Category: Microsoft365

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Cybersecurity and Retail Should Always Go Together

Retail cybersecurity is a critical concern for every business in the retail industry, which is why cybersecurity and retail should always go together. Retailers are prime targets for cyberattacks due to the valuable customer data they collect, which usually includes personally identifiable information (PII) and credit card numbers. Retailers can handle large volumes of customer data, which becomes an attractive target for cybercriminals seeking to profit from selling it on the dark web.

Recent statistics from various sources suggest that more than 24% of cyberattacks specifically target retailers, making it one of the most heavily targeted industries. Roughly one third of retailers cite cybersecurity concerns as their primary obstacle in transitioning to e-commerce, with cost and technology barriers coming close behind.

For the bad guys, however, it is all about the money. Almost all retail cyberattacks are driven by financial motives. When consumer data is compromised, most of the information exposed consists of payment information and personally identifiable data which can fetch a good price on the dark web.

Retail cybersecurity threats occur because the environment tends to have a lot of elements. The hybrid nature of many retail businesses introduces additional risk, where brick-and-mortar stores are combined with e-commerce platforms and services.

NFC (Near Field Communications) vulnerabilities exist in some payment systems, and many Point of Sale (POS) systems still do not use point-to-point encryption for their communications. Even if communication streams are encrypted, it makes little difference if the software has known vulnerabilities or if insecure plugins or add-ons are being used.

Cloud-based storage and mobile apps increase the presence of stored data online, which increasingly leads to new threat vectors like cloud-based botnets and more.

The key is for businesses to prioritize security and invest in platforms and solutions that will help protect customer and business data. Critical in this effort is the implementation of IT best practices in regularly updating operating system and application software, limiting the access users have for installing or modifying software on their devices, and always monitoring the systems for vulnerabilities.

Like cybersecurity and retailers, Noobeh and secure IT go together. We help retail and other businesses proactively address cybersecurity challenges so they can protect both their business and their customers. Noobeh cloud services helps retailers secure their business servers and systems, delivering scalable, high availability and highly agile solutions that keep business and finance operations running.

Noobeh provides services for Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Azure platform and deploys solutions for manufacturing, inventory management, multi-channel commerce, EDI, financial and more. Get together with Noobeh and find out how we can help your business operate more securely and with better, more agile and resilient IT.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Love It or Leave It? QuickBooks Desktop Needs Internet Explorer 11 and Microsoft Uninstalls It.

We all know that software companies recommend running current versions of their frameworks and applications. Often for security reasons, software developers regularly update their products to make them more capable of avoiding or fending off attack of various kinds. New feature and integration delivery and updated compatibility requirements are also big drivers of software updates. Especially as online threats increase and attack potential skyrockets, businesses need to keep their systems updated and secure, and a regular cadence of updates and upgrades makes good sense… but only when the potential impacts of the upgrade have been thoroughly explored. With Windows 10 and 11 and the improved Edge browser (improved over IE), users are loving the enhancements and features. QuickBooks desktop users, on the other hand, might have preferred that Microsoft just leave Windows browsers alone.

The Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will be retired and go out of support on June 15, 2022

Microsoft is removing Internet Explorer 11 on some Windows 10 computers, and it doesn’t come with Windows 11. According to Microsoft:

The future of Internet Explorer (“IE”) on Windows 10 is in Microsoft Edge. What does this mean for commercial organizations, IT admins, developers, and end users? Microsoft Edge brings you a faster, more secure, and more modern web experience than Internet Explorer. Also, Microsoft Edge with Internet Explorer mode (“IE mode”), is the only browser with built-in compatibility for legacy IE-based sites and apps.

As announced today, Microsoft Edge with IE mode is officially replacing the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on Windows 10. As a result, the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application will go out of support and be retired on June 15, 2022 for certain versions of Windows 10.

Internet Explorer 11 has been an old technology browser for many years now, so it isn’t surprising that Microsoft is moving ahead with Edge. Browsers are used for far more than just viewing static web pages or bulletin-board chat rooms, so they have grown into frameworks that support a wide variety of processes and procedures. As browsers go, IE11 just doesn’t cut it any longer. But there is a hitch that can really mess up the (literally) millions of QuickBooks desktop users out there who innocently update their computers when Microsoft pushes it via Windows update.

IE11 gets removed from the machine, but QuickBooks desktop 2021 and earlier are dependent on IE11 to run

A little dependency is unavoidable in any good relationship where cooperation and compromise are involved. But being a little too dependent on another can be unhealthy and put a lot of stress on the relationship. Dependencies are among the things to consider any time a software update or upgrade is about to be installed. What relationship does the software about to be updated have to other applications or services installed? Is the new version going to get along with the other applications on the system, or will it even run on the current system? These are the things which should be closely looked at to avoid problems post-update.

Many users are already reporting problems opening their QuickBooks desktop software due to IE being removed from their Windows 10 computers. Microsoft has announced the retirement of IE11, but most users either don’t pay attention to those notices or they don’t really understand the implications. These are among the things that Mendelson Consulting and the NOOBEH cloud services teams pay attention to for you, so that we can help you avoid the things that keep your business from doing business.

If you find that your QuickBooks desktop software will no longer run due to IE having been disabled or removed on your computer, you can link here to find instructions on how to disable and enable Internet Explorer on Windows 10. This will get IE re-installed on your computer so that you can make your QuickBooks desktop software work again.

QuickBooks Desktop 2022 versions are compatible with Windows 11 and Edge browser

QuickBooks Desktop 2022 versions, including Pro, Premier and Enterprise editions, are certified as fully compatible with Windows 11 64-bit, but only if you have installed R3 or later. Other year versions of QuickBooks (and QB 2022 desktop running a prior update release level) may experience unexpected issues including problems with browser compatibility.

What’s the benefit of modernizing if it breaks your business?

Updating application software often means also updating your operating platforms. To keep your business running smoothly, you need to make sure to keep your computers and your application software up to date. It makes no sense to fix a vulnerability in one place but leave another open. Yet sometimes your software vendors don’t do things in an order that works for you, and you end up breaking something that the business depends on. This is where companies find additional value in what Mendelson Consulting and NOOBEH cloud services offer.

For customers running their QuickBooks desktop applications on the Microsoft cloud with NOOBEH, we got you covered. Among the many benefits of working with Mendelson Consulting and NOOBEH cloud services is that we help keep your business software and systems working for you, not against you. We stay up to date with the latest changes to platforms and software systems to ensure that compatibility and performance isn’t compromised. We help businesses leave their old systems and migrate to modern, agile cloud platforms that businesses love.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J

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Microsoft 365: Stay Updated or Lose Connectivity and Support

Microsoft Office is a staple of business software, setting the standard for productivity applications across the globe. Unfortunately, popularity often means “target” and the bad guys out there are gunning for your system, looking for vulnerabilities they can exploit. This is among the reasons to make sure your Office applications are staying up-to-date with the latest fixes and security features. The easiest way to do this is to turn on automatic updating for Windows via Microsoft Update so that your system gets Office updates for earlier versions of Office you might have installed, such as Office 2010 or an Office volume license install.

Security updates aren’t the only reasons to keep your systems up to date. Sometimes an update addresses compatibility with other applications or services. In recent days, Microsoft has reminded businesses of the roadmap for Microsoft 365 services where certain versions of the Office and Microsoft 365 applications will stop communicating with the Office 365 and Microsoft 365 services.

Microsoft Outlook for Windows

Effective as of November 1, 2021, older versions of Outlook for Windows (starting with Outlook 2007), will be unable to connect with Office 365 and Microsoft 365 services, including hosted Exchange mailboxes. Versions that are only a little bit out of date might work, but are likely to experience connectivity issues with the back-end services. Here’s the list of retired versions of Outlook for Windows:

  • Office 2007 All Versions
  • Office 2010 All Versions
  • Office 2013 Versions prior to 15.0.4971.1000 of Office 2013 (Service Pack 1 with the October 2017 Update)
  • Office 2016 MSI Versions prior to 16.0.4600.1000 of Office 2016 (With the November 2017 Update, KB 4051890)
  • Microsoft 365 Apps for enterprise;(formerly Office 365 ProPlus) 1705 and older
  • Microsoft 365 Apps for business(formerly Office 365 Business) 1705 and older

OneDrive sync on Windows

Microsoft is now aligning the OneDrive sync on Windows systems with the Windows operating system support lifecycle policy.  In short, OneDrive sync on Windows will only be supported on supported versions of Windows beginning in January 1, 2022, If your version of Windows is no longer being supported, then the OneDrive sync on those machines will no longer receive updates or fixes of any sort.

  • Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 will be supported until January 10, 2023
  • Windows 8 reached end of support on January 12, 2016

If you are running the OneDrive sync app on Windows 8.1, you will no longer receive feature updates but will receive security fixes until January 10, 2023.

If you are running the OneDrive sync app on Windows 7 (and are participating in the Extended Security Update (ESU) program), you will continue to receive critical and important security updates until January 10, 2023. Extended Security Updates don’t include new features, customer-requested non-security updates, or design change requests.

If you are running the OneDrive sync app on Windows 8, you will no longer receive updates or fixes of any kind, as Windows 8 is no longer supported.

Businesses concerned with keeping their systems up and running should take care to ensure that PCs and servers are updated with current, supported operating systems and application software. Ignoring PC updates and Windows upgrades can create unnecessary disruption and leads to lost productivity and lost profits. For PCs, Windows 10 or 11 is the OS to be running. For Windows servers, Server 2019 is the most current version.

Mendelson Consulting’s NOOBEH Cloud Services team knows how important it is to keep your core operating software and applications current, compatible and supported. That’s why we only deploy modern servers and current operating systems on the Microsoft Cloud platform, ensuring our hosted clients have the foundation they need to keep workers performing and operations running.

jm bunny feetMake Sense?

J