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The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has released a Flash report detailing indicators of compromise (IOCs) associated with attacks involving BlackCat/ALPHV, a Ransomware-as-a-Service that has compromised at least 60 entities worldwide.
CISA encourages users and administrators to review the IOCs and technical details in FBI Flash CU-000167-MW and apply the recommend mitigations.
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thumbnail image blog post titled Office Add-ins community call – April 13, 2022
Call Summary
This month’s community call features demos on Ribbon API updates (previewing enable/disable ribbon buttons and contextual tabs for PowerPoint and Word) – Abid Rahman, Program Manager (Microsoft) & Preethika Kiruveedula, Program Manager (Microsoft), PowerPoint selection APIs (previewing 17 new APIs for getting and setting slides, shapes and text range in PowerPoint) – Onur Onder, Senior Software Engineer (Microsoft) & Camille Birch, Product Manager (Microsoft), and Add-ins on Appointment read surface on Outlook Mobile (previewing appointment organizer APIs for logging event details to 3rd party applications) – Jatin Guptam, Program Manager (Microsoft). There was Q&A at end of call and in chat throughout call. The call was hosted by David Chesnut Senior Dev Writer (Microsoft) | @davidchesnut. Recorded April 13, 2022.
Agenda
Ribbon API updates – Abid Rahman, Program Manager (Microsoft) & Preethika Kiruveedula, Program Manager (Microsoft) – 1:19
Ribbon API updates – previewing 2 capabilities – Enable/disable ribbon buttons and contextual tabs, along with timelines for their inclusion in PowerPoint and Word by platform. Enable/disable APIs used to set default state of your add-in command, change state of your add-in command programmatically, and change state in response to an event. Contextual tabs APIs used to create new tabs and show/hide existing tabs.
PowerPoint selection APIs – 17 new APIs focused on how to get and set selected information for slides, shapes, and text range in PowerPoint. Reviewed concepts of slide and shape scoped collections along with text range selection and showed functionality delivered by the APIs. The beta APIs are available now for you to trial and provide feedback.
Add-ins on Appointment read surface on Outlook Mobile – latest appointment organizer APIs now in preview. Delivering a new extension point with the ability to log event details to a 3rd party application, support for UI-less and task pane add-ins, semi-Contextual entry, discoverability, native UI, and status change from logging to viewing. Currently in preview on Android, GA by next month. We will share the timeline for iOS soon.
Q&A (Question & Answers)
When Microsoft deprecated User Voice there were a large number of great ideas lost. The replacement Microsoft 365 Developer Platform Ideas platform currently has New ideas = 535, Working on it = 2 and Need more information = 0 and Completed = 2! Even the most upvoted idea shows no responses from Microsoft. What value is there to posting ideas in this forum?
Unfortunately, we were unable to preserve all ideas when we moved from UserVoice to the new ideas site. We did get a capture of all ideas with more than 100 votes and those were migrated to the new forum which we do use internally for planning. We definitely need improve this experience for better engagement and transparency into our planning process. There’s currently a significant effort underway to reevaluate our community engagement on idea suggestions. We hope to share more details soon in an upcoming community call. Please understand that we absolutely value your suggestions and take them seriously. And thank you for raising this important issue!
When can we expect “insertWorksheetsFromBase64″ completely supported for Excel on the web? Currently Excel on the web doesn’t support source worksheets with PivotTable, Chart, Comment, or Slicer elements.”
We don’t have a plan to implement insertWorksheetsFromBase64 for Excel on the web at this time. There’s a dependency on a feature we require that is not yet in Excel on the web. There’s an existing idea request to implement insertWorksheetsFromBase64. We ask that any developers affected by this please upvote it. If you can provide comments, especially if you are blocked, this would be helpful to bump up the priority on this.
I’m trying to use the Shape API. In Script Lab, when I run the “Insert shape, line, and text box” sample code, some things work (e.g., insert hexagon) and others don’t (e.g., create shape with text). When I change the code on Script Lab, I’m able to play with position, dimensions, shape type, etc. but I can’t change colors, text, line weight and style, etc. Can you confirm whether all of this should work?
There was a bug in the “Insert shape, line, and text box” sample that we fixed based on this question. See the issue on GitHub for more details. If you’re still seeing issues, can you please create report them in the GitHub office-js-snippets repo? We can follow up there.
I have some questions about the Outlook add-ins and Outlook REST V2 decommission. We provide our customers with Outlook add-ins that use the On-send feature. We are wondering if it will be extended only to existing customers or to new customers as well.
The exemption for Outlook add-ins using Outlook REST V2 applies to any add-ins created before November 2022.
Case:
Tenant A has Outlook Add-in X using the On-send feature that was deployed before November 2022.
If you request an exemption for Outlook Add-in X before November 2022 it will continue to work.
After November 2022, what happens if we delete the add-in X and then register it again?
After November 2022, what happens if we register the add-in X for a new tenant B?
Registrations at https://aka.ms/RESTCheck will not be accepted after November 2022. Be sure to register your add-in before then if you need to continue using the Outlook REST APIs
Is there any difference between registration by side-loading or by centralized deployment?
We use the App ID that you register at https://aka.ms/RESTCheck to track apps and provide the exemption. Once registered your add-in will continue to work regardless of the deployment method you choose.
We develop an Office.js add-in for Outlook that can encrypt/decrypt emails. We’d like the compose window to disappear after our “Encrypt and Send” button is clicked. Or we need a toggle such that a user can enable/disable encryption, and subsequently, our encryption process is done after the user clicks on the Send button (thus, an extended on-send feature, not only for validation purposes). Is one of those two features planned to be implemented anytime soon, or is it wise to consider developing our addin within VSTO?
You can accomplish this scenario using web add-ins and smart alerts. We recommend you combine this handling of the send event with event-based add-ins so you can encrypt the attachments as they are added on the email while composing, so that your on-send processing takes less time. We have a sample that shows how to do this at https://github.com/OfficeDev/Office-Add-in-samples/tree/main/Samples/outlook-encrypt-attachments.
Why is it not possible to use the mail in MIME format as payload in the request when trying to create a message within a mailFolder (via “POST /me/mailFolders/{id}/messages”), as it seems that only JSON is accepted here? But via /me/messages I can use MIME format.
The best place to ask Microsoft Graph questions is at https://aka.ms/askgraph. When creating a draft email, it is typically created in the Drafts folder using “POST /me/messages”. This supports the MIME format. You can use “POST /me/mailFolders/{id}/messages” to create messages in any folder, although they will always be in draft mode. This did not seem like a likely scenario to support MIME. If there is a need for this please let us know more about your scenario at https://aka.ms/askgraph.
In Word desktop, with WebView2, if I reject the consent for audio/video recording for the first time, how can I change it or raise this question again? And a similar question, how can I disable or change the spellcheck settings in WebView2 in Word desktop?
Spellcheck settings are controlled at the webview level. For example, “<div id=”content” spellcheck=”true”.
Where can I go to request feature enhancements for outlook, such as controlling the width of an Outlook add in?
Please let us know about any feature enhancements or suggestions at the Microsoft 365 developer platform ideas site https://aka.ms/m365dev-suggestions.
Are there any plans to have contextual tabs available for PowerPoint?
We currently don’t have plans to extend to PPT, if you would like to have contextual tabs in PPT, please post more information around your scenario at https://aka.ms/m365dev-suggestions.
Are you planning to make the Mail Compose Surface available on mobile?
Yes, we’re planning to support it and are exploring various scenarios. We don’t have a timeline to share yet.
Is it possible to customize the save dialog in Office (PPT, Word)?
We don’t have any way to customize the save dialog with Office Add-ins. If you could post an idea request at https://aka.ms/m365dev-suggestions we’d like to learn more about the scenarios where you would need to customize the save dialog.
What’s the best place to store an “access token” in the Excel add-in? The access token is received by third-party app.
When creating an office-js add-in in the context of a larger solution that also integrates with Teams, which UI package is recommended: Fluent UI React or Fluent UI React Northstar? Would either of those be fine with a view to getting those apps accepted in the store? I would like to develop a solution for both Office (Word and Excel) and Teams, so the question is what the best starting point would be. I would like to avoid having to use two libraries.
Fluent UI v8 is the current look of Office and other apps. Northstar is the system used by Microsoft Teams. We are building out Fluent UI v9 as a new system for both Teams and Office. v9 is still pretty early on, and still in release candidate for the initial base controls. For now, we recommend using Fluent UI v8.
Is there a roadmap for future PowerPoint APIs beyond the preview API sets?
We’ll be posting roadmaps for PowerPoint APIs and other features to the Microsoft 365 roadmap soon.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Thousands of new relationships, one big communitythank you
To all communities, we’d like to say thank you. Over the last 12 months, whether you participated, helped, or cheered us on our amazing, community-owned, Microsoft-empowered user group experience, Microsoft Power Platform and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Communities celebrates a year of new connections and collaboration.
As social beings, it’s important for each of us to have the opportunity to connect emotionally with each othereven when we’re working with such impersonal-feeling things as databases, software apps, or business goals. In the big picture, it’s all about the people. That’s why we’re a community. We need each other to feel empowered, to achieve more, and to be part of something bigger. So beyond getting an additional place to turn when you’re looking for answers or help with challenges, you have a world of support for when you feel overwhelmed, or want to commiserate about the work you’re doing.
There are many user group experiences available to you, but no other gives you such direct connection to the heart of Microsoft and to fellow members of the Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Communities. You’re key to making those connections happen and we really appreciate you for participating in this place to create, nurture, and grow your user groups with Microsoft.
We launched this cooperative global effort in April of 2021 to give all those who work with Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 a place to connect with each other and to connect directly with Microsoft. After all, as the biggest fans of the products, you deserve a great experience.
The connections you’ve made
Why did we launch these communities? There are almost as many reasons as there are members of the community itself. But it boils down to connections. Each of us needs different kinds of links to each other. The Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 Communities provides a free platform for bringing community members closer, as well as supporting independent user groups and users worldwide. We also provide advocacy across the globe for our leaders, members, and users. The community imparts a sense of continuity and a seamless experience across all the Microsoft community sites.
It’s been quite a year. Since launching we’ve grown to welcome and include:
Over 400 User Groups worldwide.
Groups in 90 different countries.
Representation from over 300 cities.
Most of the credit for all this growth goes to you, the members of our lively and supportive community. People are finding what they need in the groups, the connection to Microsoft andmost delightfullyto other community members.
Making connections with Microsoftand each other
Our community is a great way for both leaders and group members to connect to the vast wealth of Microsoft resources, guidance, and information. Leaders can grow and manage user groups with easy-to-use tools. Through your groups you can also connect with the Microsoft product team for support with products, on Microsoft community sites, and at Microsoft events, and team speakers as well as connecting directly with Microsoft.
Matt Collins-Jones has gone from individual assistance to global connections with user groups. He started back when Dynamics 365 was called Dynamics CRM. Now he’s working with the entire Microsoft Power Platform stack. But he started by assisting others through help desk. By starting a small firm consulting on customer relationship management (CRM), he quickly jumped into managing and maintaining systems on a global scale for a multinational organization. And now, he works with TSG, a Microsoft partner in the United Kingdom, as a solution architect for their Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 team building the solutions on which he started with the help desk.
Matt now makes thousands of connections through his YouTube channel. With over 3,000 subscribers, it’s a great source of connection through technical assistance. Building on the community he’s found through his channel, Matt has become a leader in the UK Power Platform User Group. His philosophy? “I try and inspire and help those people become the next user group members and user group leaders. That’s really what this is all about. You just have to have a passion for it.”
More than personalizedour community is personal
Community connections may only begin as technical support or looking for guidance from Microsoft. From there, they often take it further. That personal experience of support can naturally transform into lasting relationships with a worldwide group of like-minded people. It’s a great recipe for building friendships that go beyond professional connections.
Like many of our community members, Malin Martnes was looking for more than technical support. She found a community that welcomed her and helped her feel that she fit in. Originally from a small town in Norway, Malin grew up feeling alone and isolated. From the beginning, an online community has helped her find herself and realize she’s not different or alone because of her taste in music or interest in tech. Now as a single mom, she has found encouragement and strength from the user group community, in everything from COVID-19 to her personal life. She is a Microsoft MVP and a sought-after expert for other groups, conferences, and more.
“No matter who you are,” she says, “what gender you are, what type of color you are, what your ideas are; if you are a good person and you want to share your knowledge and you want to help other people, then you are welcome and included in the community. And that is just what I absolutely love about the community and why I do everything that I do.”
Success at work is greatmaking friends can be life-changing
When you build your network and community recognition in a diverse and inclusive environment you’re so much more likely to succeed and do more at work. And beyond that. Through the supportive network of peers in the community you can learn from experts and leaders, build your own community status, and as we’ve seen, make lifelong friendships you’ll value forever.
When Andrew Rogers of Queensland, Australia moved from working with Office 365 support to consulting on Office, SharePoint, and Dynamics 365, he discovered that he needed more assistance to be able to help more of his colleagues. This led him to seek out like-minded people who could help him grow professionally. He found they offered more than professional guidance. “I found [a group] here in Queensland with a number of people that I already had so much to do with, and I was welcomed very easily into that space.”
User Groups became a place where he could not only benefit himself professionally, but he could share that insight and what he learned with others. “People are more open to personal relationships, to sharing more than just talking about Microsoft products that we all love using and building for others,” says Andrew about the way User Groups have grown beyond just a professional networking tool.
He smiles when he talks about the User Group. “I really love doing this and I really love helping people connect to what they need.” He loves the satisfaction he finds in helping people find these connections. “Just seeing the joy on their faces or getting an email that says thanks so much. This makes my day.”
Introducing Project Connect: Your local Microsoft contact for your community
Project Connect is a new program that supports leaders and members who participate in our Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 community user group experience. It’s comprised of dedicated Microsoft volunteers, called Community Citizens, who engage directly with their local user group.
Community citizens participate in these ways:
Support virtual and in-person user group meetings.
Explore customer needs, challenges, and aspirations.
Become the local face of our group and our products.
If you are part of the Microsoft experience, this is an added benefit for group leaders and members. To learn more and find out who your local Microsoft contact is, drop us a line at projconnect1@microsoft.com.
And again, whether you’re an active user group member, a leader, or just an outside supporter who sees the value of these deeper connections, thank you for helping, motivating, and inspiring us through this exciting first year of growth. We look forward to many more.
This article is contributed. See the original author and article here.
Drupal has released security updates to address vulnerabilities affecting Drupal 9.2 and 9.3. An attacker could exploit these vulnerabilities to take control of an affected system.
CISA encourages users and administrators to review Drupal security advisories SA-CORE-008 and SA-CORE-009 and apply the necessary updates.
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