Kevin Beaumont
Kevin BeaumontLet’s see if I get booted off LinkedIn for a third time.
Kevin BeaumontA Microsoft employee has bypassed the filtering of the words Palestine, Gaza or genocide to email thousands of employees https://www.theverge.com/microsoft/673568/microsoft-palestine-email-block-defeated-employee
The full email https://archive.ph/6SZ6A
Kevin BeaumontCo-op Group announces it's getting rid of paper prices in stores, going to electric displays. Good luck during a ransomware incident 😒
Kevin BeaumontTCS has a security incident running around the M&S breach.
Interestingly the source claims TCS aren't involved in Co-op's IT - which is categorically false, they took over most of it while I worked there, including the helpdesk, and my team (SecOps) after I left.
https://www.ft.com/content/c658645d-289d-49ee-bc1d-241c651516b0
Kevin BeaumontThe CEO of M&S has declined to comment if they have paid a ransom. For the record: I’ve heard they have, in secret, via their insurance. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ms-says-cyber-attack-was-result-human-error-declines-comment-ransom-2025-05-21/
Kevin BeaumontCo-op Group announces it's getting rid of paper prices in stores, going to electric displays. Good luck during a ransomware incident 😒
Kevin BeaumontMicrosoft has used its security controls to block messages which contain the words Palestine and Gaza.
https://www.theverge.com/tech/672312/microsoft-block-palestine-gaza-email
Kevin BeaumontLet’s see if I get booted off LinkedIn for a third time.
Kevin BeaumontAnother protest at Microsoft Build about their involvement in targeting Palestinians caused the head of AI security to accidentally share customer Teams chats https://www.theverge.com/news/671373/microsoft-ai-security-chief-walmart-conversation-build-protest-disruption
Kevin BeaumontMicrosoft has used its security controls to block messages which contain the words Palestine and Gaza.
https://www.theverge.com/tech/672312/microsoft-block-palestine-gaza-email
Kevin BeaumontTabletop scenario for you:
Employee gets into a dispute with employer, leaves, had sensitive role. Employer revokes access, devices etc. Employee had logged in via BYOD to email, IM etc.
Due to Recall, employee walks away with 6 months of screenshots of everything she's ever worked on in a text indexed form - every email, chat, document, Teams call with video snapshots, transcripts of verbal calls etc - even if they set M365 to not store documents locally.
What does the employer do now?
Kevin BeaumontSignal have rolled out an update to all users that stops Microsoft Recall from capturing Signal conversations.
I’ve tested this and it works. Brilliant work by the @signalapp@mastodon.world team. 💪
They call on Microsoft to build better, as there was no standardised way as an app developer to do this. Because Signal is open source, now app developers have a template to protect their users from Windows.
https://signal.org/blog/signal-doesnt-recall/
Kevin BeaumontThe NCA has confirmed on the record that the investigation into the M&S and Co-op hack is focused on English teenagers. I could toot the names of the people I think they’ll pick up, but won’t.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgnndrgxv3o
Kevin BeaumontThe CEO of M&S has declined to comment if they have paid a ransom. For the record: I’ve heard they have, in secret, via their insurance. https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/ms-says-cyber-attack-was-result-human-error-declines-comment-ransom-2025-05-21/
Kevin BeaumontTheir CEO has commented they’ve drawn a line under the hack, without recovering, which has a bit of this energy honestly
Kevin BeaumontThe NCA has confirmed on the record that the investigation into the M&S and Co-op hack is focused on English teenagers. I could toot the names of the people I think they’ll pick up, but won’t.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgnndrgxv3o
Kevin BeaumontM&S say online ordering will be stopped until sometime in July, and it has taken a £300m hit, far higher than analysts had predicted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93llkg4n51o
Kevin BeaumontTheir CEO has commented they’ve drawn a line under the hack, without recovering, which has a bit of this energy honestly
Kevin BeaumontI made this point a few weeks ago, but... outsourcing all your IT, Networks, Service Desk (helpdesk) and operational cybersecurity is a temporary cost saving and basically paints a ticking timebomb on the org, IMHO.
Kevin BeaumontM&S say online ordering will be stopped until sometime in July, and it has taken a £300m hit, far higher than analysts had predicted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93llkg4n51o