Has Microsoft Office 365 Beat Phishing?

In my personal use of 0365, I get somewhere between 50-200 personal emails a day. On average, I still have 1 to 3 phishing emails getting to me each day. Not only are they still arriving, but their sophistication and targeting are up. I still get phishing attempts from banks and other companies I don’t do business with, but it seems the phishing attempts that seem to have advanced knowledge of the companies and services I do do business with seem to be increasing. I’ve just assumed they are getting clues from my social media postings and other information leaks.

.. For example, people buying houses now have to be aware of compromised mortgage agents who’s email has been taken over by a phisher, who then sends a bogus request for the closing payment to the buyer to wire the money to another bank. The house buyers were expecting the wire transfer request, and it appears from the email account of the person they were told to expect the wire transfer request from. It appears legitimate in every way, including the amount of the money they were told to expect to have to bring to closing, with the only changed details being the bank they are wiring the money to. If the unsuspecting home buyer wires the money to the wrong bank, they are often permanently out of the money (if not the house they were wanting to buy unless they can and want to pay the closing costs again).

.. Like mortgage closing payment fraud, all spear phishing is increasing in sophistication. It is coming from people and businesses you trust. Regardless of what any vendor tells you, their anti-phishing miss rate will never be zero. I’ve been in the computer security business for over three decades. And each year, I hear from some vendor how they finally have phishing beat. And each year, it seems to get worse. Despite every vendor’s best effort, it seems more phishes are hitting my inbox than ever before

.. Even if a vendor solved the email phishing problem at work, it doesn’t stop email phishes from getting to your employees. Most employees have personal email accounts, and if that service has a non-zero phishing rate, then you and your company still need to educate those employees with security awareness training. Just because you solve the problem at work doesn’t mean the problem is gone.

Microsoft CEO responds to employee criticism of company’s contract with ICE

.. The contract being criticized by Microsoft workers is for the Azure Government product, a cloud-based service that Nadella said in his memo only supports ICE functions such as mail and document management. “I want to be clear: Microsoft is not working with the U.S. government on any projects related to separating children from their families at the border,”

.. He said Microsoft’s “engagement with any government has been and will be guided by our ethics and principles.” He slammed the administration’s border policy, calling it “simply cruel and abusive.”

Why Microsoft is Acquiring GitHub

Developing relationships with developers and acquiring new talent is a huge opportunity here.

This is one of my favorite acquisition stories so far in 2018. GitHub (notice the cute mascot) really is the Switzerland of code. I’m not going to lie, this might not stay the same after the Microsoft acquisition. Devs have a way of preferring something that feels a bit more brand agnostic and independent.

However it’s also a huge opportunity for Microsoft to develop better relationships with devs, use the data to optimize its AI in the cloud and even cherry pick some of the best developers in the world to create a pipeline of new talent and hires for the AI-route Microsoft will be going.

.. Acquiring GitHub could give Microsoft unique insights and relationship opportunities to onboard some of the best developers in the world.

.. GitHub has “27 million software developers working on 80 million repositories of code,” according to Bloomberg.
That’s 27 million of the most valuable minds on the planet. What can full access to these repositories and people do for how Microsoft understand talent in the software developer vertical?

.. Presumably coupled with the data of LinkedIn, this kind of information can help train Microsoft’s AI and its ability to acquire the right people to build it’s assault on AI in the cloud and the future.

.. In the world of tech, you don’t want your average employee to be necessarily 33 years OLD. This is exactly the sort of reason Microsoft will acquire GitHub.

.. and it’s pretty much recognized many developers do their best work in their mid to late 20s (since the field is so dynamic).