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Microsoft
AZ-800
Administering Windows Server Hybrid Core Infrastructure
http://killexams.com/pass4sure/exam-detail/AZ-800 Question: 26
You need to meet the technical requirements for Server1.
Which users can currently perform the required tasks?
A. Admin1 only
B. Admin3 only
C. Admin1 and Admin3 only
D. Admin1 Admin2. and Admm3 Answer: A Question: 27
You have an Azure virtual machine named VM1 that runs Windows Server.
You perform the following actions on VM1:
Create a folder named Folder1 on volume C
Create a folder named Folder2 on volume D.
Add a new data disk to VM1 and create a new volume that is assigned drive letter E.
Install an app named App1 on volume E.
You plan to resize VMI.
Which objects will present after you resize VM1 ?
A. Folded and Folder2 only
B. Folder1, volume E, and App1 only
C. Folded only
D. Folded. Folder2. App1, and volume E Answer: C Question: 28
You need to implement a name resolution solution that meets the networking requirements.
Which two actions should you perform? Each correct answer presents part of the solution. NOTE: Each correct
selection is worth one point
A. Create an Azure private DNS zone named corp.fabhkam.com.
B. Create a virtual network link in the coip.fabnkam.com Azure private DNS zone.
C. Create an Azure DNS zone named corp.fabrikam.com.
D. Configure the DNS Servers settings for Vnet1.
E. Enable autoregistration in the corp.fabnkam.com Azure private DNS zone.
F. On DC3, install the DNS Server role.
G. Configure a conditional forwarder on DC3. Answer: A,E Question: 29
HOTSPOT
You need to configure Azure File Sync to meet the file sharing requirements.
What should you do? To answer, select the appropriate options in the answer area. NOTE Each correct selection is
worth one point. Answer: Question: 30
You need to meet the technical requirements for the site links.
Which users can perform the required tasks?
A. Admin1 only
B. Admin1 and Admin3 only
C. Admin1 and Admin2 only
D. Admin3 only
E. Admin1, Adrrun2. and Admin3 Answer: C Question: 31
Topic 1, Contoso Ltd
This is a case study. Case studies are not timed separately. You can use as much test time as you would like to
complete each case. However, there may be additional case studies and sections on this exam. You must manage your
time to ensure that you are able to complete all questions included on this test in the time provided.
To answer the questions included in a case study, you will need to reference information that is provided in the case
study. Case studies might contain exhibits and other resources that provide more Information about the scenario that is
described in the case study. Each question is independent of the other questions in this case study.
At the end of this case study, a review screen will appear. This screen allows you to review your answers and to make
changes before you move to the next section of the exam. After you begin a new section, you cannot return to this
section.
To start the case study
To display the first question in this case study, click the Next button. Use the buttons in the left pane to explore the
content of the case study before you answer the questions. Clicking these buttons displays information such as
business requirements, existing environment, and problem statements, if the case study has an All Information tab.
note that the information displayed is identical to the information displayed on the subsequent tabs. When you are
ready to answer a question, click the Question button to return to the question.
AD DS Environment
The network contains an on-premises Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) forest named contoso.com. The
forest contains two domains named contoso.com and canada.contoso.com.
The forest contains the domain controllers shown in the following table.
All the domain controllers are global catalog servers.
Server Infrastructure
The network contains the servers shown in the following table.
A server named Server4 runs Windows Server and is in a workgroup. Windows Firewall on Servei4 uses the private
profile.
Server2 hosts three virtual machines named VM1. VM2, and VM3.
VM3 is a file server that stores data in the volumes shown in the following table.
Group Policies
The contoso.com domain has the Group Policies Objects (GPOs) shown in the following table.
Existing Identities
The forest contains the users shown in the following table.
The forest contains the groups shown in the following table.
Current Problems
When an administrator signs in to the console of VM2 by using Virtual Machine Connection, and then disconnects
from the session without signing out another administrator can connect to the console session as the currently signed-
in user.
Requirements
Contoso identifies the following technical requirements:
Change the replication schedule for all site links to 30 minutes.
Promote Server1 to a domain controller in canada.contoso.com.
Install and authorize Server3 as a DHCP server.
Ensure that User! can manage the membership of all the groups in ContosoOU3.
Ensure that you can manage Server4 from Server1 by using PowerShell removing.
Ensure that you can run virtual machines on VM1.
Force users to provide credentials when they connect to VM2.
On VM3, ensure that Data Deduplication on all volumes is possible.
You need to meet the technical requirements for VM3
On which volumes can you enable Data Deduplication?
A. D and E only
B. C, D, E, and F
C. D only
D. C and D only
E. D, E, and F only Answer: D Question: 32
HOTSPOT
Which groups can you add lo Group3 and Groups? To answer, select the appropriate options in the answer area.
NOTE Each correct selection is worth one point. Answer: Question: 33
You need to configure the Group Policy settings to ensure that the Azure Virtual Desktop session hosts meet the
security requirements.
What should you configure?
A. security filtering for the link of GP04
B. security filtering for the link of GPOl
C. loopback processing in 0PO4
D. the Enforced property for the link of GP01
E. loopback processing in GPOl
F. the Enforced property for the link of GP04 Answer: D
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Microsoft Infrastructure health - BingNews
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https://killexams.com/exam_list/MicrosoftCybercriminals are abusing security tools—here’s how we’re stopping them
By Microsoft Security
Cybercriminals are constantly looking for novel ways to evade detection and enact harm. Outdated copies of common security tools have become one avenue. Microsoft, cybersecurity software company Fortra™ and the Health Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Health-ISAC) recently came together to combat this issue.
On March 31, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York issued a court order allowing Microsoft, Fortra, and Health-ISAC to disrupt the malicious infrastructure criminals use to facilitate their attacks. Cobalt Strike, which is provided by Fortra, is a legitimate and popular post-exploitation tool used for adversary simulation; however, threat actors will sometimes abuse and alter older versions of the software. These illegal copies are referred to as “cracked” and have been used to launch destructive attacks, such as those against the Government of Costa Rica and the Irish Health Service Executive. Microsoft software development kits and APIs have also been abused as part of the malware coding and distribution infrastructure to target and mislead victims.
The ransomware families associated with or deployed by cracked copies of Cobalt Strike have been linked to more than 68 ransomware attacks impacting healthcare organizations in more than 19 countries around the world. These attacks have cost hospital systems millions of dollars in recovery and repair costs, plus interruptions to critical patient care services including delayed diagnostic, imaging, and laboratory results, canceled medical procedures, and delays in delivery of chemotherapy treatments, just to name a few.
The court order issued by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York enables Microsoft to notify relevant internet service providers (ISPs) and computer emergency readiness teams (CERTs) who assist in taking the infrastructure offline, effectively severing the connection between criminal operators and infected victim computers.
Disrupting criminal activity through legal avenues
The cybersecurity community will need to be persistent to successfully take down the cracked, legacy copies of Cobalt Strike hosted around the world. In the past, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit has focused on disrupting the command and control infrastructure of malware families. Now, the team has pivoted its approach to combining technical and legal action to target the abuse of security tools used by a broad spectrum of cybercriminals.
Fortra and Microsoft’s investigation efforts included detection, analysis, telemetry, and reverse engineering, with additional data and insights to strengthen our legal case from a global network of partners, including Health-ISAC, the Fortra Cyber Intelligence Team, and the Microsoft Threat Intelligence team. Our action focuses solely on disrupting cracked, legacy copies of Cobalt Strike and compromised Microsoft software.
Disrupting cracked legacy copies of Cobalt Strike significantly hinders cybercriminals’ ability to monetize and use these illegal copies in cyberattacks. Additionally, the joint litigation involves copyright claims against the malicious use of Microsoft and Fortra’s software code, which is altered and abused for harm.
Continuing the fight against threat actors
Fortra has taken considerable steps to prevent the misuse of its software, including stringent customer vetting practices. As criminals have adapted their techniques, Fortra has adapted the security controls in the Cobalt Strike software to eliminate the methods used to crack older versions of Cobalt Strike.
While the exact identities of those conducting the criminal operations are currently unknown, Fortra and Microsoft detected malicious infrastructure across the globe, including in China, the United States, and Russia.
Responding to this threat will take a coordinated effort from public and private sector entities. One of the best ways that organizations can contribute to a collectively strengthened cybersecurity posture is by aligning with broadly agreed-upon best practices like Zero Trust.
This model focuses on using explicit verification, least-privileged access, and assumed breach to disrupt cyber-criminal activity.
Microsoft, Fortra and Health-ISAC are also collaborating with the FBI Cyber Division, National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) and Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) on this case. While these actions will impact the criminals’ immediate operations, the companies anticipate criminals will attempt to revive their efforts. Through ongoing coordinated legal and technical action, Microsoft, Fortra and Health-ISAC will continue to monitor and take action to disrupt further criminal operations, including the use of cracked copies of Cobalt Strike.
Wed, 31 May 2023 07:31:00 -0500Microsoft Securityentext/htmlhttps://www.csoonline.com/article/3698229/cybercriminals-are-abusing-security-tools-here-s-how-we-re-stopping-them.htmlChinese hackers spying on US critical infrastructure, Western intelligence says
May 24 (Reuters) - A state-sponsored Chinese hacking group has been spying on a wide range of U.S. critical infrastructure organizations, from telecommunications to transportation hubs, Western intelligence agencies and Microsoft (MSFT.O) said on Wednesday.
The espionage has also targeted the U.S. island territory of Guam, home to strategically important American military bases, Microsoft said in a report, adding that "mitigating this attack could be challenging."
While China and the United States routinely spy on each other, analysts say this is one of the largest known Chinese cyber-espionage campaigns against American critical infrastructure.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday the hacking allegations were a "collective disinformation campaign" from the Five Eyes countries, a reference to the intelligence sharing grouping of countries made up of the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK.
Mao said the campaign was launched by the U.S. for geopolitical reasons and that the report from Microsoft analysts showed that the U.S. government was expanding its channels of disinformation beyond government agencies.
"But no matter what varied methods are used, none of this can change the fact that the United States is the empire of hacking," she told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
It was not immediately clear how many organizations were affected, but the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) said it was working with partners including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and the UK, as well as the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation to identify breaches. Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand warned they could be targeted by the hackers too.
Microsoft analysts said they had "moderate confidence" this Chinese group, which it dubbed as 'Volt Typhoon', was developing capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises.
"It means they are preparing for that possibility," said John Hultquist, who heads threat analysis at Google's Mandiant Intelligence.
The Chinese activity is unique and worrying also because analysts don't yet have enough visibility on what this group might be capable of, he added.
"There is greater interest in this actor because of the geopolitical situation."
As China has stepped up military and diplomatic pressure in its claim to democratically governed Taiwan, U.S. President Joe Biden has said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan.
Security analysts expect Chinese hackers could target U.S. military networks and other critical infrastructure if China invades Taiwan.
The NSA and other Western cyber agencies urged companies that operate critical infrastructure to identify malicious activity using the technical guidance they issued.
"It is vital that operators of critical national infrastructure take action to prevent attackers hiding on their systems," Paul Chichester, director at the UK's National Cyber Security Centre said in a joint statement with the NSA.
Microsoft said the Chinese hacking group has been active since at least 2021 and has targeted several industries including communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education.
NSA cybersecurity director Rob Joyce said the Chinese campaign was using "built-in network tools to evade our defenses and leaving no trace behind." Such techniques are harder to detect as they use "capabilities already built into critical infrastructure environments," he added.
As opposed to using traditional hacking techniques, which often involve tricking a victim into downloading malicious files, Microsoft said this group infects a victim's existing systems to find information and extract data.
Guam is home to U.S. military facilities that would be key to responding to any conflict in the Asia-Pacific region. It is also a major communications hub connecting Asia and Australia to the United States by multiple submarine cables.
Bart Hoggeveen, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute who specializes in state-sponsored cyber attacks in the region, said the submarine cables made Guam "a logical target for the Chinese government" to seek intelligence.
"There is high vulnerability when cables land on shore," he said.
New Zealand said it would work towards identifying any such malicious cyber activity in its country.
"It's important for the national security of our country that we're transparent and upfront with Australians about the threats that we face," Australia's Minister for Home Affairs and Cyber Security Clare O'Neil said.
Canada's cybersecurity agency said it had no reports of Canadian victims of this hacking as yet. "However, Western economies are deeply interconnected," it added. "Much of our infrastructure is closely integrated and an attack on one can impact the other."
Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva
Award-winning reporter covering the intersection between technology and national security with a focus on how the evolving cybersecurity landscape affects government and business.
Wed, 24 May 2023 19:59:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-says-china-backed-hacker-targeted-critical-us-infrastructure-2023-05-24/China-backed hackers spying on US critical infrastructure, says Five Eyes
A state-sponsored Chinese hacking group has been spying on a wide range of US critical infrastructure organisations and similar activities could be occurring globally, western intelligence agencies and Microsoft have warned.
“The United States and international cybersecurity authorities are issuing this joint Cybersecurity Advisory (CSA) to highlight a recently discovered cluster of activity of interest associated with a People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-sponsored cyber actor, also known as Volt Typhoon,” said a statement released by authorities in the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK – countries that make up the Five Eyes intelligence network.
In a separate statement, Microsoft said Volt Typhoon had been active since mid-2021 and had targeted critical infrastructure in Guam, a crucial US military outpost in the Pacific Ocean. “Mitigating this attack could be challenging,” Microsoft said.
While Chinese hackers are known to spy on western countries, this is one of the largest known cyber-espionage campaigns against American critical infrastructure.
“Microsoft assesses with moderate confidence that this Volt Typhoon campaign is pursuing development of capabilities that could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises,” the tech company said.
“In this campaign, the affected organisations span the communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education sectors.
“Observed behaviour suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible.”
The US and western security agencies warned in their advisory that the activities involved “living off the land” tactics, which take advantage of built-in network tools to blend in with normal Windows systems.
It warned that the hacking could then incorporate legitimate system administration commands that appear “benign”.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. However Beijing routinely denies carrying out state-sponsored cyber-attacks, and China in turn regularly accuses the US of cyber espionage.
Guam is home to US military facilities that would be key to responding to any conflict in the Asia-Pacific region.
Canada’s cybersecurity agency separately said it had had no reports of Canadian victims of the hacking as yet.
“However, western economies are deeply interconnected,” it added. “Much of our infrastructure is closely integrated and an attack on one can impact the other.”
The UK similarly warned the techniques used by the Chinese hackers on US networks could be applied worldwide.
Reuters and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report
Wed, 24 May 2023 20:22:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/24/microsoft-china-hacker-critical-infrastructure-us-guamMicrosoft warns that China hackers attacked U.S. infrastructure
A sign for Microsoft Corp. at the company's office in the central business district of Lisbon, Portugal, on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022.
Zed Jameson | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoftwarned Wednesday that Chinese state-sponsored hackers had compromised "critical" U.S. cyber infrastructure across numerous industries with a focus on gathering intelligence.
The Chinese hacking group, code-named "Volt Typhoon," has operated since mid-2021, Microsoft said in an advisory. The organization is apparently working to disrupt "critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia," Microsoft said, to stymie efforts during "future crises."
The National Security Agency put out a bulletin Wednesday, detailing how the hack works and how cybersecurity teams should respond.
The attack is apparently ongoing. In the advisory, Microsoft urged impacted customers to "close or change credentials for all compromised accounts."
U.S. intelligence agencies became aware of the incursion in February, around the same time that a Chinese spy balloon was downed, The New York Times reported.
In a briefing Thursday in Beijing, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the report and advisories as "filled with disinformation," and asserted that the U.S. "is the champion of hacking." The spokesperson also claimed that the report was part of a coordinated campaign from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, which is made up of agencies from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the U.K. and the U.S.
The infiltration was focused on communications infrastructure in Guam and other parts of the U.S., the Times reported, and was particularly alarming to U.S. intelligence because Guam sits at the heart of an American military response in case of an invasion of Taiwan.
Volt Typhoon is able to infiltrate organizations using a unnamed vulnerability in a popular cybersecurity suite called FortiGuard, Microsoft said. Once the hacking group has gained access to a corporate system, it steals user credentials from the security suite and uses them to try to gain access to other corporate systems.
The state-sponsored hackers aren't looking to create disruption yet, Microsoft said. Rather, "the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible."
Infrastructure in nearly every critical sector has been impacted, Microsoft said, including the communications, transport and maritime industries. Government organizations were also targeted.
Chinese government-backed hackers have targeted critical and sensitive information from U.S. companies before. Covington & Burling, a prominent law firm, was breached by suspected Chinese state-sponsored hackers in 2020.
In a Thursday editorial, the Chinese state-backed paper China Daily dismissed Microsoft's analysis and the intelligence community warnings as "political propaganda."
In a joint statement with international and domestic intelligence services, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that Chinese attacks pose a continued risk to American intellectual property.
"For years, China has conducted aggressive cyber operations to steal intellectual property and sensitive data from organizations around the globe," CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement.
Thu, 25 May 2023 12:36:00 -0500entext/htmlhttps://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/24/microsoft-warns-that-china-hackers-attacked-us-infrastructure.htmlChinese malware targeting critical infrastructure, Microsoft and U.S. government warn
Microsoft security researchers have unearthed a Chinese-sponsored hacking campaign targeting critical infrastructure in Guam and other unspecified locations within the United States, the tech giant warned on Wednesday. The hacking operation, code-named "Volt Typhoon," has been active since mid-2021 and "could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises."
Microsoft has not detected any offensive attacks, but noted Chinese intelligence and military hackers routinely prioritize espionage and the gathering of information, rather than destruction.
U.S. federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies including the FBI, NSA and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a bulletin Wednesday, outlining Volt Typhoon's ongoing operational playbook as well as a roadmap of code that enables possible victims to detect the intruder.
According to the bulletin, authorities "recently discovered" the cluster of activity. "Private sector partners have identified that this activity affects networks across U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, and the authoring agencies believe the actor could apply the same techniques against these and other sectors worldwide," the brief continued.
China denied the latest hacking allegation on Thursday, calling it a disinformation campaign by the "Five Eyes" nations that share intelligence, according to the Reuters news agency. Those nations are the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK. "Relevant reports from western agencies have no proof," Reuters quotes Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning as saying at a regular press briefing.
U.S. intelligence agencies first uncovered the malware in February, roughly the same time that the U.S. downed a Chinese spy balloon, the New York Times first reported. Activity by the Chinese-sponsored hacking group reportedly alarmed U.S. officials, given its proximity to Andersen Air Force Base. The naval port in Guam would play a critically important role in launching any U.S. military response in the event of a Taiwanese invasion.
"Attacks against our critical infrastructure in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unfortunately not farfetched," CISA Director Jen Easterly warned in February.
At the time, Easterly called the threat of cyber intrusions "far more dangerous" than the Chinese surveillance balloon.
"Our country is subject to cyber intrusions every day from the Chinese government, but these intrusions rarely make it into national news," Easterly said. "These intrusions can do real damage to our nation — leading to theft of our intellectual property and personal information; and even more nefariously, establishing a foothold for disrupting or destroying the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely upon every hour of every day—for our power, our water, our transportation, our communication, our healthcare, and so much more.
Once Volt Typhoon gains access into a network, it steals user credentials in order to gain access to other computer systems, according to Microsoft. "Observed behavior suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible," Microsoft security researchers noted in Wednesday's blog.
Microsoft cautioned that affected organizations spanned nearly every critical infrastructure sector, including "communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education sectors."
Microsoft urged those customers impacted to "close or change credentials for all compromised accounts."
The Biden White House has hurriedly established cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure after elevating ransomware attacks, such as the 2021 Russia-linked offensive on Colonial Pipeline, to an issue of national security.
CBS News reporter covering homeland security and justice.
Wed, 24 May 2023 15:56:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-malware-targeting-critical-infrastructure-microsoft-u-s-government-warn/Setting Up Cloud Transformations for Success in Healthcare
In healthcare, getting the most out of the cloud can mean using a complex mix of legacy and new technologies. But as more health organizations rely on cloud workloads, they’ll need to ensure their modernized infrastructure has reliable storage and backup capabilities.
By 2024, healthcare users expect to up their reliance on multicloud strategies from 27 percent to 51 percent, according to the 4th Annual Nutanix Enterprise Cloud Index. The top challenges in healthcare for multicloud adoption include integrating data across clouds, performance issues with network overlays and managing costs.
Cloud integration requires radical change within health systems, but leaders need not fear it, says Jeffrey T. Thomas, vice president and CTO at Norfolk, Va.-based Sentara Healthcare.
“Fundamentally, it changes the way we architect from the beginning and automate deployment. It changes the support models, and it also changes the skill sets needed,” says Thomas.
How Sentara Healthcare Approaches Cloud-First Strategies
Sentara Healthcare has nearly 30,000 employees and serves communities in Virginia and North Carolina. The large system recently launched a joint venture focused on cloud-first solutions to help healthcare organizations modernize their environments.
“The first bottom line is that many CIOs in healthcare do not have the skill sets in their own organizations to move the cloud,” Thomas says. “Because of what we’ve learned, we’re at the forefront of large-scale movements of systems to cloud.”
Thomas joined Sentara Healthcare in 2018 with the goal of driving the organization to cloud-supported solutions, starting with the largest on-premises data set.
“When we started deploying our first workloads into Azure, we designed backup as a core part of it,” Thomas says. “We set all the policies up before we deployed our first solution set into Azure. That was two months, so it was a very quick evolution.”
This year, Thomas says, close to 80 percent of the organization is supported by cloud solutions. Within the next 18 months, Sentara Healthcare will leave its last on-premises backup solutions and move it all to the cloud.
In southern Oregon, health system Asante adopted HPE’s GreenLake, a hybrid edge-to-cloud platform for its critical on-premises data services. The process of discovery, setup and handoff took about 18 months, says Asante ITS Operations Manager Tim O’Rourke.
“Our internal cloud has been a very valuable resource, spanning redundant systems across data centers in different buildings and on different sites. We have been able to deliver most of the benefits of the public cloud to our internal customers for years. Now, under GreenLake, Asante can also realize the financial benefits,” O’Rourke says.
Asante’s rural location doesn’t offer wide availability of high-capacity internet access, nor is it nearby public cloud data centers, so the health system uses cloud services only for data backup and under a Software as a Service model for some applications.
“Our first GreenLake initiative was for HPE Primera storage arrays,” O’Rourke says. Though Primera is a hardware solution, it has the performance and agility of the cloud. “The program allowed us to spec equipment at a level that we could not have capitalized in a single fiscal year.”
O’Rourke says his team first studied how the GreenLake program would work, assessing the benefits, risks, costs, support needs and lifecycle management. He discussed the implications of the shift from capitalized to operationalized server/storage infrastructure with Asante’s finance department and senior leadership.
“We had internal discussions about how on-premises cloud resources would be managed, usage reported, budgets established and project chargebacks processed under the GreenLake model,” O’Rourke says.
Fundamentally, it changes the way we architect from the beginning and automate deployment.”
Jeffrey T. Thomas Vice President and CTO, Sentara Healthcare
Deciding Cloud Deployments Based on Organizational Needs
Thomas says that Sentara Healthcare uses a variety of solutions to address particular business needs, including Microsoft Azure for native backup, Rubrik as an instance for Unix and Dell Avamar to back up virtual machines, images and snapshot servers.
“The percentage changes because we are bringing in new solutions and retiring solutions,” Thomas says. “We are heavy users of cloud backup, and we've transitioned a lot of our on-premises to cloud backup solutions.”
It’s important that cloud support is chosen based on application and system need, Thomas adds. Considering the processes along with their risks is key, even over staff needs.
“It’s usually never an individual making recommendations, because they would be driven by the processes they create, and then we manage the risk for them,” Thomas says. “It's very easy for somebody to say, ‘I want it backed up every night,’ because they think it's free, but it’s not. We need to manage that risk, the frequency of backup and how long we maintain the backups based on the data classification and record retention policies.”
Vibrant Emotional Health began working with Hitachi in 2016 to move to public cloud and build a data warehouse and call center failover solution using Amazon Web Services (AWS). Formerly known as the Mental Health Association of New York City, Vibrant operates a 24-hour crisis center with more than 500 employees.
The organization chose to work with Hitachi due to its ongoing customer service offerings, says Vibrant Marketing and Communications Specialist Dante Worth. “One major benefit of working with Hitachi is their reliable 24/7 monitoring of our environment. Hitachi also offers an ideal cost along with cost and security reviews,” Worth says.
The data warehouse allows for Vibrant to offer continuous behavioral health services in New York City. The process of AWS implementation with Hitachi took about 45 days.
“Before getting started with Hitachi, we started by outlining requirements. We then moved into the initial architecture and design phase. Finally, we followed up by initiating the infrastructure build,” says Worth.
52%
The percentage of healthcare cloud users who said cost savings was a popular adoption driver
Source: Presidio, “2022 Cloud Transformation Benchmark Report,” August 2022
Supporting and Maintaining Cloud Capabilities in Healthcare
Ensuring that connectivity is resilient and has bandwidth to manage large data sets is an important step to reduce possible workflow interruptions, Thomas says.
“In the cloud, it’s really about the timing of when you back it up, because you’re not constrained by the throughput. You’re more constrained by the impact to performance, the method you use for backing up,” Thomas says. His team performs regular checkups to measure cloud health.
“We also have automated the alerting and the reporting of backups, and if a backup fails, it goes into ServiceNow as an incident and gets processed just like any other incident. Next, the team checks why the backups had issues and works through those processes to resolve them,” Thomas says. “From an operational workflow, we’ve just rolled the cloud support into our standard model. I think the big difference is that we’re not moving tapes. We’re not thinking about offsiding tapes the same way.”
Thu, 01 Jun 2023 03:56:00 -0500Donna Marburyentext/htmlhttps://healthtechmagazine.net/article/2023/06/setting-cloud-transformations-success-healthcareMicrosoft says critical U.S. infrastructure targeted by Chinese hackersJust a moment...
Wed, 24 May 2023 08:32:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.geekwire.com/2023/microsoft-says-critical-u-s-infrastructure-targeted-by-chinese-hackers/Microsoft president Brad Smith on "real concern" about Chinese malware targeting critical infrastructure
Microsoft revealed the hacking operation, code-named "Volt Typhoon," on Wednesday, saying it could disrupt communications between the U.S. and Asia during a future potential conflict. The operation has been active for about two years.
"What we found was what we think of as network intrusions, the prepositioning of code. It's something that we've seen in terms of activity before," Smith said in an interview with "Face the Nation." "This does represent the focus on critical infrastructure in particular, and that's obviously of real concern."
Microsoft said Wednesday it had not detected any offensive attacks from the operation, but noted that Chinese intelligence and military hackers generally focus on espionage and the collection of information rather than destruction.
Smith declined to deliver specifics on how the operation had come to light, and whether it was Microsoft that alerted U.S. spy agencies to the operation.
"I don't want to go too deep into that," he said. "We certainly have found a good deal of this ourselves. I don't think we're the only ones that have been looking. We do share information, as you would expect. I don't know that we're the only ones who have found it either.
"The good news is we have a pretty broad-based ability, not just as a company, but as an industry and a country to detect this kind of activity," he added.
The New York Times reported that U.S. intelligence agencies uncovered the malware in February, around the same time the U.S. shot down a Chinese spy balloon. The malware appearing in telecommunications systems in Guam and elsewhere in the U.S. reportedly alarmed U.S. officials because of the critical role Guam would play in the U.S. military response to China's potential invasion of Taiwan.
Smith said making the operation public is important to educating the affected sectors, and also to holding the perpetrators accountable.
"I do think we live in a world where, frankly, there needs to be some level of accountability for anyone that is engaged in activity that forms this kind of threat or danger," Smith said. "And so there is a need for public transparency in that vein as well."
Fri, 26 May 2023 07:09:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.cbsnews.com/news/china-hacking-volt-typhoon-microsoft-brad-smith/Microsoft warns Chinese malware is targeting critical infrastructure
Microsoft security researchers have unearthed a Chinese-sponsored hacking campaign targeting critical infrastructure in Guam and other unspecified locations within the United States, the tech giant warned on Wednesday. The hacking operation, code-named "Volt Typhoon," has been active since mid-2021 and "could disrupt critical communications infrastructure between the United States and Asia region during future crises."
Microsoft has not detected any offensive attacks, but noted Chinese intelligence and military hackers routinely prioritize espionage and the gathering of information, rather than destruction.
U.S. federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies including the FBI, NSA and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) released a bulletin Wednesday, outlining Volt Typhoon's ongoing operational playbook as well as a roadmap of code that enables possible victims to detect the intruder.
According to the bulletin, authorities "recently discovered" the cluster of activity. "Private sector partners have identified that this activity affects networks across U.S. critical infrastructure sectors, and the authoring agencies believe the actor could apply the same techniques against these and other sectors worldwide," the brief continued.
China denied the latest hacking allegation on Thursday, calling it a disinformation campaign by the "Five Eyes" nations that share intelligence, according to the Reuters news agency. Those nations are the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK. "Relevant reports from western agencies have no proof," Reuters quotes Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning as saying at a regular press briefing.
U.S. intelligence agencies first uncovered the malware in February, roughly the same time that the U.S. downed a Chinese spy balloon, the New York Times first reported. Activity by the Chinese-sponsored hacking group reportedly alarmed U.S. officials, given its proximity to Andersen Air Force Base. The naval port in Guam would play a critically important role in launching any U.S. military response in the event of a Taiwanese invasion.
"Attacks against our critical infrastructure in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan is unfortunately not farfetched," CISA Director Jen Easterly warned in February.
At the time, Easterly called the threat of cyber intrusions "far more dangerous" than the Chinese surveillance balloon.
"Our country is subject to cyber intrusions every day from the Chinese government, but these intrusions rarely make it into national news," Easterly said. "These intrusions can do real damage to our nation — leading to theft of our intellectual property and personal information; and even more nefariously, establishing a foothold for disrupting or destroying the cyber and physical infrastructure that Americans rely upon every hour of every day—for our power, our water, our transportation, our communication, our healthcare, and so much more.
Once Volt Typhoon gains access into a network, it steals user credentials in order to gain access to other computer systems, according to Microsoft. "Observed behavior suggests that the threat actor intends to perform espionage and maintain access without being detected for as long as possible," Microsoft security researchers noted in Wednesday's blog.
Microsoft cautioned that affected organizations spanned nearly every critical infrastructure sector, including "communications, manufacturing, utility, transportation, construction, maritime, government, information technology, and education sectors."
Microsoft urged those customers impacted to "close or change credentials for all compromised accounts."
The Biden White House has hurriedly established cybersecurity standards for critical infrastructure after elevating ransomware attacks, such as the 2021 Russia-linked offensive on Colonial Pipeline, to an issue of national security.
Wed, 24 May 2023 11:05:00 -0500en-UStext/htmlhttps://www.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-warns-chinese-malware-targeting-223418589.htmlAI Investing Boom Is Not New To Tech Giants (At Least Not Their VC Arms)
Last week, tech titans includingNvidiaandMicrosoftmade some big AI announcements.
Nvidia’s shares jumped on guidance for second-quarter revenue that would be more than 50% above estimates, while Microsoft announced several AI-related tidbits at its Microsoft Build conference. In addition,GoogleandSalesforce’s venture arm —Salesforce Ventures1 — took part in the largest round of the week,Anthropic’s$450 million Series C.
However, while AI’s dominance of the new cycle may seem recent, for tech’s biggest software developers, chipmakers and hyperscalers, artificial intelligence has had their attention — and money — for years, according to Crunchbase data.
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Those tech giants have been placing a few AI bets for some time — although those bets have become significantly more expensive in recent years — while their venture arms have planted cash across dozens of startups through that time.
Let’s take a look at some of the biggest players and how much they’re pouring into AI startups.
Nvidia is leading the charge for chips with better processing to train large language models for AI — a race that will only get more heated as more AI applications are built and better infrastructure is necessary to support them.
To help stay ahead of the game, Nvidia has made a fair share of investments in the ecosystem surrounding AI. The chip giant has made 18 different investments in VC-backed startups since the start of 2021, per Crunchbasedata.
The largest deals Nvidia participated in all have come this calendar year and include:
Adept AI’s $350 millionSeries B in Marchthat gave the San Francisco-based startup a post-money valuation of at least $1 billion. Adept is developing AI models that cannot just respond to text commands — like a chatbot — but actually turn that command into actions. In theory, the company’s generative AI could help users do tasks from browsing the internet to navigating enterprise software tools.
Toronto-basedCohere’s $250 million round in May. The startup’s AI platform competes with OpenAI.
The chipmaker has thus far made four investments in the AI space this year with those rounds totaling $850 million. (It’s important to note that is the total raised in those rounds. Investors typically do not reveal their stake in an individual round.)
The price of doing business when it comes to AI investing has clearly increased. Last year, Nvidia made a half-dozen deals that totaled $297 million, per Crunchbase data. Those deals included investments in AI edge computing startupUtilidataand AI autonomous building platformPassiveLogic.
In 2021, the company made eight investments in VC-backed AI startups totaling $440 million. Those deals included conversational AI platformKore.aiand AI development platformSaturn Cloud.
Microsoft and M12
No company made a bigger splash this year in AI than Microsoft with the news in January it had agreed to a “multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment” intoOpenAI, the startup behind the artificial intelligence toolsChatGPTandDALL-Efor areported$10 billion.
Microsoft’s interest in AI is logical, as few companies have as many tentacles in every aspect of technology and innovation as the Redmond, Washington-based titan. From cloud to search to autonomous driving to analytics, Microsoft’s uses for AI are only limited by the imagination.
Along with OpenAl, the Windows creator also participated in the Adept AI deal and led an undisclosed round in London-based AI-enhanced software platform developerBuilder.ai, which later announced aSeries D of more than $250 million.
Since the beginning of 2021, Microsoft itself has made nine deals involved in the AI sector, according to Crunchbasedata— three deals in each calendar year.
Those deals include participating in self-driving vehicle startupCruise’s $2 billion round in 2021 and London-based AI driving techWayve’s $181 million Series B last year.
However, Microsoft’s investments pale in comparison to the number of deals its venture arm — M12 — has made in that same period.
M12, which invests from a single fund that is replenished by Microsoft — the fund’s sole limited partner — and is driven by financial returns, has made more than 30 deals in the AI space in the last 29 months, per Crunchbasedata.
In fact, the venture arm has made nearly 60 deals in AI-enhanced or related startups since 2019.
Some of the biggest deals it has participated in include:
Montreal AI tech startupElement AI’s $146 million round in 2019.
Health cloud and analytics providerInnovaccer’s $150 million Series E in 2021.
Seattle-based AI sales platformOutreach’s $114 million Series E in 2019.
M12 also has led or co-led eight rounds since the start of 2021.
However, the firm seems to have stepped off the gas in its AI investing this year, as Crunchbase data indicates it has only participated in one round through the year’s first five months — San Francisco-basedTypeface’s $65 million Series A. The startup has a generative AI application for creating enterprise content.
Google and GV
Similar to Microsoft, Google is ubiquitous when it comes to tech, with its hands in the cloud, drones, logistics, search, data and just about everything under the sun — so its interest in what AI can be applied to is limitless.
Despite Google’s recent participation in Anthropic’s huge round, the Mountain View, California-based search and cloud giant has only made eight deals in the AI space involving VC-backed startups since the start of 2021, according to Crunchbasedata.
That does include some interesting deals, however, such as a $100 million Series B in AI-powered industrial decision-making startupInstaDeepand co-leading a $14 million Series D in AI agri-tech firmCropin, both last year.
However, Google’s all-everything venture armGVhas been much busier.
In the last four-plus years, GV has made 45 investments in the space,per Crunchbase.
That includes participating in Palo Alto, California-basedSambaNova Systems’ huge $676 million round in 2021 and its $250 million raise the year before. SambaNova was founded as an AI chip designer.
Between 2012 and last year, the venture arm — which invests in rounds ranging from seed to late-stage growth — took part in two dozen funding rounds for VC-backed startups using AI.
This year, GV has taken part in both Typeface’s raise, as well as AI and automation recruiting solutionMoonhub’s $4.4 million seed, which it co-led.
Intel Capital
Few companies are more intertwined with the very basic infrastructure of technology than Intel, and few corporate venture arms are as active asIntel Capital. The firm is one of the oldest and most prolific venture arms.
Not surprising, that is also true when it comes to investing in AI-related startups — as it unlikely wants to be left behind in innovation that could revolutionize chips and processors.
Intel Capital has made a whopping 107 investments in such startups since 2016, per Crunchbasedata.
More recently, it has made almost two dozen deals since the beginning of 2021. That includes co-leading some significant rounds, such as:
Toronto-based AI chip designerUntether’s $125 million Series B in 2021.
San Francisco-basedAnyscale’s $99 million Series C last year. The startup helps scale AI applications.
This year, Intel Capital has made only one announced deal in the AI space, leading a $20 million Series A for Israel-basedMDI Health, which offers an AI-powered platform that provides decision support tools for drug treatments.
Salesforce Ventures
Granted, when one thinks about AI and who would invest, one would logically think of chipmakers, cloud providers and those involved in analytics and search.
However, many AI applications are marketing and sales related, so it makes sense that one of the largest CRM and sales platforms in the world would be making investments in the space — or at least its venture arm is.
Salesforce Ventureshas taken part in more than 50 deals that involved AI-related startups since the start of 2019, per Crunchbasedata.
Some of the more noteworthy rounds it took part in last year include Seattle-based AI-fueled sales enablement platformHighspot’s $248 million Series F, and Redwood City, California-based machine-learning data catalogAlation’s $123 million Series E.
This year, the venture arm has made four deals, including participating in Anthropic’s recent big raise. It also led Cohere’s huge $250 million round and a seed round for New York-basedHearth AI, a relationship management system.
Salesforce Ventures’s deals also show the rising price to invest in AI-related startups. While the venture arm made 10 investments in deals that totaled $736 million, the four deals this year have totaled $705 million.