Skip to main content

Posts

Entra ID SSO For Those Other Apps

Having all your enterprise apps plugged into Entra ID SSO is certainly a goal for most organisations but it's not easily achieved. Many applications charge extra for SSO functionality or restrict it to the most expensive plans. Some applications may not even offer SSO as an option, older applications in particular.  Enter Password-based SSO, old technology that we might have forgotten about. It's a password vaulting solution where Entra stores your password for you. "But passwords are insecure." I hear you say and you might be right.  This pragmatic approach tries to use tech we are already paying for, to better secure your app. If you don't have the access to other forms of SSO then this might be something to consider.  What does it get you? Long random passwords are the best option, but end users don't like them because we ask them to manage the password themselves. This means users end up reusing passwords or use short and easily remembered pass...
Recent posts

What is DMARC?

In simple terms DMARC is email protection. It is the next evolution in technologies that have been layered on top of the basic SMTP email protocol in an effort to improve email security. It stops attackers sending email from your domain. Commonly called domain spoofing. Fixing SMTP just isn’t possible. Email is so prevalent that getting everyone to switch to something new would be almost impossible. Layering on top of SMTP allows for the gradual adoption of new technologies without breaking old ones. Let’s explore why you should care about DMARC.  DMARC is made up of 3 technologies:  Sender Policy Framework SPF is a DNS record that you create, that tells the world these are the places my domain sends email from. This should include your mail server but also your website if it uses contact forms, bulk email platforms like Sendgrid and any other web applications that send email using your domain. SPF provides a method for indicating to mail servers checking your DNS records how...

Setting up just one main Google+ profile

Many people have both a personal and a professional presence on Google+. They have a regular Google account and profile and a Google Apps account and associated profile. The challenge is one of discovery. You have two profiles but would like your main one to be more easily discovered than the other one. In this case your Google Apps profile over your regular Google profile.  While it isn't possible to hide your regular profile completely it is possible to de-emphasize it. This is the approach explained below. It makes sense that a profile with very little detail and no activity is less likely to be indexed higher than an active account with lots of detail of the same name. Naturally, in addition to de-emphasizing your regular Google profile you need to also promote your Google Apps profile. Start by going to the Google+ profile of  your regular Google account. This is located near the top of the pop out menu on the left side of the desktop browser version of Google+. Just...

Large Screen Window Management In Windows 7 & 8

Here's a little tip for those with large screens that want to better use the real estate their large screen provides. At the top of every window is the window title bar. It contains the application icon, the window title with the application name and the 3 window buttons: minimize, maximize and close. This tip explains how you can use the window title bar to have two applications side by side on you screen. Grab the title bar then drag the mouse to either the far left of the screen or the far right of the screen. The window will automatically resize to cover only one half to the screen. Do the same with another window on the other side of the screen and there you have it an easy way to put two windows side by side. The same effect can be achieved by having only 2 windows open on the desktop, going to an empty spot on the taskbar, right click and select "Show windows side by side". If you grab the window title bar and move the mouse to the top of the sc...

Linux Basement is back!

If you haven't listened to the revived Linux Basement podcast you need to. Welcome back to the mic Chad & Claudio. LB - Episode 71 - Reboot : That's right! Linux Basement is back with a new site, a new workflow, and a new episode! Now you can watch our ugly faces in the video feed or download the podcast. On this episode, Peter Haliburton Joins me and we talk about: The new site! Drupal 7 Networking - Wireshark Asterisk - PBX in a flash - Incredible PBX - Nerd Vittles And much much more! Thanks for joining us and it is good to be back! podcast:  LB - Episode 71 - Reboot.mp3 Tags:  Linux Basement drupal Asterisk Wireshark

20 Years on and Somethings Haven't Changed

I've been doing a bit for simple web development for a web design class I'm taking. It's been years since I did anything like this and while I'm enjoying all the modern goodness of HTML5 and CSS3 one thing doesn't seem to have changed. The need to write for exceptions in Internet Explorer. It's not that IE9 hasn't implemented curtain features, it's just that it does it a different way from Firefox and webkit based browsers. I believe IE has come a long way or so the media and pundits say, however the ability to write a web page with the same code for all browsers is still not a reality.  Maybe my expectations are unrealistic but it appears IE has a lot of catching up to do.

Update your Google Apps

If like me you have an Android phone one important thing to do is update the version of some of the Google Apps that came with you phone. But they update automatically you say. Not so. At least not on my phone. Do a search on the Android Market for pub: "Google Inc." to find out which updated apps you are missing. I found I had to make a list of the installed apps and install them from the list of Google app on the market. After installing all the updated versions from the app store you will be able to stay current. I don't known why all this is nesisarl . The phone should just pull down the updates. That's just the way.