SolarWinds Hackers Accessed DOJ Emails, But there’s No Indication They Reached Classified Systems

Hackers who tapped into government networks through SolarWinds software potentially accessed about 3% of the Justice Department’s email accounts, but there’s no indication they accessed classified systems, a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement Wednesday. From a report: The DOJ Office of the Chief Information Officer learned of the hack the day of Christmas Eve, according to the statement, where agents…

Russians Are Believed To Have Used Microsoft Resellers in Cyberattacks

As the United States comes to grips with a far-reaching Russian cyberattack on federal agencies, private corporations and the nation’s infrastructure, new evidence has emerged that the hackers hunted their victims through multiple channels. From a report: The most significant intrusions discovered so far piggybacked on software from SolarWinds, the Austin-based company whose updates the Russians compromised. But new evidence from…

A Hacker is Selling Access To the Email Accounts of Hundreds of C-Level Executives

A threat actor is currently selling passwords for the email accounts of hundreds of C-level executives at companies across the world. From a report: The data is being sold on a closed-access underground forum for Russian-speaking hackers named Exploit.in, ZDNet has learned this week. The threat actor is selling email and password combinations for Office 365 and Microsoft accounts, which he…

Microsoft Overhauls Excel With Live Custom Data Types

Microsoft is overhauling Excel with the ability to support custom live data types. The Verge reports: You could import the data type for Seattle, for example, and then create a formula that references that single cell to pull out information on the population of Seattle. These data types work by cramming a set of structured data into a single cell in…

ZDNet Argues Linux-Based Windows ‘Makes Perfect Sense’

Last week open-source advocate Eric S. Raymond argued Microsoft was quietly switching over to a Linux kernel that emulates Windows. “He’s on to something,” says ZDNet’s contributing editor Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols:
I’ve long thought that Microsoft was considering migrating the Windows interface to running on the Linux kernel. Why…? [Y]ou can run standard Linux programs now on WSL2 without any trouble. That’s…

Microsoft Office 365 Experienced Two Major Outages Within 3 Days

On Monday long-time Slashdot reader TorinEdge wrote that Microsoft “appears to have botched an internal Office365 cloud services rollout today, with outages confirmed up and down the West Coast of North America. Confirmed roll backs were good early omens, but in the end did not appear to be successful… Symptoms may include: All 365-related services flaking out, borking, alternately approving logins…

Microsoft’s Transcribe in Word Gives Office 365 Subscribers 5 Hours of Transcription a Month

Last October, Microsoft unveiled a transcription feature — Transcribe in Word — that is designed to let users leverage the power of the cloud to transcribe audio. After nearly a year in development, Transcribe in Word is now generally available in U.S. English at no cost to existing Microsoft 365 subscribers. It will come to Android and iOS later this year….

Microsoft Adds Support For Custom ‘+’ Email Addresses in Office 365

Microsoft is adding support for custom email addressing to Office 365 email services, a feature it hopes to complete in Q3 2020. From a report: Custom email addresses are an optional feature that some email providers can support. The feature is described in the RFC 5233 internet standard. Officially known as subaddressing, this standard allows users to extend their email address…

Microsoft Seizes Six Domains Used in COVID-19 Phishing Operations

Microsoft has obtained a court order this month allowing the company to seize control of six domains that were used in phishing operations against Office 365 customers, including in campaigns that leveraged COVID-19 lures. From a report: According to court documents obtained by ZDNet, Microsoft has targeted a two-person phishing operation that has been targeting the company’s customers since December 2019….

Outlook For Windows Will Soon Sync Email Signatures Across Devices

Microsoft is finally bringing cloud support to Outlook for Windows email signatures. The Verge reports: Microsoft originally acknowledged that it was planning some type of sync support for Outlook signatures back in September, and the company says it will now roll this out in a June update. Office 365 and Microsoft 365 subscribers will get access to cloud signature support in…