s case against Google. Yahoo Finance shares reporting from Bloomberg in, “Microsoft-Google Peace Deal Broke Down Over Search Competition.” The two companies pledged to stop fighting like cats and dogs in 2016. Sadly, the peace would last but three short years, testified Microsoft’s Jonathan Tinter.
In a spirit of cooperation and profits for all, Microsoft and Google-parent Alphabet tried to work together. For example, in 2020 they made a deal for Microsoft’s Surface Duo: a Google search widget would appear on its main screen (instead of MS Bing) in exchange for running on the Android operating system. The device’s default browser, MS Edge, would still default to Bing. Seemed like a win-win. Alas, the Duo turned out to be a resounding flop. That disappointment was not the largest source of friction, however. We learn:
“In March 2020, Microsoft formally complained to Google that its Search Ads 360, which lets marketers manage advertising campaigns across multiple search engines, wasn’t keeping up with new features and ad types in Bing. … Tinter said that in response to Microsoft’s escalation, Google officially complained about a problem with the terms of Microsoft’s cloud program that barred participation of the Google Drive products — rival productivity software for word processing, email and spreadsheets. In response to questions by the Justice Department, Tinter said Microsoft had informally agreed to pay for Google to make the changes to SA360. ‘It was half a negotiating strategy,’ Tinter said. Harrison ‘said, ‘This is too expensive.’ I said, ‘Great let me pay for it.’’ The two companies eventually negotiated a resolution about cloud, but couldn’t resolve the problems with the search advertising tool, he said. As a result, nothing was ever signed on either issue, Tinter said. ‘We ultimately walked away and did not reach an agreement,’ he said. Microsoft and Google also let their peace deal expire in 2021.”
Oh well, at least they tried to get along, we suppose. We just love dances between killer robots with money at stake.
Cynthia Murrell, October 30, 2023
Microsoft and What Fizzled with One Trivial Omission. Yep, Inconsequential
October 27, 2023
This essay is the work of a dumb humanoid. No smart software required.
I read “10 Hyped-Up Windows Features That Fizzled Out” is an interesting list. I noticed that the Windows Phone did not make the cut. How important is the mobile phone to online computing and most people’s life? Gee, a mobile phone? What’s that? Let’s see Apple has a phone and it produces some magnetism for the company’s other products and services. And Google has a phone with its super original, hardly weird Android operating system with the pull through for advertising sales. Google does fancy advertising, don’t you think? Then we have the Huawei outfit, which despite political headwinds, keeps tacking and making progress and some money. But Microsoft? Nope, no phone despite the superior thinking which brought Nokia into the Land of Excitement.
What do you mean security is a priority? I was working on 3D, the metaverse, and mixed reality. I don’t think anyone on my team knows anything about security. Is someone going to put out that fire? I have to head to an off site meeting. Catch you later,” says the hard working software professional. Thanks MidJourney, you understand dumpster fire, don’t you?
What’s on the list? Here are five items that the online write up identified as “fizzled out” products. Please, navigate to the original “let’s make a list and have lunch delivered” article.
The five items I noted are:
- The dual screen revolution Windows 10X for devices like the “Surface Neo.” Who knew?
- 3D modeling. Okay, I would have been happy if Microsoft could support plain old printing from its outstanding Windows products.
- Mixed reality. Not even the Department of Defense was happy with weird goggles which could make those in the field of battle a target.
- Set tabs. Great idea. Now you can buy it from Stardock, the outfit that makes software to kill the weird Window interface. Yep, we use this on our Windows computers. Why? The new interface is a pain, not a “pane.”
- My People. I don’t have people. I have a mobile phone and email. Good enough.
What else is missing from this lunch time-brainstorming list generation session?
My nomination is security. The good enough approach is continuing to demonstrate that — bear with me for this statement — good enough is no longer good enough in my opinion.
Stephen E Arnold, October 27, 2023
Microsoft Making Changes: Management and Personnel Signals
October 17, 2023
![Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[2]](https://arnoldit.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t2-25.gif "Vea4_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_thumb_t[2]")
Note: This essay is the work of a real and still-alive dinobaby. No smart software involved, just a dumb humanoid.
We post headlines to the blog posts in Beyond Search to LinkedIn, “hire me” service. The traffic produced is minimal, and I find it surprising that a 1,000 people or so look at the information that catches our attention. As a dinobaby who is not interested in work, I find LinkedIn amusing. The antics of people posting little videos, pictures of employees smiling, progeny in high school athletic garb, and write ups which say, “I am really wonderful” are fascinating. Every month or so, I receive a message from a life coach. I get a kick out of telling the young person, “I am 78 and I don’t have much life left. What’s to coach?” I never hear from the individual again. What fun is that?
I wonder if the life coaches offer their services to Microsoft LinkedIn? Perhaps the organization could benefit more than I would. What justifies this statement? “LinkedIn Employees Discovered a Mysterious List of around 500 Names Over the Weekend. On Monday, Workers Said Those on the List Were Laid Off” might provide a useful group of prospects. Imagine. A group of professionals working on a job hunting site possibly terminated by Microsoft LinkedIn. That’s the group to write about life coaching and generating leads. What’s up with LinkedIn? Is LinkedIn a proxy for management efforts to reduce costs?
“Turn the ship, sir. You will run aground, leak fuel, and kill the sea bass,” shouts a consultant to the imposing vessel Titanic 3. Thanks, MidJourney, close enough for horse shoes.
Without any conscious effort other LinkedIn-centric write ups caught my eye. Each signals that change is being forced upon a vehicle for aggressive self promotion to make money. Let me highlight these other “reports” and offer a handful of observations. Keep in mind that [a] I am a dinobaby and [b] I see social media as a generally bad idea. See. I told you I was a dinobaby.
The first article I spotted in my newsfeed was “Microsoft Owned LinkedIn Lays Off Nearly 700 Employees — Read the Memo Here.” The big idea is that LinkedIn is not making as much money as it coulda, woulda, shoulda. The fix is to allow people to find their future elsewhere via role reductions. Nice verbiage. Chatty and rational, right, tech bros? Is Microsoft emulating the management brilliance of Elon Musk or the somewhat thick fingered efforts of IBM?
The article states:
LinkedIn is now ramping up hiring in India…
My hunch it is a like a combo at a burger joint: “Some X.com, please. Oh, add some IBM too.”
Also, I circled an item with the banner “20% of LinkedIn’s Recent Layoffs Were Managers.” Individuals offered some interesting comments. These could be accurate or the fabrications of a hallucinating ChatGPT-type service. Who knows? Consider these remarks:
- From Kuchenbecker: I’m at LI and my reporting chain is Sr mgr > Sr Director > VP > Sr vp > CEO. A year ago it was mgr > sr mgr > director > sr Director> vp> svp > ceo. No one in my management chain was impacted but the flattening has been happening organically as folks leave. LI has a distinctive lack of chill right now contrary to the company image, but generally things are just moving faster.
- From Greatpostman: I have a long held belief that engineering managers are mostly a scam, and are actually just overpaid scrum masters. This is from working at some top companies
- From Xorcist: Code is work, and the one thing that signals moving up the social ladder is not having to work.
- From Booleandilemma: My manager does little else besides asking what everyone is working on every day. We could automate her position with a slack bot and get the same results.
The comments suggest a well-crafted bureaucracy. No wonder security buffs find Microsoft interesting. Everyone is busy with auto scheduled meetings and getting Teams to work.
Next, I spotted was “Leaked Microsoft Pay Guidelines Reveal Salary, Hiring Bonus, and Stock Award Ranges by Level.” I underlined this assertion in the article:
In 2022, when the economy was still booming, Microsoft granted an across-the board compensation raise for levels 67 and lower through larger stock grants, in response to growing internal dissatisfaction with compensation compared to competitors, and to stop employees from leaving for better pay, especially to Amazon. As Insider previously reported, earlier this year, as the economy faltered, Microsoft froze base pay raises and cut its budget for bonuses and stock awards.
Does this suggest some management problems, problems money cannot resolve? Other observations:
- Will Microsoft be able to manage its disparate businesses as it grows ever larger?
- Has Microsoft figured out how to scale and achieve economies that benefit its stakeholders?
- Will Microsoft’s cost cutting efforts create other “gaps” in the plumbing of the company; for example, security issues?
I am not sure, but the game giant and AI apps vendor appears to be trying to turn a flotilla, not a single aircraft carrier. The direction? Lower cost talent in India? Will the quality of Microsoft’s products and services suffer? Nope. A certain baseline of excellence exists and moving that mark gets more difficult by the day.
Stephen E Arnold, October 17, 2023
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