Archive for May, 2021

Internet Explorer 11 browser, support end next year for some Windows 10 editions.

May 27th, 2021

Microsoft announced last week that IE 11 will hit its end on June 15, 2022 for Windows 10 versions 20H2 and later, as well as on Windows 10 IoT versions 20H2 and later. The browser won’t be removed by Microsoft, but no updates or security patches will arrive after that date, making it potentially insecure. Moreover, the IE 11 browser on those Windows 10 versions will “redirect to Microsoft Edge” after the June deadline, according to Microsoft’s FAQ.

Even before the June 15, 2022 deadline for IE 11 on those Windows 10 versions, organizations and individuals will lose IE 11 support when the browser gets used with “Microsoft 365 and other apps.” Issues will start to appear on Aug. 17, 2021, according to this Microsoft timeline:

[Click on image for larger view.]Desktop IE 11 end-of-support timeline for Windows 10 versions 20H2 and later. (Source: Microsoft’s “Windows experience” blog)

IE 11 End-of-Support for Other Windows Versions
The general rule of thumb for IE’s product lifecycle has been that that its support was tied to the underlying Windows lifecycle. Microsoft appears to be sticking with that theme.

For instance, the June 15, 2022 end-of-support date for IE 11 does not apply to the following Windows products:

  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU)
  • Windows 10 Server SAC (all versions)
  • Windows 10 IoT Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) (all versions)
  • Windows 10 Server LTSC (all versions)
  • Windows 10 client LTSC (all versions)

Users of those Windows operating systems can continue to use IE 11 until the OSes fall out of support. For both Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 ESU users, Windows end of support will occur on Jan. 10, 2023. Windows LTSC users will lose OS support on Jan. 9, 2029.

Switch to Edge or Another Browser
Organizations and individual are being encouraged by Microsoft to switch to the Microsoft Edge browser before IE 11’s end date.

The Chromium-based Edge browser is said to provide a so-called “modern browser” experience, while also enabling IE Mode for backward capability. IE Mode emulates IE behaviors within Edge and can support Web apps that are still dependent on the older technologies, Microsoft contends.

If app compatibility issues remain when using Edge with IE Mode, Microsoft offers its App Assure service to resolve the issues. The App Assure service is free, but just for organizations with 150 or more licenses (Windows 10 or Microsoft 365).

Microsoft is actually aware that organizations are still dependent on Web apps that use older IE technologies. The announcement cited a Forrester Consulting survey that found “enterprises have 1,678 legacy apps on average.”

IE Mode will be supported in Edge “through at least 2029,” the announcement indicated. Microsoft’s Trident engine in IE 11, called “MSHTML,” will continue to be supported through that same period as it is part of IE Mode.

According to Microsoft’s FAQ, there won’t be any support exceptions offered when IE 11 reaches its end of life. Microsoft is planning to give a one-year advance notice of the browser’s end.

Internet Explorer 11, the final version of Microsoft’s venerable Internet browser, will fall out of support next year for select Windows 10 editions.

Microsoft announced last week that IE 11 will hit its end on June 15, 2022 for Windows 10 versions 20H2 and later, as well as on Windows 10 IoT versions 20H2 and later. The browser will not be removed by Microsoft, but no updates or security patches will arrive after that date, making it potentially insecure. Moreover, the IE 11 browser on those Windows 10 versions will “redirect to Microsoft Edge” after the June deadline, according to Microsoft’s FAQ.

Even before the June 15, 2022 deadline for IE 11 on those Windows 10 versions, organizations and individuals will lose IE 11 support when the browser gets used with “Microsoft 365 and other apps.” Issues will start to appear on Aug. 17, 2021, according to this Microsoft timeline:

Desktop IE 11 end-of-support timeline for Windows 10 versions 20H2 and later. (Source: Microsoft’s “Windows experience” blog)

IE 11 End-of-Support for Other Windows Versions
The general rule of thumb for IE’s product lifecycle has been that that its support was tied to the underlying Windows lifecycle. Microsoft appears to be sticking with that theme.

For instance, the June 15, 2022 end-of-support date for IE 11 does not apply to the following Windows products:

  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 7 Extended Security Updates (ESU)
  • Windows 10 Server SAC (all versions)
  • Windows 10 IoT Long-Term Servicing Channel (LTSC) (all versions)
  • Windows 10 Server LTSC (all versions)
  • Windows 10 client LTSC (all versions)

Users of those Windows operating systems can continue to use IE 11 until the OSes fall out of support. For both Windows 8.1 and Windows 7 ESU users, Windows end of support will occur on Jan. 10, 2023. Windows LTSC users will lose OS support on Jan. 9, 2029.

Switch to Edge or Another Browser
Organizations and individual are being encouraged by Microsoft to switch to the Microsoft Edge browser before IE 11’s end date.

The Chromium-based Edge browser is said to provide a so-called “modern browser” experience, while also enabling IE Mode for backward capability. IE Mode emulates IE behaviors within Edge and can support Web apps that are still dependent on the older technologies, Microsoft contends.

If app compatibility issues remain when using Edge with IE Mode, then Microsoft offers its App Assure service to resolve the issues. The App Assure service is free, but just for organizations with 150 or more licenses (Windows 10 or Microsoft 365).

Microsoft is aware that organizations are still dependent on Web apps that use older IE technologies. The announcement cited a Forrester Consulting survey that found “enterprises have 1,678 legacy apps on average.”

IE Mode will be supported in Edge “through at least 2029,” the announcement indicated. Microsoft’s Trident engine in IE 11, called “MSHTML,” will continue to be supported through that same period as it is part of IE Mode.

According to Microsoft’s FAQ, there won’t be any support exceptions offered when IE 11 reaches its end of life. Microsoft is planning to give a one-year advance notice of the browser’s end.

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Posted in Microsoft, Technology

Hostage data – another cybercrime threat.

May 19th, 2021

Hostage Data

Ransomware continues to evolve with new threats. In a recent incident data was not only encrypted, but was also copied back to the criminals. Apple was the target through a supplier. The ransom note stated that without a payment, the data would be auctioned off.

So not only m business issues where you can’t access data, but also the stress of the data possibly being released or sold and who knows what GDPR and other compliance issues and costs.

While you may not work in organizations where data is worth $millions, it is still worth a significant amount, especially when its customer data. Ensure that you already have local data encrypted, and without the keys present, so that criminals can’t read your data.

With SQL Server and TDE the certificate is inside the local master database, and If someone should attach it and get access to the master database, then they could read your databases. An SMK and a DMK, might not offer adequate protection, .
.
Always Encrypted will help, unless you have lots of servers or other machines on your network with the certificates, in which case someone might be able to piece together the keys and read data.

Attacks are increasingly more numerous and creative. Backups might protect against some ransomware, but not when copies of your files are sent to criminals. So consider whether the access you allow from servers to the outside world needs to be more restricted. A challenge administrators, but they have to protect systems.

A cyber-criminal gang that took a major US fuel pipeline offline over the weekend acknowledged the incident in a public statement. “Our goal is to make money and not creating problems for society,” DarkSide wrote on its website.

The US issued emergency legislation on Sunday after Colonial Pipeline was hit by a ransomware cyber-attack. The pipeline carries 2.5 million barrels a day – 45% of the East Coast’s supply of diesel, petrol and jet fuel. The operator took itself offline on Friday after the cyber-attack.

A number of cyber-security researchers, speculated that the cyber-criminal gang could be Russian, because their software avoids encrypting any computer systems where the language is set as Russian.

The incident highlights the risk ransomware can pose to critical national industrial infrastructure, not just businesses.

In addition to a notice on their computer screens, victims of a DarkSide attack receive an information pack informing them that their computers and servers are encrypted. The gang lists all the types of data it has stolen, and sends victims the URL of a “personal leak page” where the data is already loaded, waiting to be automatically published, should the company or organisation not pay before the deadline is up. DarkSide also tells victims it will provide proof of the data it has obtained, and is prepared to delete all of it from the victim’s network.

It has a website on the dark web where it lists all the companies it has hacked and what was stolen, and an “ethics” page where it says which organisations it will not attack. DarkSide also works with “access brokers” – nefarious hackers who work to harvest the login details for as many working user accounts on various services as they can find. Rather than break int accounts and alert users or the service providers, these brokers sit on the usernames and passwords and sell them off to the highest bidders – cyber-criminal gangs who want to use them to carry out much larger crimes.

According to Digital Shadows, a London-based cyber-security firm, DarkSide operates like a business. DarkSide might have bought account login details for remote desktop software such as TeamViewer and Microsoft Remote Desktop. the cyber-criminal gang is likely to be based in a Russian-speaking country, as it avoids attacking companies in post-Soviet states including Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

Damages related to cybercrime is set to hit $6 trillion according to Cybersecurity.  Security experts now estimate that cyberattacks cost businesses $1.6 million to recover. Even scarier: in 2019 the average time it took to identify a breach was 7 months according to IBM. According to the FBI, an average of 4,000 ransomware incidents occur daily at an annual cost of $1 billion.

In 2019 his year, following a ransomware attack, the US city of Baltimore estimated its impact at more than $18 million – a much higher cost than the approximately $70,000 ransom, which the city refused to pay.

The arms race between sysadmins that protect infrastructure and criminals that attack it has taken yet another a leap forward.

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Posted in Security and Compliance, Technology, Uncategorized

Quickly identify and fix your performance bottleneck

May 4th, 2021

Are you responsible for a busy SQL server, for example, the Finance Department’s systems, documentation management, CRM, BI, or a Web Server; perhaps a busy file and print server, or something else entirely.

Were you responsible for installing the application running the workload for your company? Is the workload business critical, i.e. TOO BIG TO FAIL?

Do users, or even worse, customers, complain about performance?

If you are responsible to keep the workloads running in your organization that would benefit from additional performance, please read on – even if you don’t consider yourself a “Techie”.

Windows and VMs are both factors of high latency that impacts performance.

Variables Affecting the Performance of the Applications

There are many variables that affect the performance of those applications. The slowest, i.e. the most restrictive of these is the “Bottleneck”. Think of water being poured from a bottle. The water can only flow as fast as the neck of the bottle, the ‘slowest’ part of the bottle.

In a computer hardware the bottleneck will almost always fit into one of the following categories:

  • CPU
  • DISK
  • MEMORY
  • NETWORK

With Windows, it is usually very easy to find out which one the bottleneck is in, and here is how to do it (like an IT Engineer):

  • To open Resource Monitor – click the Start menu, and type “resource monitor”, and press Enter. Microsoft includes this as part of the Windows operating system and it is already installed.
  • Notice the graphs in the right-hand pane. When your computer is running at peak load, or users are complaining about performance, which of the graphs are ‘maxing out’? This is a great indicator of where your workload’s bottleneck is to be found.
Resource monitor

What You Can Do to Improve Application Performance

Once you have identified your bottleneck – the slowest part of your ‘compute environment’ then, what can you do to improve it?

The traditional approach to solving computer performance issues is to throw bigger and more powerful hardware at the solution like an extra disk or a new laptop, or putting more RAM into your workstation, or on the more extreme end, buying new servers or expensive storage solutions.

How do you decide when it is appropriate to spend money on new or additional hardware, and when it isn’t. Well the obvious answer is; ‘when you can get the performance that you need’, with the existing hardware infrastructure that you have already bought.

You don’t replace your car, just because it needs a service or tuning?

Let’s take disk speed as an example. Look at the response time column in Resource Monitor. Open the monitor to full screen or large enough to see the data. On the Overview tab, open the Disk Activity section so that you can see the Response Time column.

Do it now on the computer you’re using to read this. (You didn’t close Resource Monitor yet, did you?) This shows the Disk Response Time, or , how long is the storage taking to read and write data? Of course, a slower disk speed = a slower performance, but what is considered a good disk speed or a bad speed?

Scott Lowe, has written a great post that you can read here…TechRepublic: Use Resource Monitor to monitor storage performance that perfectly describes what to expect from faster and slower Disk Response Times:

“Response Time (ms). Disk response time in milliseconds. For this metric, a lower number is definitely better; in general, anything less than 10 ms is considered good performance. If you occasionally go beyond 10 ms, you should be okay, but if the system is consistently waiting more than 20 ms for response from the storage, then you may have a problem that needs attention, and it’s likely that users will notice performance degradation. At 50 ms and greater, the problem is serious.”

I hope when you check on your computer, the Disk Response Time is below 20 milliseconds. What about those other workloads that you were thinking about earlier. What’s the Disk Response Times on that busy SQL server, the CRM or BI platform, or those Windows servers that the users complain about?

Your Two Options

When the Disk Response Times are often higher than 20 milliseconds, and you need to improve the application performance, then it’s choice time and there are two main options:

  • Storage workload reduction software like DymaxIO™ fast data (Diskeeper®, SSDkeeper®, and V-locity® are now new DymaxIO fast data software). This tool will reduce Disk Storage Times by allowing much e of the data that your applications need to read, to come from a RAM cache, rather than be read slower disk storage. RAM is much faster than the media in your disk storage.
  • Contact us to trial this. You don’t even need to reboot.
  • If you have tried the DymaxIO software, and you still need faster disk access, then, it’s time to start getting quotations for new hardware. It does make sense though, to take a couple of minutes to install DymaxIO first, to see if that can be avoided. The software solution to remove storage inefficiencies is typically a much more cost-effective solution than having to buy hardware! A software solution to a software problem.

Improve Your Application Performance by Decreasing Disk Latency like an IT Engineer – call us to learn more 0097143365589

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Posted in Corporate Perfomance Management, Dynamics 365, e procurement, Healthcare, Hospitality, HR and Payroll, Infor Financial solutions, iptv, Microsoft Dynamics Ax, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, RPA and DMS, SharePoint and EPM, SQL, Sunsystems and Vision, Teams collaboration remote access, Technology