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Microsoft 365 Information, How-To’s, Tips, Tools, and Guides

FLEXING COPILOT – INSTALL PYTHON ON WINDOWS

I have been finding out copilot’s limitations recently and to handle some items, I need to run python, using copilot generated code, so i can parse the data in my sharepoint library. For this article we will look at how to install python.

Open Windows Store

Search for Python

Click Install/Get

Once it is installed you can open a Command Prompt by:
Click Search in your Windows 11 task bar at the bottom of the screen

Type cmd

Then lets try to install some python packages at the C:\ prompt. You can do this by typing
pip install PyPDF2 pandas

If it installs, your python installation is successful

CONFIGURE BITLOCKER THROUGH INTUNE

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If you are receiving the following recommendation in your Microsoft Security Center, the directions after will help you resolve the issue:

BitLocker Drive Encryption is a data protection feature that integrates with the operating system and addresses the threats of data theft or exposure from lost, stolen, or inappropriately decommissioned computers.

This security control is only assessed for machines with Windows 10, version 1803 or later.
Drives that aren’t encrypted are exposed to unauthorized access to user data and to data tampering while the system is offline
.

Here is the remediation:

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center (https://endpoint.microsoft.com).
  2. Select “Devices” and then “Configuration profiles”.
  3. Click on “Create profile” and select the platform “Windows 10 and later”.
  4. Choose the profile type “Endpoint protection” and then “BitLocker”.
  5. Configure the BitLocker settings according to your preferences.
  6. Assign the profile to the desired groups.

INTUNE & ATTACK SURFACE REDUCTION RULES

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The following information below describes how to implement the following security recommendation from Microsoft:
Attack Surface Reduction (ASR) rules are the most effective method for blocking the most common attack techniques being used in cyber attacks and malicious software.
This ASR rule scans executable files entering the system to determine whether they’re trustworthy.

To address this security recommendation, perform the following:

  1. Sign in to the Microsoft Endpoint Manager admin center (https://endpoint.microsoft.com).
  2. Select “Endpoint security” and then “Attack surface reduction”.
  3. Click on “Create Policy” and select the platform “Windows 10 and later”.
  4. Choose the profile type “Attack surface reduction rules”.
  5. In the settings, find the rule “Use advanced protection against ransomware” and set it to “Block”.
  6. Assign the policy to the desired groups.

HOW TO UPDATE FIREFOX TO THE LATEST VERSION

Quick how-to for updating Firefox with screenshots included.

Open Firefox

Click the hamburger icon (shown below) which is in the top right of your computer screen

Click Help (shown below) then select About

If there is an update, it will show here, if the update is installed you will need to restart the browser as shown. And that is it!

INSTALL AND RUN CISA SCUBAGEAR

Quick How-To on installing and running the app

First – Get Global Administrator permissions to the M365 Tenant

Second – Open a browser and login into it using the newly created Global Administrator Account

Next Download SCuBAGear version 1.0 from – https://github.com/cisagov/ScubaGear
Only use 1.0 because the other versions are buggy

Open PowerShell as an Administrator (right click and select this) on the computer that you will run SCuBAGear from

cd C:\directory\ScubaGear-main\
To the directory you installed SCuBAGear

Type
Set-ExecutionPolicy Bypass

Type
.\SetUp.ps1

Type
cd PowerShell\ScubaGear

Type
Import-Module -Name .\ScubaGear.psd1

Type:
Disconnect-SCuBATenant

Type:
cd ..\..\utils

Type:
Invoke-Scuba


Login as your Global Admin account

The report will run!

EMAIL WARMING USING POWER AUTOMATE – SENDING FROM DOMAIN

For those of you who need to get a positive reputation on your domain for email campaigns, you first need to warm up the domain. Here is a simple power automate flow to assist with the task.

Login into Office.com

Click on the Menu to the Top Left of the screen

Select Power Automate

Click My Flows

Click +New Flow

Select Scheduled Cloud Flow

Give it a Name, Start Date, and Interval on how often you want it to run

Click Next

Click + Next Step

Type in mail and press Enter

Select Send EMAIL V3

Put in the FROM address of a user for the new domain you want to send email to
ex: user@tacticalware.com

Enter in a To Address for another email you own, that is off domain from the domain you are warming up.
ex: tacticalwarexyz123@gmail.com

Enter in a Subject

Add some Text to the Body

Click Save

Test your Flow, and email should go though now.

Next you will want to setup an auto reply on the receiving email address, and also setup a power automate flow from the email domain so you can generate content coming out of it.

EMAIL WARMING USING POWER AUTOMATE – SENDING TO DOMAIN

For those of you who need to get a positive reputation on your domain for email campaigns, you first need to warm up the domain. Here is a simple power automate flow to assist with the task.

Login into Office.com

Click on the Menu to the Top Left of the screen

Select Power Automate

Click My Flows

Click +New Flow

Select Scheduled Cloud Flow

Give it a Name, Start Date, and Interval on how often you want it to run

Click Next

Click + Next Step

Type in mail and press Enter

Select Send an Email V2

Put in the address of a user for the new domain you want to send email to
ex: user@tacticalware.com

Enter in a Subject

Add some Text to the Body

Click Save

Test your Flow, and email should go though now.

Next you will want to setup an auto reply on the receiving email address, and also setup a power automate flow from the email domain so you can generate content coming out of it.

CREATE DMARC RECORD

This is a quick how-to on setting up the record. If you want a more in-depth one, there are many available elsewhere. So for now, here it is

Login into your Email Server

Create a new email address. Something like dns@tacticalware.com

Next, Login into your DNS Provider
Ex – Network Solutions, Hostgator, ENOM

Navigate to the area to Manage DNS records

Create a TXT record

Name will be
_dmarc

Value will be:
v=DMARC1; p=reject; rua=mailto:dns@tacticalware.com; ruf=mailto:dns@tacticalware.com; fo=1;

Make sure you change dns@tacticalware.com to whatever the email address is that you created in the first step

Save the record

Go to MXToolbox.com and enter your domain name

You should see a green checkmark next to DMARC

BLOCK TRACKERS CONTAINED IN EMAIL – MICROSOFT OUTLOOK DESKTOP APPLICATION

Most marketing emails contain a single pixel hidden in the email which tracks you. This pixel calls home, lets the marketers/spammers know that you opened the email, and begins tracking your movement through their system.

Here is how to block it within Outlook on your IOS device (ipad, iphone, etc)

Open Outlook

Click on the File

Select Options

Open Trust Center

Click on Trust Center Settings

Find Automatic Download

Place check mark in:
Don’t download pictures automatically in standard html…..
Don’t download pictures in encrypted or signed…..

Thats it! Tracking pixel disabled