Posts by Becca Haislip
Microsoft 365 Updates and Retirements: What EDU & SLED IT Teams Need to Know
Microsoft 365 continues to evolve—and for education and state and local government IT teams, those changes can have real operational and security implications. From the retirement of Exchange Web Services (EWS) to changes coming to Microsoft Entra ID, Microsoft Purview, Defender for Cloud Apps, and OneDrive, several important updates require IT teams to review configurations,…
Read MoreBack-to-School Cybersecurity Threats: What Education IT Teams Should Watch This Fall
The start of a new school year brings more than new students, new schedules, and a flood of help desk tickets. It also creates a predictable window of opportunity for cybercriminals. For K–12 school districts, colleges, universities, and public-sector organizations supporting education, the weeks surrounding the start of the academic year bring a massive increase…
Read MoreIranian Cyber Threats Continue to Target Government and Higher Education in 2026
Iranian state-sponsored cyber activity is evolving — and government agencies, colleges, universities, and K-12 districts remain among its highest-value targets. While earlier headlines this year focused on destructive attacks, the latest intelligence tells a quieter story. Iranian threat actors are shifting toward credential theft, identity compromise, and long-term espionage campaigns designed to go unnoticed for…
Read MoreDefender XDR Alert: Suspicious Exchange Online Graph Reconnaissance Activity
How Microsoft Defender XDR Detects Directory Enumeration — and What Your Team Should Do Next The most dangerous phase of a Microsoft 365 attack is often the quietest one. Across higher education, K–12, and state and local government, we’re seeing threat actors move away from noisy, smash-and-grab attacks toward something more patient: identity-based reconnaissance. Rather…
Read MoreMicrosoft 365 Updates and Retirements EDU & Public Sector IT Teams Should Prepare for Now
Microsoft continues to roll out platform changes that impact Microsoft Intune, Windows security, Defender for Endpoint, and Microsoft Teams. While these updates improve security and modernize device management, they also introduce new requirements that could affect schools, colleges, universities, and government organizations if they aren’t planned for in advance. For education and public sector IT…
Read More