Microsoft Teams outage causes connection issues, message delays

By Sergiu Gatlan January 26, 2024 12:49 PM

Typically this leads to Security Breaches like 2023 just search for yourself (microsoft teams security issues 2023)

Microsoft is investigating an ongoing and widespread outage impacting the users of its Teams communication platform and causing connectivity issues, login problems, and message delays.

While Redmond is still working on addressing these ongoing problems, it revealed that a networking issue might be the root cause of this outage.

“We’ve identified a networking issue impacting a portion of the Teams service and we’re performing a failover to remediate impact. Additional information can be found under TM710344 in the admin center,” tweeted the official Microsoft account for updates on Microsoft 365 service incidents.

Affected customers have reported login and server connection issues, desktop and mobile Teams apps freezing on the loading screen, and message delivery problems.

Other reports mention chat history not being available and images no longer displaying in chat, as well as being left in the waiting room after joining Teams meetings.

On impacted systems, customers see “We’ve run into a server error. Some functions might not work right now but you can continue to use the app” errors.

According to the TM710344 incident report in the Microsoft 365 admin center, the outage was first acknowledged by Redmond at 10:37 AM EST and it impacts customers across North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa regions.

The outage affects users performing a cold boot, who may not be able to log into teams and will see an “oops” page. It also causes users attempting to log into their accounts and unlocking devices to see missing messages.

Other scenarios experienced by impacted customers can lead to:

Users may fail to load messages in channels and chats
Users are unable to view or download their media (images, videos, audio, call recordings, code snippets)
Some messages may experience delays being sent
Call Recordings might take longer to appear in user’s OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Online
Bots may be unable to download attachments
Sending and receiving read receipt notifications may be delayed

“Our review of service telemetry indicates a portion of database infrastructure that facilitates multiple APls is experiencing a networking issue, resulting in impact,” Microsoft said.

“We’re continuing our investigation to isolate the underlying cause of the networking issue and develop remediation actions.”

Update January 26, 12:55 EST: Added TM710344 incident report info.

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/microsoft-teams-outage-causes-connection-issues-message-delays/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

TeamViewer abused to breach networks in new ransomware attacks

BEWARE a lot of RMM solutions use TV chnage you security logins

By Bill Toulas January 18, 2024 04:07 PM 3

Ransomware actors are again using TeamViewer to gain initial access to organization endpoints and attempt to deploy encryptors based on the leaked LockBit ransomware builder.

TeamViewer is a legitimate remote access tool used extensively in the enterprise world, valued for its simplicity and capabilities.

Unfortunately, the tool is also cherished by scammers and even ransomware actors, who use it to gain access to remote desktops, dropping and executing malicious files unhindered.

A similar case was first reported in March 2016, when numerous victims confirmed in the BleepingComputer forums that their devices were breached using TeamViewer to encrypt files with the Surprise ransomware.

At the time, TeamViewer’s explanation for the unauthorized access was credential stuffing, meaning the attackers did not exploit a zero-day vulnerability in the software but instead used users’ leaked credentials.

“As TeamViewer is a widely spread software, many online criminals attempt to log on with the data of compromised accounts, in order to find out whether there is a corresponding TeamViewer account with the same credentials,” explained the software vendor at the time.

“If this is the case, chances are they can access all assigned devices, in order to install malware or ransomware.”

Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/teamviewer-abused-to-breach-networks-in-new-ransomware-attacks/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President
Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training
“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”
Cloud Services Status page (https://cloudstatus.mspportalpartners.net/)

Windows 10 KB5034441 security update fails with 0x80070643 errors (Bitlocker)

Windows 10 KB5034441 security update fails with 0x80070643 errors

By Lawrence Abrams January 10, 2024 11:56 AM

Windows 10 users worldwide report problems installing Microsoft’s January Patch Tuesday updates, getting 0x80070643 errors when attempting to install the KB5034441 security update for BitLocker.

Yesterday, as part of Microsoft’s January 2024 Patch Tuesday, a security update (KB5034441) was released for CVE-2024-20666, a BitLocker encryption bypass that allows users to access encrypted data.

However, when attempting to install this update, Windows 10 users are reporting getting 0x80070643 errors and the installation failing.

On reboot, users will be greeted with a Windows Update screen stating that an error occurred and to try again later.

“There were some problems installing updates, but we’ll try again later. If you keep seeing this and want to search the web or contact support for information, this may help: (0x80070643),” reads the Windows Update error.

In a support bulletin also published yesterday, Microsoft warns that when installing the KB5034441, users are supposed to see the “Windows Recovery Environment servicing failed, (CBS_E_INSUFFICIENT_DISK_SPACE)” error when the Windows Recovery Partition is not large enough to support the update.

However, a coding error causes the Windows Update to mistakenly display the generic “0x80070643 – ERROR_INSTALL_FAILURE” error message instead.
WinRE partition too small

When installing the KB5034441 security update, Microsoft is installing a new version of the Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE) that fixes the BitLocker vulnerability.

Unfortunately, Windows 10 creates a recovery partition, usually around 500 MB, which is not large enough to support the new Windows RE image (winre.wim) file, causing the 0x80070643 error when attempting to install the update.

In a test by BleepingComputer this morning, a brand new install of Windows 10 using the latest ISO from Microsoft created a 522MB WinRE partition. However, even this new install has a partition that is too small, causing the KB5034441 security update not to install and display a 0x80070643 error.

The only solution Microsoft has offered at this point is to create a larger Windows Recovery Partition so there is enough room for the security update to install.

As the Windows Recovery Partition is created on the same disk as the C: partition, you must shrink the C: partition by 250 MBs and use that newly unallocated space to create a bigger Recovery Partition.

Microsoft had previously shared a support bulletin describing how to shrink the C: partition by 250 MB and create a new Recovery Partition using the reagentc.exe and dispart.exe command line utilities to accommodate WinRE security updates.

Reagentc.exe is a command line tool for managing the Windows Recovery Environment, and diskpart.exe is a command line tool to manage the device’s disk partition and volumes.

However, if you are not comfortable using command line programs, we strongly suggest you hold off on performing these steps as the vulnerability requires physical access to your device, minimizing its impact.

Instead, you should wait for a solution from Microsoft, which may offer an automated way to recreate a larger Windows Recovery partition.

Furthermore, there is always the risk of damaging partitions when shrinking and expanding them, so it is strongly advised that you back up your data before proceeding.

More Article (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-10-kb5034441-security-update-fails-with-0x80070643-errors/)

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President

Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phishline Training

“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

Bitdefender Changes Scanning Techniques

This can be good or Bad..depends on how you look at it

I mange thousand of endpoints of Bitdefender

So i have been running the new changes for about a week ( I am satisfied so far)

Bitdefender is a policy based platform

In this point, there are several things to do:
1. Remove the scan archive from the Quick scans because these are designed to scan some resources fast.
2. Add the scan archives in the Full scan profile if not already done so it can be inherited and the report be populated as desired.
3) With all this, a malware located in an archive doesn’t pose a threat because when resources from the archive are accessed or unpacked they will be scanned and detected by the on access real time protection.

Read this link (https://www.bitdefender.com/business/support/en/71263-85158-contact.html) updates coming and some answers also

LAST IF YOU ARE NOT USING 2FA PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO SETUP IT IS NOT HARD. personally  I use a high end 2FA program for all sites and I use it from one computer only. I do not use  cell phones to log in, the program that I use allows it.. security is a utmost concern to me in protecting myself and my partners

If you have questions and you are a MspPortal Partner feel free to contact me

Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President

Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Phish Line Training

“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”

 

MspPortal Partners New Product line for MspPortal Partners

Our New Phishing Line Product is like no other, combined with our Spam Filter Product you will have a 99% chance of protecting your network and your clients networks

1) An advanced email threat protection add-in for Microsoft 365 and Gmail.

It enables reporting phishing and other type of threats. Each inbox’s risk profile is unique and this plugin exposes tell tale signs of threats to your security

2) Helps users learn what to look

for using each email as a learning opportunity combined with security awareness training.

3) Addresses, Domains, Email Addresses, words, and other known threat types from different sources.

4) Pushes your endpoint protection even further and helps users better determine a real threat versus legitimate emails.

5) Phishing simulation:

Phishing simulation provides realistic emails to users to see if they react properly. When a user reports a simulated phishing email, it improves the organizations net reporter score Upon failure of a simulated phishing email, the organization can automatically enroll the user in remedial training.

1) MspPortal Partners Complete Email Protection

Backup and recovery for Exchange Online O365, GSuite

SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams, Unlimited Storage, along with email archiving

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Roy Miehe | MspPortal Partners Inc. | Ceo/President

Security Software Distributor: Bitdefender , Barracuda, Axcient

“Where Service and Technical Skills Count”