IT Hour - 01.April.2022 (PSO Discussion)

[BenGarrison]

The IT Hour: hosted by JumpCloud

Date: April 1st, 2022

Topic: JumpCloud Professional Services

The IT Hour hosted by JumpCloud is a community program focused on the life of IT Administrators. With the ever changing IT landscape, having community and professional networking opportunities is very valuable. Come join us as we discuss our community and programs that are happening. We also discuss things that are happening within the JumpCloud product as well as IT trends!

[BScott]

IT Trending Updates - Rapid Fire Round notes / references & links

• Apple's latest iOS and macOS updates patch two zero-day vulnerabilities (engadget)
• One of the vulnerabilities called CVE-2022-22675 affects all three operating systems(ios, ipados, macos)  and gives hackers a way to execute malicious code with kernel privileges. That means they can get complete access to their target's system and hardware. The other vulnerability, CVE-2022-22674, affects macOS and could lead to the "disclosure of kernel memory" or the memory used by an operating system. They're the fourth and fifth zero-days Apple has fixed this year so far, which includes one that can be exploited to track sensitive user information.
• In addition to fixing the zero-day vulnerability affecting iPhones, iOS 15.4.1 also remedies an issue caused by the update before it. Apparently, iOS 15.4 went out with a bug that could cause an iPhone's battery to drain more quickly than expected. The update fixes an issue that could render Braille devices unresponsive, as well.

• Intel’s first Arc GPUs have finally arrived — here’s what you need to know
• Intel is rolling out its Arc family of GPUs slowly, starting with entry-level units designed for mainstream laptops.
• So far, Intel is dividing its GPUs into three tiers: Arc 3, Arc 5, and Arc 7. Arc 3 is aimed at thin-and-light laptops and is focused on providing a solid 1080p experience, while Arc 5 and Arc 7 target higher resolutions, framerates, and effects.
• The most notable technology on offer might be what Intel is calling its ‘Xe Matrix Extentions’ (XMX) AI engines, which live alongside traditional GPU vector engines in each of Intel’s Xe graphics cores. Intel claims that its XMX engines “provide a 16x increase in compute capability to complete AI inferencing operations compared with traditional GPU vector units.”
• That’s a bit of gobbledygook, but it basically means that Intel’s XMX tech should be a lot more efficient at solving AI operations than typical GPUs, assuming optimal implementation.
• While this is great for gamers, this might also have an impact for IT organizations, as this ‘might’ reduce costs over third-party GPU’s

• That time of year for scammers
• Tax scammers like to start to creep up this time of year. Just remember, that if the IRS really wanted to get your attention, they would send something in the mail. They don’t ask for gift cards
• If they are really interested in speaking with you, you might get a personal visit. Always make sure that whenever you talk to someone, that they are in fact from the IRS
• You can report scam at phishing@irs.gov. Just forward your message to that email box. You can also call at 800-366-4484
• Humanitarian scammers
• I would say avoid anything on the internet that asks for donations (especially if you’re getting emails). If you’re interested in donating to charity, check out Charitywatch or CharityNavigator
• Remember, sending money through an app like Zelle, Cashapp, or Venmo  is a one and done thing. Your bank will likely not be able to recover any funds. Choose wisely!
  
  
• Windows 11 growth stymied by strict hardware requirements
• We talked about this last IT hour, with the watermark being displayed.
• After a relatively healthy start to the year, Windows 11 only managed to grow its share of the systems surveyed by AdDuplex by a paltry 19.3 to 19.4 percent. Its Windows 10 equivalent, 21H2, continued to comfortably romp ahead, increasing from 21 percent at the end of February to 28.5 percent in March.
• Not only that, but with the tipping of the hat to increase to push everyone to login with a MSFT account even on pro machines, makes adopting Windows 11 even more of a hesitation for organizations. 
  
  
• Amazon ECS announces increased service quota for container instances per cluster
• You can now launch up to 5,000 instances per cluster, an increase from 2,000. The limit increase enables customers to scale further and improve manageability of their clusters.