Community Update
- @JCDavid (our super duper guest today), wrote about our Active Directory Integration and documentation. Go take a look!
- If you’re part of an MSP (or have been), have you been a part of any peer groups? Chris is wondering about that and would love your comments.
- Passionate about policy? Dying to tell us what we could do better about ours? Here’s your chance, because Joranna has a thread for just that.
Meetup Update
- Link to meetups: https://bit.ly/jcmeetup
- NEW: Singapore! We’ve added a Singapore IT Admins group - first event scheduled for the beginning of September
- Have you checked out the network recently? New brand is here!
- What’s the same? We are still an agnostic meetup network open to all IT professionals that aims to bring fellow techies together to grow networks, share insights, foster career growth, and, as always, have fun. Along those lines, our mission remains "Building Community Through IT Connections."
- What’s different? Most glaringly, our visual branding! We have a new look from our network header to our profile icon to the individual group headers. Our goal in doing this was to neutralize the look in order to emphasize that we are open to all IT professionals and broaden our reach.
We've also added a new element to the program - Let's Talk Tech. This group is about meeting up to talk all things tech, after all, so you'll start to notice all of the events moving forward begin with "Let's Talk" followed by the discussion topic (e.g. "Let's Talk Security," "Let's Talk Automation"). This way you'll know exactly what the main discussion is and will not only help streamline our conversations as a group, but also add cohesion to the series.
- We hope you're as excited as we are about these updates and that you'll continue to engage with this program! As always, feel free to reach out with feedback, thoughts, or concerns and let us know if you're interested in activating a meetup in your area. We hope to see you at an event soon.
IT Sprawl
- ebook: https://bit.ly/3Qh5tjZ
- Sprawl is understandable because people are seeking solutions to their problems, but presents hidden costs and risks
- We get it: No single tool makes all your problems go away; people (even MSP techs) will install external tools if it makes life easier
- People want best of breed solutions and might introduce shadow IT if you say, “no” to them
- E.g. a department just start using Dropbox on its own (marketing team at my old company had to work with external parties … somehow)
- ERP workaround was programmed without support, reliant on one person (my example)
- IT unifications connects employees to resources they need from any vendor to do the job
- Opportunity for consolidation to assist lean teams and budgets
- Maximize your existing investments or refocus on other priorities
IT News
- 10 malicious Python packages exposed in latest repository attack (ars technica)
Researchers have discovered yet another set of malicious packages in PyPi, the official and most popular repository for Python programs and code libraries. Those duped by the seemingly familiar packages could be subject to malware downloads or theft of user credentials and passwords. - Man who built ISP instead of paying Comcast $50K expands to hundreds of homes (ars technica)
Jared Mauch, the Michigan man who built a fiber-to-the-home Internet provider because he couldn't get good broadband service from AT&T or Comcast, is expanding with the help of $2.6 million in government money. [Becky's note: my dad chose to watch this episode, as I introduced him to the IT Hour when I visited this weekend, and noted that I mentioned him not ONCE, but TWICE] - Google Briefly Nuked the Internet [Monday] Night (gizmodo)
Large swaths of U.S. internet users last night briefly experienced the dark, frustrating realities of a world devoid of Google services. Though Google has since resolved the outage issues, earlier reports suggested the disruptions could have been tied to an “electrical incident” at a Council Bluffs, Iowa data center that left at least three electricians critically injured. Google denied the link when speaking with Gizmodo, and said the outages were due to an internal error, whatever that means. - Microsoft urges Windows users to run patch for DogWalk zero-day exploit (ComputerWorld)
Microsoft has confirmed that a high-severity, zero-day security vulnerability is actively being exploited by threat actors and is advising all Windows and Windows Server users to apply its latest monthly Patch Tuesday update as soon as possible. - Reverse-Engineering Insect Brains to Make Robots (via hacker news)
British startup Opteran, a spin–out of the University of Sheffield, has a completely different view of neuromorphic engineering compared to most of the industry. The company has reverse–engineered insect brains to derive new algorithms for collision avoidance and navigation that can be used in robotics. [Verdict: @TomBridge welcomes our new insect robot overlords.] - Apple Removes 'Hide My Email' Support in Third-Party Apps From macOS Ventura Features Page (MacRumors)
Apple recently removed a mention of "Hide My Email" support in third‑party apps from the macOS Ventura features page on its U.S. website, as noted by French website MacGeneration. The feature was still listed on the page as of August 3, according to the Wayback Machine, but it was removed at some point since then. [We didn't have time to get to this one today, but including the headline so you can go read the article.]
And one final note. I completely missed showing Mjölnir on screen after I had gone and gotten it and everything! It holds ~2000 ml and weighs about the same as a gallon of milk when filled, which is exactly how we won it in the drawing. So here's the picture and maybe it'll make an appearance some other time during an IT Hour.
