Category: Stuff

Microsoft Office 365 Security

Read Krebs on Security latest article Tricky Phish Angles for Persistence, Not Passwords and it sparked me to review my Office 365 security parameters.

The review of my Office 365 and Azure details took me to various articles and notes:

There is quite a bit of content here and the “Five steps…” link is the best one to start out with.

Need to take some time and review docs for Azure Advanced Threat Protection, Azure AD password protection, and Self Service Password Reset.

On the way to RSA

Subject: Request to Attend RSA Conference 2020

Dear Sir,

RSA Conference 2020 takes place at the Moscone Center in San Francisco February 24 – 28. The Conference offers five full days of educational training from experienced industry practitioners and is widely regarded as the world’s leading forum for cybersecurity professionals. Therefore, I would like to request approval to attend so I can gain an understanding of the latest industry issues and best practices that will help keep our organization ahead of the latest cyberthreats.

If I attend, I will have an unparalleled opportunity to learn about critical and emerging cybersecurity issues facing our organization through:

  • Hundreds of expert-led sessions and keynotes covering a wide range of topics
  • An in-depth look at the latest trends from industry leaders, plus end-user experiences shared by seasoned practitioners
  • Hands-on demos of the latest products and solutions from more than 700 exhibitors
  • High-level networking opportunities that will allow me to develop important relationships and contacts with vendors and other experts while raising our company’s profile

Cost ~ $5000.

How To: Resolving a System Hang During Patching, Remotely!

This is pretty awesome:

Routine patching of systems and software is a crucial piece of any business’ information security strategy. Even so, many systems go unnoticed and unpatched for months, even years until an external threat forces the organization into action (e.g. the recent WannaCry ransomware outbreak).

When that happens, server administrators need to be prepared for irregularities they’re likely to encounter, such as a hang prior to reboot.

In this scenario, we’re going to assume that you’ve just finished patching and clicked the “Restart Now” button. You begin a continuous ping (ping -t [hostname/IP address]) and wait for the server to restart.

Let’s assume a normal reboot takes 5-10 minutes for this machine, and that 25+ minutes have passed.

You check the console, and are greeted by the “‘Preparing to Configure Windows. Do not turn off your computer” message. Time continues to pass while your maintenance window dwindles like falling grains in an hourglass… pressure is mounting, the business won’t wait. Time for action!

Logged in as an Administrator from your workstation check the Windows Module Installer service on the remote system…

  1. Run services.msc
  2. Right-click “Services (Local)” and select “Connect to another computer …”
  3. Make sure the “Another computer” radio button is selected and enter the hostname of the stuck server and click “OK”
  4. Search for “Windows Module Installer” service and verify its status. If it’s “stopping,” then you will need to force it to stop. This can’t be done here, so we’ll need to query its PID and use our old friend TaskKill to manually kill the service

Query the Process ID (PID) of the Windows Module Installer (TrustedInstaller) service…

  1. Open Command Prompt as an Administrator
  2. Run the following command:
    sc \\[hostname of the server] queryex trustedinstaller
  3. This will return (among other information) the PID of the stuck service, write it down as you’ll need it for the next step

Kill the hung service remotely using TaskKill…

  1. From the Command Prompt already opened, run the following command:taskkill /s [hostname of the server] /pid [PID recorded above] /t

Source: https://it.toolbox.com/blogs/yousef-alahmad/how-to-resolving-a-system-hang-during-patching-remotely-061417

Convert CSV to XLSX via PowerShell

Revisiting an old friend as some date format junk was needing adjustment and leading 0s from txt file were being dropped. Script originally brought txt into xlsx and all data was “General” format. Tweak noted below brought all data into xlsx as “Text” format.

Changed:

$query.TextFileColumnDataTypes = ,1 * $worksheet.Cells.Columns.Count
to
$query.TextFileColumnDataTypes = ,2 * $worksheet.Cells.Columns.Count

Entire script with stuff removed to protect the martians:

# Define locations and delimiter
$SourceFolder = "\\server\share\path1\path2"
$csv = $SourceFolder+"\sourcefile.txt" #Location of the source file
$xlsx = $SourceFolder+"\Cool Filename "+(Get-Date -f dd)+"."+(Get-Date -f MM)+"."+(Get-Date -f yyyy)+".xlsx" #Desired location of output
$delimiter = "|" #Specify the delimiter used in the file

# REMOVE ALL .XLSX files in the folder
Remove-Item $SourceFolder\* -include *.xlsx

# Create a new Excel workbook with one empty sheet
$excel = New-Object -ComObject excel.application 
$workbook = $excel.Workbooks.Add(1)
$worksheet = $workbook.worksheets.Item(1)

# Build the QueryTables.Add command and reformat the data
$TxtConnector = ("TEXT;" + $csv)
$Connector = $worksheet.QueryTables.add($TxtConnector,$worksheet.Range("A1"))
$query = $worksheet.QueryTables.item($Connector.name)
$query.TextFileOtherDelimiter = $delimiter
$query.TextFileParseType  = 1
$query.TextFileColumnDataTypes = ,2 * $worksheet.Cells.Columns.Count
$query.AdjustColumnWidth = 1

# Execute & delete the import query
$query.Refresh()
$query.Delete()

# Save & close the Workbook as XLSX.
$Workbook.SaveAs($xlsx,51)
$excel.Quit()

# Legacy file process rename tasks
dir \\server\share\path1\file.txt | Rename-Item -NewName {"New_Filename_"+(Get-Date -f yyyyMMdd)+".csv"}
dir \\server\share\path1\file2.txt | Rename-Item -NewName {"Another_File_"+(Get-Date -f yyyyMMdd)+".csv"}

Source: https://code.adonline.id.au/csv-to-xlsx-powershell/

Using Exclaimer with other Security Vendor

Resolution was found in KB note from Exclaimer. Specifically the note to select the “Stop processing more rules” option to force the Exclaimer rule to run and to prevent Office 365 from running the *VENDOR* rule until the email is returned from Exclaimer Cloud with a signature attached. At this point, the Exclaimer Transport Rule will have its exception triggered by the Exclaimer message header once it returns, and the *VENDOR rule will be used instead.

https://support.exclaimer.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360019730552-Reconfiguring-third-party-security-solution-connectors-to-work-with-Exclaimer-Cloud