{"@attributes":{"version":"2.0"},"channel":{"title":"Lets Automate It","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/","description":"Recent content on Lets Automate It","generator":"Hugo -- gohugo.io","language":"en-us","lastBuildDate":"Fri, 10 Mar 2023 12:00:00 -0600","item":[{"title":"My Thoughts About the United States Banning TikTok","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/thoughts-about-tiktok-ban\/","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Mar 2023 12:00:00 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/thoughts-about-tiktok-ban\/","description":"<p><strong>These are my personal thoughts about the United States banning TikTok.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>As you may have already heard, some congressional leaders have proposed the ban of a Chinese based social media application called TikTok.<\/p>\n<p>There is fear, with some truth mixed in, that TikTok is a danger to United States national defense. There are many reasons congressional, military, and other policy leaders fear TikTok, but the common theme seems to be related to data collection on American citizens and the potential of manipulating viewpoints in favor of the Chinese government.<\/p>"},{"title":"Understanding Python - Part 2: Running Code","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-python-part-2-running-code\/","pubDate":"Thu, 14 Jul 2022 12:45:00 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-python-part-2-running-code\/","description":"<h2 id=\"introduction\">Introduction<\/h2>\n<p>Whether you are new to Python or not, ensuring you understand the basics will help you along the way to becoming a Python expert.<\/p>\n<p>Please see the first post titled <a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/python-vs-powershell-part-1-versioning\/\">Python vs Powershell Part 1: Versioning<\/a>. This first post was written in 2018 but still applies. The remaining blog posts are a continuation of this series. Lets get started!<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"installation\">Installation<\/h2>\n<p>You may have Python already installed. To check, open your terminal and type:<\/p>"},{"title":"Understanding HTTP Request Headers","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/","pubDate":"Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:45:00 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/","description":"<h1 id=\"table-of-contents\">Table of Contents<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#summary\">Summary<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#introduction\">Introduction<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#setup\">Setup<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#general-headers\">General Headers<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#cache-control\">Cache-Control<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#connection\">Connection<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#transfer-encoding\">Transfer-Encoding<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#request-headers\">Request Headers<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#common-request-headers\">Common Request Headers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#accept\">Accept<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#accept-encoding\">Accept-Encoding<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#authorization\">Authorization<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#user-agent\">User-Agent<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#response-headers\">Response Headers<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#common-response-headers\">Common Response Headers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#location\">Location<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#vary\">Vary<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#server\">Server<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#www-authenticate\">WWW-Authenticate<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#metadata-headers\">Metadata Headers<\/a>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#common-metadata-headers\">Common Metadata Headers<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#allow\">Allow<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#content-encoding\">Content-Encoding<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#content-type\">Content-Type<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-http-request-headers\/#conclusion\">Conclusion<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h1 id=\"summary\">Summary<\/h1>\n<p>Networking is complex. Whether you are troubleshooting network connectivity or attempting to detect malicious external network communications, understanding the nuances of common HTTP requests is extremely helpful but often it can be difficult for many security and IT professionals.<\/p>"},{"title":"Introducing Atomic Operator","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/introducing-atomic-operator\/","pubDate":"Tue, 28 Dec 2021 12:00:36 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/introducing-atomic-operator\/","description":"<p>One of the major benefits of Atomic Red Team is that it enables security teams to understand how adversaries leverage MITRE\u00ae ATT&amp;CK techniques in the real world, and I\u2019ve been a big fan for years. To me, Atomic Red Team is more than a repository of tests (aka atomics), it\u2019s also a knowledge base, training tool, and more.<\/p>\n<p>Each atomic in the library simulates a known adversary behavior associated with a given technique. Each of these tests are meant to help security professionals understand how a technique works (in other words, what malicious looks like) and enable them to test their defensive controls.<\/p>"},{"title":"Atomic Red Team Testing With Swimlane","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/atomic-red-team-testing-with-swimlane\/atomic-red-team-testing-with-swimlane\/","pubDate":"Mon, 20 Dec 2021 11:54:39 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/atomic-red-team-testing-with-swimlane\/atomic-red-team-testing-with-swimlane\/","description":"<p>Today, Swimlane is excited to announce that we are releasing a new SSP (Swimlane Solutions Package) for use within the Swimlane platform. This SSP will enable organizations to automate the testing of their defenses using Atomic Red Team using our new open-source project called atomic-operator.<\/p>\n<p>When using this SSP organizations can gain an understanding of their defensive posture against tests mapped to MITRE ATT&amp;CK techniques. By using this use case you can correlate detections of these tests against their existing automation and log sources thus giving them fast feedback on their defensive posture based on tests available within Atomic Red Team.<\/p>"},{"title":"Common Rest Api Authentication Methods Explained","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/common-rest-api-authentication-methods-explained\/","pubDate":"Wed, 21 Apr 2021 11:58:59 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/common-rest-api-authentication-methods-explained\/","description":"<p>When it comes to implementing automation and orchestration, it is critical to understand how authentication works with APIs. The majority of the products in your environment likely have some sort of authentication mechanism. You need to know the nuances and differences between various authentication methods in order to automate communications with those APIs. In this blog post, I aim to help you understand by breaking down three different API authentication methods.<\/p>"},{"title":"Swimlane Releases Elk Tls Docker","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-releases-elk-tls-docker\/","pubDate":"Tue, 24 Nov 2020 11:57:08 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-releases-elk-tls-docker\/","description":"<p>At Swimlane, we love to automate but we also love building and sharing open-source software (OSS) to help security teams. We are proud to announce that we have released a new open-source project called elk-tls-docker to make it easier for you to test and deploy Elastic Stack by automating the creation of several Elastic open-source software solutions.<\/p>\n<p>Elk-tls-docker assists with setting up aand creating an Elastic Stack using either self-signed certificates or using Let\u2019s Encrypt certificates (using SWAG). This project was built so that you can test and use built-in features under Elastic Security, like detections, signals, cases, Elastic Endpoint and other features.<\/p>"},{"title":"Automating Attck Testing With Soar and Atomic Red Team","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/automating-attck-testing-with-soar-and-atomic-red-team\/","pubDate":"Fri, 24 Jul 2020 12:33:03 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/automating-attck-testing-with-soar-and-atomic-red-team\/","description":"<p>MITRE ATT&amp;CK is the defacto framework for organizations to measure their defense posture. ATT&amp;CK provides categorical verticals in the form of tactics, which align to the common methodologies attackers use. Within these verticals are a set (and subsets) of common ways in which attackers accomplish a tactic (vertical). These are known as techniques.<\/p>\n<p>Some techniques may be common across multiple operating systems. This usually equates to a broad definition of a technique. As defenders, this means we must understand how a single technique may be implemented on multiple platforms\u2014which can be difficult for many, including myself. Luckily, organizations like Red Canary have provided our community with a rich framework to assist with the testing of these techniques.<\/p>"},{"title":"Making MITRE ATT&CK Actionable","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/making-mitre-attck-actionable\/","pubDate":"Thu, 16 Jul 2020 12:33:03 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/making-mitre-attck-actionable\/","description":"<p>The Swimlane Deep Dive team is excited to announce the release of pyattck 2.0 and an equivalent PowerShell version called PSAttck. These open-source tools provide security operations centers (SOCs), defenders and offensive security teams with external data points that enrich MITRE ATT&amp;CK by providing potential commands, queries and even detections for specific techniques. Additionally, these data points enable context related to specific attacker actors or groups, as well as details about different tools used by malicious actors.<\/p>"},{"title":"Responding to Insider Threats With Soar","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/responding-to-insider-threats-with-soar\/","pubDate":"Fri, 24 Apr 2020 12:37:11 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/responding-to-insider-threats-with-soar\/","description":"<p>Insider threats occur when an individual with ties to an organization misuses their access for malicious intent, such as stealing intellectual property or other data. Detecting insider threats can be difficult. But by using a security information and event management (SIEM) system or data loss prevention (DLP) products, you can create alerts to detect the exfiltration of data leaving your organization that is unauthorized or unexpected.<\/p>\n<p>Once you have detected these events, your security operations center (SOC) needs to investigate rapidly. Utilizing Swimlane and our Insider Threat Use Case, you can investigate and respond to these insider threats swiftly and accurately.<\/p>"},{"title":"Identify Malicious Domains Using Soar","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/identify-malicious-domains-using-soar\/","pubDate":"Wed, 25 Mar 2020 12:38:39 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/identify-malicious-domains-using-soar\/","description":"<p>Domain Squatting, typosquatting and IDN homograph attacks are commonplace when it comes to phishing and other forms of social engineering. Attackers use domain squatting and typosquatting of domains to trick users into providing their credentials, distribute malware, harm an organization\u2019s reputation, or otherwise maliciously impersonate a legitimate domain. We&rsquo;ve discussed this topic before and have developed a unique use case with Swimlane to detect this malicious activity automatically.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, we began to monitor domains related to coronavirus (COVID-19), knowing there would be an increase in traffic to research the outbreak, which could be exploited by bad actors. Even though not all of these domains are necessarily malicious or focused on spoofing (or typosquatting) techniques, we decided to use this use case to identify any registered domains related to \u201ccorona\u201d and \u201ccovid.\u201d Over the last 2 weeks, we have seen 5054 corona-related domains being registered.<\/p>"},{"title":"You Dont Have Windows 7 in Your Environment Do You","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/you-dont-have-windows-7-in-your-environment-do-you\/","pubDate":"Tue, 14 Jan 2020 12:40:08 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/you-dont-have-windows-7-in-your-environment-do-you\/","description":"<p>Today is the day. Microsoft Windows 7 is officially end-of-life (EOL). The Windows 7 operating system was released on October 22, 2009. For 10 years now, IT and system administrators around the globe have relied on their trusty old Windows 7 OS. I mean, it was a step beyond Windows XP for sure. With EOL here, have you migrated all of your systems to Windows 10?<\/p>\n<p>If you have not migrated, you definitely should. Here are several reasons why you should from a security perspective:<\/p>"},{"title":"Investigate Alerts in Microsoft Azure Using SOAR","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/investigate-alerts-in-microsoft-azure-using-soar\/","pubDate":"Wed, 18 Dec 2019 12:03:34 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/investigate-alerts-in-microsoft-azure-using-soar\/","description":"<p>Alerts or detections come in many forms\u2014some are good and some are not\u2014and security operations center (SOC) analysts are responsible for the initial investigation into these anomalies. What\u2019s more, when it comes to cloud-based resources, we may not have the luxury of logging everything that happens on a host operating system.<\/p>\n<p>Microsoft Azure helps provide quite a bit of data to assist with the initial investigation, as well as some initial response actions. If you are a tier-one or -two analyst, you probably don\u2019t have the ability to perform a full investigation, which is typically completed by your incident response or digital forensics team. With this in mind, I would like to introduce Swimlane\u2019s new Microsoft Azure Use Case for just this situation.<\/p>"},{"title":"Understanding APIs: SOAP","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-apis-soap\/","pubDate":"Thu, 24 Oct 2019 12:03:34 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-apis-soap\/","description":"<p>In my previous post, I talked about the basics of REST (representable state transfer) APIs (application programming interfaces). If you haven&rsquo;t read it yet, I highly recommend you read that post before continuing.<\/p>\n<p>In this post, we will be talking about the basics of simple object access protocol (SOAP) APIs, and we will primarily focus on a real SOAP service: Microsoft Exchange Web Services. RESTful APIs, which are the most commonly used APIs today, are powerful and provide a simple way to interact with a service or application via an exposed interface. Even though REST is the most popular, SOAP is still used today by many major services.<\/p>"},{"title":"Swimlane and Cylance PROTECT: Endpoint Threat Response","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-and-cylance-protect-endpoint-threat-response\/","pubDate":"Fri, 18 Oct 2019 12:03:34 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-and-cylance-protect-endpoint-threat-response\/","description":"<p>Swimlane and Blackberry Cylance have partnered to offer a new use case that combines the power of security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) with Cylance PROTECT\u2019s integrated threat prevention solution. The Proactive Endpoint Threat Response use case utilizes our integration to take a proactive response to detections identified by Cylance PROTECT.<\/p>\n<p>By ingesting detections from Cylance PROTECT, Swimlane can automate and orchestrate the enrichment of detections using multiple open source intelligence (OSINT) platforms to identify malicious files proactively that are similar or related to a specific variant identified by Cylance. Swimlane then automatically pulls the related samples and feeds them back into Cylance to enhance your protection from future threats.<\/p>"},{"title":"Understanding APIs: REST","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-apis-rest\/","pubDate":"Thu, 17 Oct 2019 12:03:34 -0600","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-apis-rest\/","description":"<p>Security orchestration, automation and response (SOAR) platforms rely heavily on APIs (application programming interfaces) to drive orchestration of disparate security tools (products) and invoke desired responses in the form of actions. Besides SOAR products, APIs are commonplace among almost all services, tools, and products used by technical workers.<\/p>\n<p>Even though APIs are extremely common, you may not have experience using them or even know that a service has one when interacting with it. For example, Facebook uses an API framework called Graph API.<\/p>"},{"title":"Vulnerability Management Program Best Practices","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/vulnerability-management-program-best-practices\/","pubDate":"Thu, 15 Aug 2019 14:42:13 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/vulnerability-management-program-best-practices\/","description":"<p>Nowadays most organizations have begun to implement a Vulnerability Management Program (VMP), but implementing one is daunting. Most organizations realize they either have no true categorical ownership over systems or they lack the authority to enforce remediation of identified vulnerabilities. Either way, it is time consuming to track down and enforce a true VMP within many organizations.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"what-is-a-vulnerability-management-program\">What is a Vulnerability Management Program?<\/h1>\n<p>If you are new to implementing a VMP, then you first must understand what vulnerability management is. It seems self-evident, but it is the management (life-cycle) of identifying risks related to unpatched, misconfigured and unknown systems within an entity and implementing a remediation process for any identified risk.<\/p>"},{"title":"Every Security Team Is a Software Team Now","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/every-security-team-is-a-software-team-now\/","pubDate":"Thu, 01 Aug 2019 14:40:36 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/every-security-team-is-a-software-team-now\/","description":"<p>Building and facilitating a culture with continuous collaboration between engineers and security forces is becoming the new philosophy in security, which is why I am stoked for this year&rsquo;s Black Hat USA keynote speaker: Dino Dai Zovi, staff security engineer at Square.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Every Security Team is a Software Team Now&rdquo; promises to dive into the latest iteration of security operations as current security teams morph into in-house security software teams, delivering multi-vertical value through self-service platforms and tools. Because of today&rsquo;s growing and evolving threat landscape, security teams need to provide secure methods for both business and engineering teams to conduct daily business.<\/p>"},{"title":"Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Detection Queries","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-defender-advanced-threat-detection-queries\/","pubDate":"Thu, 18 Jul 2019 14:37:17 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-defender-advanced-threat-detection-queries\/","description":"<p>Recently, I <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MSAdministrator\/status\/1145778141127991302?s=20\">shared on Twitter<\/a> how you could run a query to detect if a user has clicked on a link within their Outlook using Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection (MDATP). If you are not familiar, MDATP is available within your Microsoft 365 E5 license and is an enhancement to the traditional Windows Defender you might be used to.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"what-is-microsoft-defender-advanced-threat-protection\">What is Microsoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection?<\/h1>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.microsoft.com\/en-us\/windows\/security\/threat-protection\/microsoft-defender-atp\/microsoft-defender-advanced-threat-protection\">Microsoft<\/a> says that \u201cMicrosoft Defender Advanced Threat Protection is a platform designed to help enterprise networks prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to advanced threats.\u201d MDATP offers quite a few endpoints that you can leverage in both incident response and threat hunting.<\/p>"},{"title":"Swimlane's Research Teams Open Sources pyattck","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlanes-research-teams-open-sources-pyattck\/","pubDate":"Thu, 11 Jul 2019 14:34:27 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlanes-research-teams-open-sources-pyattck\/","description":"<p>As security teams adopt the <a href=\"https:\/\/attack.mitre.org\/\">Mitre ATT&amp;CK Framework<\/a> to help them identify gaps in their defenses, having a way to identify what malware and tools are being used by specific actors or groups becomes more critical. Additionally, having a way to identify these relationships programatically is even more critical.<\/p>\n<p>Today, we are excited to announce the Swimlane research team has released <a href=\"https:\/\/pyattck.readthedocs.io\/en\/latest\/\">pyattck<\/a> \u2014 a Python package to interact with the <a href=\"https:\/\/attack.mitre.org\/\">Mitre ATT&amp;CK Framework<\/a>. There are many different open-source projects being released on a daily basis, but we wanted to provide a straightforward Python package that allows the user to identify known relationships between all verticals of the <a href=\"https:\/\/attack.mitre.org\/\">Mitre ATT&amp;CK Framework<\/a>.<\/p>"},{"title":"Swimlane Open Sources graphish to Help SecOps Teams","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-open-sources-graphish-to-help-secops-teams\/","pubDate":"Wed, 19 Jun 2019 14:31:46 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-open-sources-graphish-to-help-secops-teams\/","description":"<p>While having a conversation on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MSAdministrator\/status\/1140380695430410240?s=20\">Twitter<\/a> about Microsoft Graph API I was convinced that the traditional Exchange eDiscovery features were not available in the Microsoft Graph API. Boy was I wrong.<\/p>\n<p>After stumbling across a few endpoints I had not seen previously, I decided to write a python package called <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/swimlane\/graphish\">graphish<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/swimlane\/graphish\">graphish<\/a> is an open-source python package Swimlane is open-sourcing that will enable IT, security operations (SecOps), developers and others to search and delete email messages from mailboxes using the Microsoft Graph API.<\/p>"},{"title":"Hey InfoSec, What Are You Doing to Protect Your DevOps Teams","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/hey-infosec-what-are-you-doing-to-protect-your-devops-teams\/","pubDate":"Fri, 14 Jun 2019 14:29:52 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/hey-infosec-what-are-you-doing-to-protect-your-devops-teams\/","description":"<p>DevOps, serverless applications and containers are just a few of the latest advancements in a developer&rsquo;s toolbox. For development teams, this means that the time to market (TTM) is faster\u2014especially for Agile teams. So, how and what are security operations teams doing to ensure that security is keeping pace with this rapid development? Most are attempting to incorporate a security engineer within their development teams\u2014which is a great first step\u2014but there are multiple layers that you need to ensure you are protecting your organization beyond your source-code.<\/p>"},{"title":"Swimlane Research Team Open Sources py-ews","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-research-team-open-sources-py-ews\/","pubDate":"Wed, 22 May 2019 14:27:42 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-research-team-open-sources-py-ews\/","description":"<p>Phishing impacts every organization, and security operations (SecOps) teams need to act quickly to remediate and prevent unknown threats within their email infrastructure. To help combat these threats, the Swimlane research team has open sourced <a href=\"https:\/\/py-ews.readthedocs.io\/en\/latest\/\">py-ews<\/a> to enable security and IT teams to interact with Microsoft Exchange Web Services (EWS) using Python.<\/p>\n<h1 id=\"why-py-ews\">Why py-ews?<\/h1>\n<p>Organizations continue to battle against malicious phishing emails in their email environments, but security and IT teams have limited visibility into what currently resides in their users&rsquo; mailboxes. <a href=\"https:\/\/py-ews.readthedocs.io\/en\/latest\/\">py-ews<\/a> was written to give control back to your security and IT teams so they can remediate threats faster.<\/p>"},{"title":"Automate Employee Off Boarding Process With Swimlane","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/automate-employee-off-boarding-process-with-swimlane\/","pubDate":"Wed, 08 May 2019 14:25:25 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/automate-employee-off-boarding-process-with-swimlane\/","description":"<p>As more organizations discontinue internal services and begin adopting an increasing number of third-party *aaS-based services, ensuring the appropriate access is revoked in a timely manner is critical. By using our new employee off-boarding use case, you can automatically gather historical data, add a user to a monitoring watch list, and finally remove access when it is time to off-board an employee.<\/p>\n<p>The employee off-boarding use case contains two distinct applications to assist an organization with managing their employee off-boarding process. The first is the employee application, which contains all relevant information about the employee as well as references to the second application: assets. The assets application contains individual assets to which the employee has access. These assets can be applications, services or hardware.<\/p>"},{"title":"Microsoft OAuth2 Part3: Using Microsoft Graph API","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-oauth2-part3-using-microsoft-graph-api\/","pubDate":"Wed, 08 May 2019 14:20:07 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-oauth2-part3-using-microsoft-graph-api\/","description":"<p>In this third and final part of the &ldquo;Understanding Microsoft\u2019s OAuth2 Implementation&rdquo; series, we will be using the application that we have previously created to authenticate to the Microsoft Graph API.<\/p>\n<p>If you have not done so, please read <a href=\"https:\/\/swimlane.com\/blog\/microsoft-oauth2-implementation-1\">Part 1<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/swimlane.com\/blog\/microsoft-oauth2-implementation-2\">Part 2<\/a> before continuing.<\/p>\n<p>Now, let\u2019s start using the Microsoft Graph API using PowerShell Core!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swimlane.com\/blog\/microsoft-oauth2-implementation-3\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Microsoft OAuth2 Part2: Registering an App","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-oauth2-part2-registering-an-app\/","pubDate":"Thu, 18 Apr 2019 14:18:59 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-oauth2-part2-registering-an-app\/","description":"<p>In my <a href=\"https:\/\/swimlane.com\/blog\/microsoft-oauth2-implementation-1\">last post<\/a>, I explained the different API endpoints available for authentication using Microsoft\u2019s OAuth2. Additionally, I shared the different types of applications and their authentication flows.<\/p>\n<p>In Part 2, I will discuss how to create and register a new application with a deeper understanding of the permissions needed when interacting with the Microsoft Graph API.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/swimlane.com\/blog\/microsoft-oauth2-implementation-2\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Swimlane Runner Up in Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-runner-up-in-microsoft-graph-security-hackathon\/","pubDate":"Tue, 02 Apr 2019 14:17:04 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/swimlane-runner-up-in-microsoft-graph-security-hackathon\/","description":"<p>Within a few weeks of starting at Swimlane, our CEO Cody Cornell mentioned the Microsoft Graph Security Hackathon \u2014 put on by the Microsoft Graph Security team and DevPost. After assembling a team and a lot of hard work, we were notified yesterday that our submission earned runner up!<\/p>\n<p>We were extremely excited to participate in this unique event as we were about to begin our development of our Microsoft Graph Security API bundle, and this would be the perfect opportunity for us to showcase the power of Swimlane.<\/p>"},{"title":"Microsoft's OAuth2 Part 1: Endpoints and Application Types","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-oauth2-endpoints-and-application-types\/","pubDate":"Wed, 27 Mar 2019 14:14:26 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/microsoft-oauth2-endpoints-and-application-types\/","description":"<p>As an information security or IT professional, understanding the concepts around Microsoft OAuth 2.0 or OpenID Connect authentication can be daunting. There are thousands of pages of documentation, and if you want to interact with a Microsoft Cloud service\u2014like Microsoft Graph\u2014it can be a minefield of information.<\/p>\n<p>In this three-part series, I am going to share with you my insights on Microsoft\u2019s OAuth2 Implementation in hopes that it will help your organization understand and use OAuth2 when using Microsoft cloud-based services. This series is broken out into the following parts:<\/p>"},{"title":"Automated Malware Analysis and Reverse Engineering With Soar","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/automated-malware-analysis-and-reverse-engineering-with-soar\/","pubDate":"Thu, 14 Mar 2019 14:10:25 -0500","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/automated-malware-analysis-and-reverse-engineering-with-soar\/","description":"<p>We all know that security operations (SecOps) teams are overwhelmed by the extreme number of alerts they receive on a daily basis. Organizations are being attacked from all fronts, whether they know it or not. These attacks vary from social engineering, malicious emails, vulnerable services and applications, misconfiguration (job fatigue), etc.<\/p>\n<p>Traditionally in a security operations center (SOC), malware analysis\u2014more specifically reverse engineering\u2014is conducted by a highly trained member of the security team (depending on your size, this may be multiple individuals). A SOC may receive hundreds, even thousands, of alerts about potentially malicious files from users reporting malicious messages to EDR (endpoint detection and response) to workstation\/server event logs.<\/p>"},{"title":"Python vs Powershell Part 1: Versioning","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/python-vs-powershell-part-1-versioning\/","pubDate":"Tue, 04 Sep 2018 21:20:15 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/python-vs-powershell-part-1-versioning\/","description":"<p>I posted a tweet earlier this week asking if anyone would be interested in a small series of posts that explain the differences between Python and PowerShell.<\/p>\n<img src=\"python-vs-powershell-twitter-post.png\" style=\"max-width:100%;\" alt=\"python-vs-powershell-twitter-post\">\n<p>So, here we go!<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"python-on-macos\">Python on macOS<\/h2>\n<p>Python and PowerShell are quite a bit different from each other.  Python has been around for several years and works on multiple operating systems.  Additionally, Python is beloved by it&rsquo;s extremely supportive open-source community; rightfully so!  Python is fast and portable, and is a go to for most developers.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using Amazon SNS With Powershell","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-amazon-sns-with-powershell\/","pubDate":"Fri, 31 Aug 2018 20:51:46 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-amazon-sns-with-powershell\/","description":"<p>Simple Notification Service (SNS) from Amazon Web Services (AWS) can work in conjunction with AWS Simple Queue Service (SQS), Lambda Functions, HTTP APIs\/endpoints, Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Simple Storage Service (S3), and so on. As PowerShell continues to gain attraction with IT professionals around the globe, you can use SNS along with other services to create powerful applications to help your business win.<\/p>\n<p>Amazon SNS lets your application deliver notifications to additional services or applications, depending on your use case. SNS is becoming more and more common in microservice architecture designs around the globe. If your application needs to communicate with multiple endpoints or you need multiple applications to communicate to a central service, you should consider AWS SNS.<\/p>"},{"title":"How to Setup a Hugo Website on GitHub","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/how-to-setup-a-hugo-website-on-github\/","pubDate":"Sun, 26 Aug 2018 16:07:25 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/how-to-setup-a-hugo-website-on-github\/","description":"<p>I recently transitioned my blog over to <a href=\"https:\/\/pages.github.com\">GitHub Pages<\/a> from <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\">WordPress<\/a>.  I was using the free version from WordPress.org and I wanted more granular control over the layout.  Additionally, I wanted to automate my blog publishing and social media notifications; the free version of WordPress didn&rsquo;t meet my needs.  So I looked around and eventually fell in love with <a href=\"https:\/\/gohugo.io\">Hugo<\/a>!  This post outlines how to go about setting up a GitHub Pages website\/blog using Hugo.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using Amazon Sqs With Powershell","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-amazon-sqs-with-powershell\/","pubDate":"Thu, 23 Aug 2018 22:24:59 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-amazon-sqs-with-powershell\/","description":"<p>Amazon SQS is a flexible queue service that has many uses cases, from scalable web applications and processing systems to inter-application communications. This is useful if you need to process lots of data at once or have threads or workers to do a specific action to a large pool of data.<\/p>\n<p>With the explosion of use cases for PowerShell and Docker in production systems, you can easily scale using queue systems like Amazon SQS. SQS is beneficial when your service or application has job workers that need to perform actions based on a large pool of data.<\/p>"},{"title":"Traverse Local Certificate Store With Powershell","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/traverse-local-certificate-store-with-powershell\/","pubDate":"Tue, 21 Aug 2018 12:50:50 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/traverse-local-certificate-store-with-powershell\/","description":"<p>Windows Certificate Store is typically accessed using the MMC Snap-In,  You can view both the Computer or User certificate stores using a traditional MMC console.  Sometimes though, you may just want to programmatically access it using PowerShell.  Luckily you can do this using a PSDrive that is created on your machine.<\/p>\n<img src=\"use_get-psdrive_to_view_all_your_psdrives.png\" style=\"max-width:100%;\" alt=\"Use Get-PSDrive to view all your PSDrives\">\n<p>As you can see there is a <code>Cert<\/code> drive and you can access it using PowerShell&rsquo;s multiple location based Cmdlets.  For example, if you can use <code>cd Cert:\\<\/code> and it will change your current directory to the certificate PSDrive.  You can also use <code>Set-Location<\/code>,<code>Push-Location<\/code>, <code>Pop-Location<\/code> etc. when access your PSDrives.<\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Console, Scripts, Functions, Modules, Cmdlets, Oh My!","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-scripts-functions-modules-cmdlets-oh-my\/","pubDate":"Sun, 19 Aug 2018 13:37:36 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-scripts-functions-modules-cmdlets-oh-my\/","description":"<p>PowerShell is unique, but it is also necessary in today&rsquo;s world.  I find that newcomers to the language are sometimes confused or don&rsquo;t understand the basic layers of PowerShell scripting.  You can use PowerShell in different ways, but I have yet to find an all encompassing article that explains the high-level of how to interact with PowerShell in these different ways.<\/p>\n<p>This post will explain the different concepts (or layers) of PowerShell code organization and their main advantages and use cases.  We will dive into the different approaches of implementing PowerShell and why you would use one over the other.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using Github to Revive Blog Posts","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-github-to-revive-blog-posts\/","pubDate":"Tue, 14 Aug 2018 10:08:33 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-github-to-revive-blog-posts\/","description":"<p>I am currently migrating my blog content from <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.com\">Wordpress.com<\/a> to GitHub pages using <a href=\"https:\/\/gohugo.io\">Hugo<\/a>.  During this transition, I wanted to have the ability to &ldquo;revive&rdquo; my blog posts on a scheduled basis on social media (e.g. Twitter).  With Wordpress, you can use the WordPress <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/tweet-old-post\/\">Revive Old Posts<\/a> plugin but with WordPress.com you have to have a premium business account to use plugins.<\/p>\n<p>If you&rsquo;re in a similar situation of if you want a free way to automate the &ldquo;re-posting&rdquo; of your blog content then you&rsquo;re in luck!  Below I have listed some initial requirements that are needed to use this process.<\/p>"},{"title":"Connect Your Bot to Slack","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/connect-your-bot-to-slack\/","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Aug 2018 22:28:08 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/connect-your-bot-to-slack\/","description":"<p>In my previous two posts we created a knowledge base of questions and answers using QnAMaker and we created our Web App Bot in the Azure Portal.  Now that we have a bot created and it is responding as we intended, we can interact with our bot directly through our web browser (or embed it into a website) or we can integrate into our Slack workspace.<\/p>\n<p>Please make sure you have a Slack workspace created and you have access to create a Slack application.  <a href=\"https:\/\/api.slack.com\/apps\">Login to your Slack workspace API<\/a> and select Create New App in the top right-hand corner.  You will need to give your new application a name and select the appropriate workspace to create your new application.<\/p>"},{"title":"Create a Web App Bot Using Azure Bot Services","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-a-web-app-bot-using-azure-bot-services\/","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Aug 2018 22:10:33 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-a-web-app-bot-using-azure-bot-services\/","description":"<p>In my last post, we create a QnA Maker knowledge base that our Azure Web App Bot will use as it\u2019s repository of questions &amp; answers.  Now, we are going to create our bot using Azure\u2019s Bot Services.<\/p>\n<p>First thing is that we should go ahead and log into the <a href=\"https:\/\/portal.azure.com\">Azure Portal<\/a>.  In the top left-hand corner click the Create a resource button.  You will then need to Search the marketplace in the New blade for Web App Bot.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using Qnamaker to Create Chatbot","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-qnamaker-to-create-chatbot\/","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Aug 2018 21:55:42 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-qnamaker-to-create-chatbot\/","description":"<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\n<script>\n  (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({\n    google_ad_client: \"ca-pub-1514695391372140\",\n    enable_page_level_ads: true\n  });\n<\/script>\n<p>The first thing we need to do is login to <a href=\"https:\/\/qnamaker.ai\">QnAMaker<\/a>.  QnA Maker is a Microsoft service that allows you to easily generate a bot using either existing documentation for a product (or service) or you can create your own questions and answers \u2013 hence the name QnA Maker.<\/p>\n<p>Login to QnAMaker and navigate to the Create a knowledge base tab.  You will need to walkthrough 5 steps to create your knowledge base.  Luckily, Microsoft has provided clear instructions to make this as simple as possible.<\/p>"},{"title":"Create a Question and Answer Chatbot for Slack in Azure","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-a-question-and-answer-chatbot-for-slack-in-azure\/","pubDate":"Fri, 10 Aug 2018 21:28:54 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-a-question-and-answer-chatbot-for-slack-in-azure\/","description":"<p>Chatbots are all the rage right now, and they have proven to be extremely useful for organizations around the globe.  You can have simple bots that take lunch orders or tell you the weather in your location. You can also bots tht act as part of an <a href=\"https:\/\/slack.engineering\/distributed-security-alerting-c89414c992d6\">advanced distributed security alerting system<\/a>.  Whatever the reason, bots are not going anywhere anytime soon.<\/p>\n<p>To create our chatbot we are going to use a few different services.  Please make sure that you have all the necessary access setup and ready to go before proceeding. Here is the list of services we will be using:<\/p>"},{"title":"Adding a Dlls Certificate to a Trusted Store","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/adding-a-dlls-certificate-to-trusted-store\/","pubDate":"Wed, 08 Aug 2018 23:08:02 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/adding-a-dlls-certificate-to-trusted-store\/","description":"<p>Yesterday I was asked to help with streamling a manual process that some QA folks were running into.  They had a debug release of an applicaiton that was signed with a test code signing certificate.  Part of the process was that they needed to select a DLL, view the certificate, and then install the certificate into the machines trusted certificate store.<\/p>\n<p>This is a extremely simple task, but it was just an annoyance, so I wrote a few lines of code to autoamte this for them.<\/p>"},{"title":"Butcher Block Iron Pipe Desk","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/butcher-block-iron-pipe-desk\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:35 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/butcher-block-iron-pipe-desk\/","description":"<p>Recently I built a butcher block and iron pipe desk for my home office.  Within this post i&rsquo;ll try and list out how I approached it as best as possible:<\/p>\n<p>I purchased 2 8ft butcher block countertops from Lumber Liquidators while they were on sale. I <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lumberliquidators.com\/ll\/c\/%27-Builder-Oak-Countertop-Williamsburg-Butcher-Block-Co.-OAKBB8L-H\/10037933\">paid $150 for each<\/a>. Next, I researched quite a bit about how to finish them. Here&rsquo;s what I did:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Sanded using 80 grit sandpaper<\/li>\n<li>Sanded using 120 grit sandpaper<\/li>\n<li>Sanded using 200 grit sandpaper<\/li>\n<li>Sanded using 320 grit sandpaper<\/li>\n<li>Sanded using 400 grit sandpaper<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Once that was done, I used cheese cloth to wipe away all the debris. After that I did some more research and found a really cool product tha tturned out amazing (highly recommend). This product is unique, mostly because it is a finisher, sealer, and protector all in one. I was skeptical but I can not recommend this enough. Another point is that if you use typical stain and then polyurethe you are not actually touching the wood - it&rsquo;s more of a coating. This stuff you are actually touching the wood cause the tung oil and sealer penetrates the actual wood; no rings from glasses, no oily residue, nothing. Its seriously great.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using Docker Compose on Windows","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-docker-compose-on-windows\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:30 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-docker-compose-on-windows\/","description":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/docs.docker.com\/compose\/overview\/\">Docker Compose<\/a> &ldquo;is a tool for defining and running multi-container Docker applications. With Compose, you use a YAML file to configure your application&rsquo;s services.&rdquo; In this post, I will show how you can work with Docker Compose.<\/p>\n<p>Docker on Windows is now commonplace, and it comes with additional features you may not be familiar with. In my previous posts <a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/install-docker-and-run-containers-on-windows\/\">Install Docker and run containers on Windows<\/a>and <a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/create-a-docker-container-on-windows-with-a-dockerfile\/\">Create a Docker container on Windows with a Dockerfile<\/a>, I showed you how to create a single container. In this article, I will walk you through how to use <em>docker-compose<\/em> to create and run multiple containers at once.<\/p>"},{"title":"Verifying a Datetime Format String Is Valid or Not With Confirm Datetimeformatpattern","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/verifying-a-datetime-format-string-is-valid-or-not-with-confirm-datetimeformatpattern\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:28 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/verifying-a-datetime-format-string-is-valid-or-not-with-confirm-datetimeformatpattern\/","description":"<p>Early this evening I sent <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MS_dministrator\/status\/962782272826077184\">this<\/a> tweet out regarding a #PowerShell Function I wrote called <a href=\"https:\/\/gist.github.com\/MSAdministrator\/b2c3ace163c4fbf76069503528de6cf1\">Confirm-DateTimeFormatPattern<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dan_franciscus\">Dan Franciscus (@dan_franciscus<\/a>) recommend that I should blog about it, so here it goes!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.com\/?attachment_id=448\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-448\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-448\" src=\"https:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2018\/02\/screen-shot-2018-02-11-at-10-29-57-pm.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"605\" height=\"417\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To elaborate on that tweet, this Function spawned from a larger initiative that I am working on for a presentation I&rsquo;m giving at <a href=\"http:\/\/sched.co\/Cqc6\">PowerShell Summit 2018<\/a> in April. \u00a0That presentation will be about a PowerShell Module I have built called PSLogging, which is a logging framework built using PowerShell Classes.<\/p>"},{"title":"Create Group Policy Adm and Admx Templates","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-group-policy-adm-and-admx-templates\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:26 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-group-policy-adm-and-admx-templates\/","description":"<p>The easiest way to create an ADMX template is to build an ADM template first and then convert the latter with the help of Microsoft&rsquo;s free ADMX Migrator tool.<\/p>\n<p>Administrative templates let us create custom Group Policy settings. Administrative template files have two different versions. <a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/new-administrative-templates-admx-for-windows-vista\/\">Windows Vista<\/a> introduced templates with the .ADMX extension. These templates use an XML syntax and can be a lot more difficult to decipher and create by hand. On the other hand, templates with the .ADM extension are straightforward and have a simple syntax that allows you to create new Group Policy templates quickly.<\/p>"},{"title":"Using Powershell to Manage Amazon Ec2 Instances","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-powershell-to-manage-amazon-ec2-instances\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:24 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/using-powershell-to-manage-amazon-ec2-instances\/","description":"<p>With the AWS Tools for PowerShell, you can manage Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), the service for virtual machines (EC2 instances) in Amazon&rsquo;s cloud. Using Amazon&rsquo;s PowerShell tools and the AWS API, we can create, manage, and deploy EC2 instances (VMs) from our console.<\/p>\n<p>Please read my post about the AWS Tools for PowerShell where I talk about the minimum requirements to access AWS. To install the AWS Tools for PowerShell, open up a PowerShell console and run:<\/p>"},{"title":"Manage Amazon Aws S3 With Powershell","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/manage-amazon-aws-s3-with-powershell\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:21 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/manage-amazon-aws-s3-with-powershell\/","description":"<p>You can manage Amazon&rsquo;s Simple Storage Service (S3) cloud storage solution with help of the Amazon Web Services <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.aws.amazon.com\/powershell\/latest\/userguide\/pstools-welcome.html\">AWS Tools for PowerShell<\/a>. In this post, I will introduce you to the cmdlets that allow you access S3.<\/p>\n<p>To follow this guide, you will need an <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.aws.amazon.com\/powershell\/latest\/userguide\/pstools-appendix-sign-up.html\">AWS account and access keys<\/a>. The AWS Tools for PowerShell run on Windows XP or later and PowerShell 2.0 or later. If you want to try the AWS Tools for PowerShell Core, you must have PowerShell 5.1 or later installed.<\/p>"},{"title":"Create a Docker Container on Windows With a Dockerfile","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-a-docker-container-on-windows-with-a-dockerfile\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:19 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/create-a-docker-container-on-windows-with-a-dockerfile\/","description":"<p>In my last post, I explained <a href=\"https:\/\/msadministrator.com\/2018\/01\/04\/install-docker-and-run-containers-on-windows\/\">how to install docker and how to run containers<\/a>. Today, we will walk through creating a Docker container using a Dockerfile.<\/p>\n<p>A Dockerfile (no file extension) is a definition file that will build and run a container. That container can be a simple Microsoft IIS web application or Python\/Flask application or a simple build\/reporting service. A definition file helps us with our operational tasks, especially when we are building services or scripts for the repeatable tasks we face on a daily basis.<\/p>"},{"title":"Install Docker and Run Containers on Windows","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/install-docker-and-run-containers-on-windows\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:16 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/install-docker-and-run-containers-on-windows\/","description":"<p>Docker is an operating-system level virtualization technology that allows you to isolate applications in so-called containers without the overhead of conventional virtual machines. In this post, you&rsquo;ll learn how to install Docker on Windows and run your first containers.<\/p>\n<p>Docker allows developers building a specific functionality (and all of its dependencies) into a small reproducible environment. This has evolved over time by enabling the ability to create small microservices that do one thing and do it well. I like to think of containers as a Windows Service installed without the need for the entire operating system.<\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Ise Snippets","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-ise-snippets\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:14 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-ise-snippets\/","description":"<p>Whether you are a pro with PowerShell or a beginner, PowerShell ISE snippets can speed up your scripting and assist when you are unsure of formatting.<\/p>\n<p>Most IT professionals who work with PowerShell to build tools, scripts, or modules use the built-in PowerShell ISE (Integrated Scripting Environment) to build and debug their code.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/powershell-ise-snippets\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Processing Csv Data in Powershell","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/processing-csv-data-in-powershell\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:11 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/processing-csv-data-in-powershell\/","description":"<p>In this post, I explain how to create a PowerShell function to process CSV data. This allows you to reuse your code whenever you are\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/create-sort-and-filter-csv-files-in-powershell\/\">working with CSV files in PowerShell<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is used by almost every technology platform that we encounter. Manipulating this data can be cumbersome if you&rsquo;re NOT an Excel wizard, but PowerShell can simplify this job. For example,<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/processing-csv-data-in-powershell\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Manage User Rights With Group Policy","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/manage-user-rights-with-group-policy\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:08 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/manage-user-rights-with-group-policy\/","description":"<p>Group Policy is nothing but flexible and extremely powerful when it comes to both configuration management and installation of software.\u00a0 In addition, Group Policy is one of your best tools for securing your endpoints.\u00a0 You can manage anything and everything from Firewall rules, account privileges, application white-listing, etc.\u00a0 You can also manage user rights as well.<\/p>\n<p>Computers and Users in your environment have a lot of rights, by default, that they don\u2019t need.\u00a0 Using Group Policy, we can manage these privileges and start to lock-down our environments without making it burdensome for our end users.\u00a0 One such privilege is the ability to Log on Locally.<\/p>"},{"title":"Cattle vs Unicorns","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/cattle-vs-unicorns\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:03 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/cattle-vs-unicorns\/","description":"<p>When organizations begin to think of users as <strong>cattle<\/strong> instead of <strong>unicorns<\/strong> we begin to remove their pride for, and their responsibility to, an organization.\u00a0 When responsibility for their actions are only out of necessity or self-preservation then you have lost the battle, but not necessarily the war. \u00a0You can change people\u2019s mindset but it just may take a little more effort.<\/p>\n<p>I believe that people are the answer to most security problems.\u00a0 Empowering people by making them part of your security team enhances their awareness and fosters a sense of shared responsibility.\u00a0 Organizations that encourage (and consistently preach) a shared responsibility will have continual communication and awareness of their responsibilities in order to protect themselves and their fellow employees.\u00a0 Those organizations that treat employee\u2019s as another expense (or <strong>cattle<\/strong>) will push their employees away which allows them to disassociate themselves from their responsibility.\u00a0 You have now created more resistance, and ultimately your security team has another force fighting against them - and not with them.<\/p>"},{"title":"Understanding Group Policy Order","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-group-policy-order\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:45:00 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/understanding-group-policy-order\/","description":"<p>Group Policy order can be confusing. To understand how exactly Windows applies one GPO (Group Policy Object) versus another, you can use the &ldquo;LSD OU&rdquo; rule.<\/p>\n<p>You should always ask yourself two questions when dealing with Group Policy:<\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Where are you (local, site, domain, or organizational unit)?<\/li>\n\t<li>What are you (computer or user)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/understanding-group-policy-order\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read More<\/a>"},{"title":"Run Powershell Scripts as Immediate Scheduled Tasks With Group Policy","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/run-powershell-scripts-as-immediate-scheduled-tasks-with-group-policy\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:57 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/run-powershell-scripts-as-immediate-scheduled-tasks-with-group-policy\/","description":"<p>To run a PowerShell script on multiple computers via Group Policy, you can work with an Immediate Scheduled Task. The main advantage over <a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/configuring-logon-powershell-scripts-with-group-policy\/\">logon scripts<\/a> is that you can execute your script with admin rights.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/run-powershell-scripts-as-immediate-scheduled-tasks-with-group-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read More.<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Add and Remove Users to Ad Groups With Group Policy","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy\/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:55 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy\/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy\/","description":"<p>Group Policy allows you to add and remove users to an Active Directory (AD) group. Using this feature improves security because you can ensure that high-risk security groups only contain the users that you specify via Group Policy.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/add-and-remove-users-to-ad-groups-with-group-policy\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Download Files From Github Without Git Using Powershell","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/download-files-from-github-without-git-using-powershell\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:52 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/download-files-from-github-without-git-using-powershell\/","description":"<p>Have you ever needed to download code or a repository from Github, but didn&rsquo;t want to download and install Git on a machine, create an SSH key, etc. If so, I have something that you may like.<\/p>\n<p>You can find the entire function here: <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/MSAdministrator\/GetGithubRepository\"><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/MSAdministrator\/GetGithubRepository\">https:\/\/github.com\/MSAdministrator\/GetGithubRepository<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To use this function, you will need to know the path to the Github repository (of course) you want to download.\u00a0 Once you have that URL, you will need to pass each piece of the URL into a parameter on the function.<\/p>"},{"title":"Logging to the Windows Event Log in Your Powershell Scripts","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/logging-to-the-windows-event-log-in-your-powershell-scripts\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:49 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/logging-to-the-windows-event-log-in-your-powershell-scripts\/","description":"<p>As I discussed in my <a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/standardize-powershell-logging-with-my-write-logentry-function\/\">previous post<\/a>, you can log information to a file, but sometimes you may want to log to the Windows Event Log. \u00a0To log to the Windows Event Log, you will need to use the following cmdlets:<\/p>\n<ul>\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/powershell\/reference\/5.0\/microsoft.powershell.management\/new-eventlog\">New-EventLog<\/a><\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/msdn.microsoft.com\/en-us\/powershell\/reference\/5.0\/microsoft.powershell.management\/write-eventlog\">Write-EventLog<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/logging-to-the-windows-event-log-in-your-powershell-scripts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read More<\/a>"},{"title":"Standardize Powershell Logging With My Write Logentry Function","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/standardize-powershell-logging-with-my-write-logentry-function\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:46 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/standardize-powershell-logging-with-my-write-logentry-function\/","description":"<p>The PowerShell function Write-LogEntry described in this post allows you to integrate logging in your scripts in a standardized way. This will help you and your script users to troubleshoot and understand the output. <a href=\"https:\/\/4sysops.com\/archives\/standardize-powershell-logging-with-my-write-logentry-function\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Read More<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Design Before Coding Kanban","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/design-before-coding-kanban\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:44 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/design-before-coding-kanban\/","description":"<p>The first post in this three-part series focused on gathering requirements before spending time coding.\u00a0 While it is not necessary, I recommend that everyone read part 1 (<a href=\"https:\/\/msadministrator.com\/2017\/03\/29\/design-before-coding-gathering-requirements\/\">Gathering Requirements<\/a>).\u00a0 Understanding and having clear \u201cUser Stories\u201d outlining the intended purpose of a tool is crucial, especially as we move towards building our new tool.<\/p>\n<p>Once our \u201cUser Stories\u201d have been defined and agreed upon by all stakeholders, we then need to begin breaking them down into tasks.\u00a0 There are many different methodologies that allow us to track these different tasks. Part 2 of this three-part series will focus on one of them; Kanban.<\/p>"},{"title":"Design Before Coding Gathering Requirements","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/design-before-coding-gathering-requirements\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:41 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/design-before-coding-gathering-requirements\/","description":"<p>If you have worked in IT for any duration, I\u2019m sure you have overheard or been asked to build a tool to complete X or Y. Creating tools with PowerShell is fun, but it can become daunting when you create a tool that does not meet its intended purpose. \u00a0Without understanding the full requirements, you may waste time and energy on developing a tool that no one will use.<\/p>\n<p>Creating tools with PowerShell to automate a manual process or to help an internal stakeholder accomplish a desired result, typically does not need to turn into a large initiative with a Project Manager or Project Management Office (PMO).\u00a0Being tasked with creating these tools usually comes in the form a short conversation or through an email.\u00a0 Out of habit, we usually dive right into writing a script or function to solve the problem.\u00a0 This approach can cause a lot of re-work or redesign of our tool once complete.\u00a0 Even though we believe we understand all the requirements, it is better to have the stakeholder create a \u201cGoal Statement\u201d that defines the intended purpose of the tool.\u00a0 The \u201cGoal Statement\u201d helps everyone involved understand when the initiative is done.<\/p>"},{"title":"How I Work","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/how-i-work\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:39 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/how-i-work\/","description":"<p>I recently saw this project shared by Adam Bertram, and decided that some of you may be interested in how I work on a day to day.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/adbertram\/HowIWorkIT\/blob\/master\/README.md\"><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/adbertram\/HowIWorkIT\/blob\/master\/README.md\">https:\/\/github.com\/adbertram\/HowIWorkIT\/blob\/master\/README.md<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you&rsquo;re not interested, well then why the hell are you here? \u00a0You can see others that have participated here:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/adbertram\/HowIWorkIT\/blob\/master\/ThisIsHowIWork.md\"><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/adbertram\/HowIWorkIT\/blob\/master\/ThisIsHowIWork.md\">https:\/\/github.com\/adbertram\/HowIWorkIT\/blob\/master\/ThisIsHowIWork.md<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Where are you located?<\/strong><\/h3>\nFirst of all, my name is Josh Rickard and I'm located in Columbia, Missouri.\u00a0 It sounds lame, but really it's a great little town.\u00a0 The population of Columbia is around 100,\n                000 (without students).\u00a0 With that being said, we have about 5 College's\/Universities, so our population increases quite a bit when students are in town.\n<h3><strong>What is\/are your current gig(s):<\/strong><\/h3>\nI currently work at home for PhishMe; if you're not familiar, then check us out: <a href=\"http:\/\/phishme.com\/\">http:\/\/phishme.com\/<\/a>.\u00a0 My position at PhishMe is currently \"Manager, Reporter Solutions Engineering\".\u00a0 I'm a new manager, but we do anything and everything to do with PhishMe Reporter products (email client plugin\/add-in to reporter suspicious messages).\u00a0 When I say everything, I mean everything from customer engagement, support, troubleshooting, development, etc.\n<p><strong>What&rsquo;s one word to describe your work?<\/strong><\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Qualys Get Asset Group Info Part 2","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-qualys-get-asset-group-info-part-2\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:33 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-qualys-get-asset-group-info-part-2\/","description":"<p>Today I decided to write another post regarding PowerShell and Qualys Vulnerability Management API.\u00a0 This post will focus on gathering information about your enrolled Asset Groups.\u00a0\u00a0 You can find the complete script on GitHub:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/MSAdministrator\/POSH-Guard\/blob\/master\/Get-QualysAssetGroupInformation\" target=\"_blank\"><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/MSAdministrator\/POSH-Guard\/blob\/master\/Get-QualysAssetGroupInformation\">https:\/\/github.com\/MSAdministrator\/POSH-Guard\/blob\/master\/Get-QualysAssetGroupInformation<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We start of by opening up PowerShell ISE and using our handy &ldquo;Snippet&rdquo; shortcut:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.com\/2016\/02\/03\/powershell-qualys-get-asset-group-info-part-2\/powershell_ise_ctrl__j\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-318\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-318\" src=\"https:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2016\/02\/powershell_ise_ctrl__j.png\" alt=\"PowerShell_ISE_CTRL_+_J\" width=\"519\" height=\"618\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We select the &ldquo;Cmdlet (Advanced function) - complete&rdquo; option in the &ldquo;Snippet&rdquo; context menu.\u00a0 Once we have our advanced function template, we then proceed by entering a name for our Qualys Asset Group function.<\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Qualys Authentication Part 1","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-qualys-authentication-part-1\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:31 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-qualys-authentication-part-1\/","description":"<p>I always mean to post more on my blog, but as life gets in the way and work keeps me busy, I always seem to push it to the back-burner. This time, I am hoping to make it stick as a regular routine.<\/p>\n<p>To kick off my new-found motivation to blog more, I am starting a series of posts surrounding PowerShell and Qualys Vulnerability Management API.<\/p>\n<p>To start this off, first I&rsquo;m going to share some my basic steps with regards to authentication to Qualys VM API v1. This is really basic, but I see a lot of posts around that seem to try to create some &ldquo;advanced&rdquo; way of authenticating to Qualys API. You don&rsquo;t need to do anything fancy.<\/p>"},{"title":"Presentation Securing Windows With Group Policy","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/presentation-securing-windows-with-group-policy\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:26 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/presentation-securing-windows-with-group-policy\/","description":"<p>Recently I gave a presentation at MORENet&rsquo;s 2015 Annual Conference about &ldquo;Securing Windows with Group Policy&rdquo;. \u00a0This presentation was part of their &ldquo;Advanced&rdquo; technology track, and really focused on looking at the current permission levels of your users and deciding if they really need those rights\/permissions.<\/p>\n<p>I hope some people find these slides useful or at least a good reference point. \u00a0If you have any questions about these slides then please do not hesitate to contact me by leaving a comment below.<\/p>"},{"title":"Qualysguard Decentralized It How to Organize Your Assets","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/qualysguard-decentralized-it-how-to-organize-your-assets\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:23 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/qualysguard-decentralized-it-how-to-organize-your-assets\/","description":"<p>I work for a University with a decentralized IT department: each college, division, department, etc maintains their users. \u00a0As a security department who maintains QualysGuard, we were wanting each department to scan their own assets and re-mediate all vulnerabilities found in these scans based on the following policy:<\/p>\n<ul>\n\t<li>Level 4 and Level 5 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated within 15 days<\/li>\n\t<li>Level 3 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated within 30 days<\/li>\n\t<li>Level 2 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated\u00a0within the next semesters<\/li>\n\t<li>Level 1 vulnerabilities must be re-mediated\u00a0whenever possible<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWIth this policy in mind, we began rolling out our QualysGuard service using the following methods. \u00a0We would create Asset Groups\u00a0for each group of servers that belong to one of the following: a department, college, division, application group, etc. \u00a0Each Asset Group would be additionally subdivided into each network core. \u00a0For example, if you have a Athletics department, they may have assets in all the different network cores (Faculty\/Staff Network, Data Center, DMZ, Residential Network, etc.). \u00a0Because each of these departments will have multiple assets in multiple network cores, we relied heavily on our naming conventions. \u00a0Our naming convention is the following for Asset Groups: CAMPUS DEPT NETWORK Assets (SCANNER NAME) -&gt; CAMPUS Athletics DC Assets (DC_SCANNER)\n<p>When dealing with QualysGuard in a decentralized IT infrastructure, your naming convention will save you!<\/p>"},{"title":"Windows Security Publicprivate Key Exchange Basics","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-security-publicprivate-key-exchange-basics\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:20 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-security-publicprivate-key-exchange-basics\/","description":"<p>My wife and I saw CITIZENFOUR yesterday during a secret screening. \u00a0If you have not had the chance to see this movie, please do so as soon as you can - it&rsquo;s a great documentary! \u00a0The only complaint I have about the film is that they do not explain Cryptography or Encryption for the &ldquo;normal&rdquo; folks. \u00a0When the film ended, I looked around and their were many non-technical people (including older individuals). \u00a0I remember hearing someone say &ldquo;well I guess I&rsquo;m not going to be using email anymore&rdquo;. \u00a0This sentiment is not what the film is about, and I believe the director should have explained this very technical methodology to not confuse the non-techie people.<\/p>"},{"title":"Windows Security Server Hardening Security Templates","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-security-server-hardening-security-templates\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:16 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-security-server-hardening-security-templates\/","description":"<p>Hardening your systems (Servers, Workstations, Applications, etc.) ensures that every system is secured in accordance to your organizations standards. \u00a0Microsoft has a &ldquo;Solution Accelerator&rdquo; called Security Compliance Manager that allows System Administrators or IT Pro&rsquo;s to create security templates that help harden their systems in a manageable, repeatable, way. \u00a0In addition to SCM, you can build your own by using the standard MMC console and adding the Security Templates Snap-In to the console - this gives you a more refined configuration, but can be cumbersome.<\/p>"},{"title":"Windows Security Patch Management","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-security-patch-management\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:13 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-security-patch-management\/","description":"<p>Recently, at work, I nominated myself to begin a &ldquo;Windows Security&rdquo; course for IT Professionals that I work with. \u00a0Being a former IT Pro, and now part of our security department as an Incident Responder, I thought I would create a course surrounding security. \u00a0So, i&rsquo;m going to use my blog to layout my plans for this &ldquo;Windows Security&rdquo; course - which will hopefully be useful for others as well.<\/p>"},{"title":"Qualys Guard Qualys in a University Environment","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/qualys-guard-qualys-in-a-university-environment\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:11 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/qualys-guard-qualys-in-a-university-environment\/","description":"<p>The University I work for has began using Qualys for our Enterprise Vulnerability Scanning and so far it&rsquo;s been well received. \u00a0The problem is that every &ldquo;College\/School&rdquo; maintains their own systems thus we are decentralized, which makes maintaining Reports\/Scans\/Maps\/etc. very difficult.<\/p>\n<p>Because I have not found many posts\/articles focused on a decentralized environment I decided I would explain the way we are approaching this. \u00a0This is all a work in progress - if you have any questions or ideas, please get a hold of me.:)<\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2013 Installing Mdt 2013","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-installing-mdt-2013\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:09 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-installing-mdt-2013\/","description":"<p>Now we are going to install MDT 2013. This is a simple process but I wanted to show you anyways.<\/p>\n<p>After you have downloaded MDT 2013 from Microsoft (<a title=\"MDT 2013: Setting up MDT 2013 with ADK for Windows 7, 8, &amp; 8.1\" href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.com\/2014\/03\/27\/mdt-2013-setting-up-mdt-2013-with-adk-for-windows-7-8-8-1\/\">See This Post<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>When you first Launch the MDT 2013 Installer, you should see the following screen:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/mdt2013_1.png\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-272\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/mdt2013_1.png\" alt=\"MDT2013_1\" width=\"501\" height=\"392\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Click Next to Continue<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/mdt2013_2.png\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-273\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/mdt2013_2.png\" alt=\"MDT2013_2\" width=\"497\" height=\"389\" \/><\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2013 Installing Adk for 8 1","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-installing-adk-for-8-1\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:06 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-installing-adk-for-8-1\/","description":"<p>Once you have all of the <a title=\"MDT 2013: Setting up MDT 2013 with ADK for Windows 7, 8, &amp; 8.1\" href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.com\/2014\/03\/27\/mdt-2013-setting-up-mdt-2013-with-adk-for-windows-7-8-8-1\/\">necessary files<\/a> downloaded and saved on your Windows Server 2012 R2 box, then begin by installing the &ldquo;adksetup.exe&rdquo;.<\/p>\n<p>The first screen that should pop-up is this one:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/adk_1.png\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-254\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2014\/03\/adk_1.png\" alt=\"ADK_1\" width=\"396\" height=\"298\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Following Screenshots are all based on your own needs but these are the options that I have chosen for this setup:<\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2013 Setting Up Mdt 2013 With Adk for Windows 7 8 8 1","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-setting-up-mdt-2013-with-adk-for-windows-7-8-8-1\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:03 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-setting-up-mdt-2013-with-adk-for-windows-7-8-8-1\/","description":"<p>Hello Everyone, in the following few weeks I will creating several new posts about setting MDT 2013 on Windows Server 2012 R2 to enable you to image your Dell OptiPlex &amp; Lattitude machines. This will be similar to my MDT 2012 Update 1 Guide but a bit different as well. I hope you enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>To Start things off, you need to download the following pieces of software:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=40796\">MDT 2013<\/a>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/download\/details.aspx?id=39982\">ADK for Windows 8.1<\/a>\nWindows 8.1 ISO\/DVD\nWindows 7 ISO\/DVD\n<a href=\"http:\/\/en.community.dell.com\/techcenter\/enterprise-client\/w\/wiki\/5029.winpe-5-0-driver-cab.aspx\">WinPE 5.0 Driver CAB - From Dell<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2013 Pin Start Menu Task Bar Shortcuts Through Task Sequence","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-pin-start-menu-task-bar-shortcuts-through-task-sequence\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:44:00 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2013-pin-start-menu-task-bar-shortcuts-through-task-sequence\/","description":"<p>Below is how we stopped modifying the Start Menu &amp; Task Bar shortcuts on our Default Image (GOLD IMAGE) using MDT 2013 Task Sequence. \u00a0This applies to Windows 7 and I&rsquo;m sure it could be modified to work with Windows 8.1. \u00a0Check it out below and let me know if you have any questions.<\/p>\n<p>To do this, you are going to need the following scripts in a folder on your MDT 2013 Server.<\/p>"},{"title":"Script Adding Exchange Resource Accounts to Your Outlook","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/script-adding-exchange-resource-accounts-to-your-outlook\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:57 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/script-adding-exchange-resource-accounts-to-your-outlook\/","description":"<p>I work for a large public University and we have many Resource Accounts. \u00a0We needed a way to move from Public Folders but we wanted it to be seemless as possible. \u00a0To do this, I created this VBS script that allows anyone to add Resource Accounts to their Outlook 2013\/2010 calendar as a shared calendar. \u00a0The user in question will have to run this script while Outlook is open and it will pull the Resource Account (add the Resource Account name in the RESOURCEACCOUNTNAME variable below) from the GAL and add it to the users calendar. \u00a0I hope this helps anyone interested in doing the same.<\/p>"},{"title":"Script Removing Proxy From Firefox User Prefs Js","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/script-removing-proxy-from-firefox-user-prefs-js\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:54 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/script-removing-proxy-from-firefox-user-prefs-js\/","description":"<p>So, I was tasked with removing proxy settings from Firefox because of Webroot Desktop Proxy. \u00a0Removing them from the %Programfiles% directory was easy, the hard part was the user prefs.js. \u00a0Anyways, here&rsquo;s a little script I created to remove Proxy settings and set them to No Proxy.<\/p>\n<p>cd \/D &ldquo;%APPDATA%\\Mozilla\\Firefox\\Profiles&quot;\ncd *.default\nset ffile=%cd%\ntype &ldquo;%ffile%\\prefs.js&rdquo; | findstr \/v &ldquo;user_pref(&ldquo;network.proxy.type&rdquo;, 2);&quot;&gt;&quot;%ffile%\\prefs_.js&rdquo;\ntype &ldquo;%ffile%\\prefs.js&rdquo; | findstr \/v &ldquo;user_pref(&ldquo;network.proxy.type&rdquo;, 0);&quot;&gt;&quot;%ffile%\\prefs_.js&rdquo;\nren &ldquo;prefs.js&rdquo; &ldquo;prefs_.js&rdquo;\ndel &ldquo;%ffile%\\prefs.js&rdquo;\nren &ldquo;prefs_.js&rdquo; &ldquo;prefs.js&rdquo;\ndel &ldquo;%ffile%\\prefs_.js&rdquo;\necho user_pref(&ldquo;network.proxy.type&rdquo;, 0);&gt;&gt;&quot;%ffile%\\prefs.js&rdquo;\nset ffile=\ncd %windir%<\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Updating Local Admin Passwords Securely 3 of 3","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-3-of-3\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:52 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-3-of-3\/","description":"<p>Below is an example of how to remotely (using PowerShell) update and change the Local Administrator password securely. \u00a0This is not my script, I received this script along with many others from the SANS SEC 505 course. \u00a0I have not altered it in any way.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Updating the Passwords of the Local Administrator on remote mahcines (You must have a Certificate either from your CA or another Certificate Authority):<\/p>\n<p>This script will remove older local administrator passwords that you have created with the first part (1 of 3) which is decrypted by your Private Key Certificate in (2 of 3).<\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Updating Local Admin Passwords Securely 2 of 3","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-2-of-3\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:49 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-2-of-3\/","description":"<p><span style=\"font-size:13px;\">\u00a0B<\/span><span style=\"font-size:13px;\">elow is an example of how to remotely (using PowerShell) update and change the Local Administrator password securely. \u00a0This is not my script, I received this script along with many others from the SANS SEC 505 course. \u00a0I have not altered it in any way.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Updating the Passwords of the Local Administrator on remote mahcines (You must have a Certificate either from your CA or another Certificate Authority):<\/p>\n<p>This script will recover the local administrator password that you have created with the first part (1 of 3) which is decrypted by your Private Key Certificate.<\/p>"},{"title":"Powershell Updating Local Admin Passwords Securely 1 of 3","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-1-of-3\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:47 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/powershell-updating-local-admin-passwords-securely-1-of-3\/","description":"<p>So I haven&rsquo;t posted in a bit but I&rsquo;ve seen this request many times. \u00a0Below is an example of how to remotely (using PowerShell) update and change the Local Administrator password securely. \u00a0This is not my script, I received this script along with many others from the SANS SEC 505 course. \u00a0I have not altered it in any way.<\/p>\n<p>Updating the Passwords of the Local Administrator on remote mahcines (You must have a Certificate either from your CA or another Certificate Authority):<\/p>"},{"title":"Ipad Lockdown Mobileconfig","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/ipad-lockdown-mobileconfig\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:44 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/ipad-lockdown-mobileconfig\/","description":"<p>It is possible to put an iPad or iPhone into &lsquo;Store Demo&rsquo; mode so that the home button and swipe to home gesture is disabled. If you have seen the iPads in the Apple Store running the smart sign apps then you will know what I mean.<\/p>\n<p>It is actually pretty trivial to make this work, all you need to do is install a correctly formatted mobile config plist over the air from a web server.<\/p>"},{"title":"Questions About Mdt 2012 Driver Setup","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/questions-about-mdt-2012-driver-setup\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:41 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/questions-about-mdt-2012-driver-setup\/","description":"<p>So I&rsquo;ve had a lot of questions about my MDT 2012 Driver setup and hopefully this post will explain a little bit about it. \u00a0Let me know if you have any questions<\/p>\n<p>Personally I have a folder on my server called _Source_Drivers. \u00a0I keep all my drivers here and import them into MDT but keep the original. \u00a0Here is what my file structure of this folder looks like.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/04\/mdt-source-drivers-structure.png\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-150\" alt=\"MDT Source Drivers Structure\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/04\/mdt-source-drivers-structure.png\" width=\"299\" height=\"532\" \/><\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Installing a Custom Dictionary in Office 2010","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:39 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/","description":"<p>So, some might not need this but thought I would share anyways. \u00a0I have created my new MDT 2012 Deployment Share and want to add Microsoft Office 2010 as an application, but I also need to customize that deployment of Office 2010 when I&rsquo;m deploying my new OS. \u00a0Here are the steps on how to do this, but also how to create a custom Office 2010 Install.<\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Once you've setup everything for you OS, go to the Applications folder on your Deployment Share and right click&gt;New Application<\/li>\n\t<li>Once there, put in the relavent information including where your resource CD is located.<\/li>\n\t<li>THen once you have done this, you will notice that there is an extra tab compared to other applications. \u00a0This is because Microsoft Deployment Toolkit recognizes that it's Office 2010 and gives you a few more options.<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/50\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-140\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-140\" alt=\"50\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/50.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"404\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>Click on the Office Products Tab and you should now see this screen:<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/51\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-141\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-141\" alt=\"51\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/51.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"427\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>Now click on the Office Customization Tool<\/li>\n\t<li>You will be prompted with a warning box, please read and understand this. \u00a0Any Customizations you make are saved in a customization file and need to be moved to the appropriate folder within your Office 2010 source file.<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/52\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-142\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-142\" alt=\"52\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/52.png\" width=\"393\" height=\"153\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>Then the Office Customization Tool dialog box shows up. \u00a0You can do ton's of customizations but for this post it's all about adding a Custom Dictionary to Office 2010.<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/54\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-143\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-143\" alt=\"54\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/54.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"292\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>Once there select Add Files and go to where your .Dic file is at and make sure you select INSTALLLOCATION as the option.<\/li>\n\t<li>Then click on Add Registry Entires<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/55\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-144\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-144\" alt=\"55\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/55.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>Add the Registry settings that you see in the image above<\/li>\n\t<li>Here is a more detailed view of what you should see when you select Add... in the bottom corner:<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/57\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-146\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-146\" alt=\"57\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/57.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"281\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>Then select Remove Registry Entries, this is needed to remove any previous settings when Office 2010 Installs originally.<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23\/mdt-2012-installing-a-custom-dictionary-in-office-2010\/attachment\/56\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-145\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-145\" alt=\"56\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/56.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"291\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n\t<li>That's it, now save your MSP File in the appropriate location and you should be good to go.<\/li>\n<\/ol>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 11 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-11-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:36 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-11-of-11\/","description":"<h1>Preparing WDS to enable PXE Boot (optional but very useful)<\/h1>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Minimize the Deployment Workbench application<\/li>\n\t<li>Open \u201c<b><i>Windows Deployment Services<\/i><\/b>\u201d from Start\/Admin Tools<\/li>\n\t<li>Expand Servers \/ CONFIG-DEPLOY.config.local and right-click on <b><i>Boot Images<\/i><\/b> and select <b><i>Add Boot Image.<\/i><\/b> If the boot image already exists, right click on it and select <b><i>Replace Boot Image<\/i><\/b> to replace it with a newer version<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-11-of-11\/attachment\/37\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-126\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-126\" alt=\"37\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/37.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"253\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Browse to the Deployment Share location (e.g. E:\\DeploymentShares\\Customername) and open the Boot folder<\/li>\n\t<li>Select the <b><i>LiteTouchPE_x86.wim<\/i><\/b> file and click <b><i>Open<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-11-of-11\/attachment\/38\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-127\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-127\" alt=\"38\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/38.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"370\" \/><\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 10 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-10-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:34 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-10-of-11\/","description":"<h1>Automating the Deployment Process<\/h1>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Right-click on the deployment share and select <b><i>Properties<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-10-of-11\/attachment\/36\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-122\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-122\" alt=\"36\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/36.png\" width=\"307\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Select the \u201c<b><i>Rules<\/i><\/b>\u201d tab<\/li>\n\t<li>In the main window, edit the settings as required.\u00a0 A sample CUSTOMSETTINGS.INI is below but feel free to change it as needed\u2026<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-10-of-11\/attachment\/35\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-121\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-121\" alt=\"35\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/351.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"431\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"left\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"54\" height=\"0\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><\/td>\n<td><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<b>CUSTOMSETTINGS.INI<\/b>\n<table width=\"476\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td valign=\"top\" width=\"203\">[Settings]\n<p>Priority=Default<\/p>\n<p>[Default\n]<\/p>\n<p>_SMSTSORGNAME=Customer<\/p>\n<p>SkipBDDWelcome=YES<\/p>\n<p>SkipProductKey=YES<\/p>\n<p>ProductKey= XXXX-XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX<\/p>\n<p>OverrideProductKey=XXXX-XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX<\/p>\n<p>SkipDeploymentType=YES<\/p>\n<p>DeploymentType=NEWCOMPUTER<\/p>\n<p>SkipDomainMembership=NO<\/p>\n<p>JoinDomain=domain.com<\/p>\n<p>DomainAdminDomain=domain.com<\/p>\n<p>DomainAdmin=MDTAddComputer<\/p>\n<p>DomainAdminPassword=Pa55w0rd<\/p>\n<p>MachineObjectOU=ou=example,dc=domain,dc=com<\/p>\n<p>OrgName=Customer<\/p>\n<p>SkipUserData=YES<\/p>\n<p>SkipTaskSequence=NO<\/p>\n<p>TaskSequenceID=TASKSEQID<\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 9 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-9-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:32 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-9-of-11\/","description":"<h1>Creating a Deployment Task Sequence<\/h1>\n<ol>\n\t<li>From the Deployment Workbench, expand the customer Deployment Share and right-click on <b><i>Task Sequences<\/i><\/b> and select <b><i>New Task Sequence<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n\t<li>Enter a Task Sequence ID and Name.\u00a0 Make a note of the ID as you may need it later!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\"><\/p>\n<p align=\"left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-9-of-11\/attachment\/28\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-109\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-109\" alt=\"28\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/28.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"426\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Accept the default <b><i>\u201cStandard Client Task Sequence<\/i><\/b>\u201d template<\/li>\n\t<li>Select the relevant OS Image to deploy<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-9-of-11\/attachment\/29\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-110\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-110\" alt=\"29\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/29.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"385\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>This option will vary dependent on whether you are going to be using KMS or MAK licenses for their Windows 7 deployment.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<b>KMS\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Select <b><i>Do not specify a product key at this time<\/i><\/b>\n<p><b>MAK\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 -\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>Select <b><i>Specify a multiple activation key (MAK key) for activating this operating system<\/i><\/b><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 8 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-8-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:29 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-8-of-11\/","description":"<h2>Importing a Customer Reference Image<\/h2>\n<ol>\n\t<li>From the Deployment Workbench, expand the customer Deployment Share and right-click on <b><i>Operating Systems<\/i><\/b> and select <b><i>Import Operating System<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n\t<li>From the Import Operating System Wizard, select <b><i>Custom Image File <\/i><\/b>and click <b><i>Next<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n\t<li>Browse to the path of the WIM file.\u00a0 For captured images, this would by default be the <b><i>\\Captures<\/i><\/b> folder in the Deployment Share<\/li>\n\t<li>Select \u201c<b><i>Copy Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or later setup files from specified path<\/i><\/b>\u201d and enter the path to the relevant OS installation media.\u00a0 (Strictly speaking you shouldn\u2019t need to do this step but it bugs out sometimes in my experience)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\"><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 7 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:27 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11\/","description":"<h1>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Capturing a Windows 7 Image from a reference PC<\/h1>\nThe reference computer should be connected to the same network as the MDT Deployment server and should be set to get an IP address via DHCP.\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><b>THE REFERENCE COMPUTER MUST NOT BE JOINED TO ANY DOMAIN!<\/b><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Boot the reference computer and ensure network connectivity<\/li>\n\t<li>Make any last-minute modifications (additional software, Windows Updates, etc.)<\/li>\n\t<li>Click <b><i>Start<\/i><\/b> and type <b><i>\\\\&lt;MDTSERVER&gt;\\share$\\scripts\\litetouch.vbs <\/i><\/b>and press Enter\n<ol>\n\t<li>If prompted for credentials, enter a domain account with access to that share:<\/li>\n\t<li>If prompted with a Security Warning like the one below, click <b><i>Open<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11\/attachment\/21\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-96\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-96\" alt=\"21\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21.png\" width=\"409\" height=\"290\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Select <b><i>Sysprep &amp; Capture Win7 Reference Image <\/i><\/b>from the Task Sequence selection screen<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11\/attachment\/22\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-97\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-97\" alt=\"22\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/22.png\" width=\"456\" height=\"325\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Select <b><i>Capture an image of this reference computer <\/i><\/b>from the Capture an Image selection screen and enter an appropriate file name.<\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11\/attachment\/23\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-98\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-98\" alt=\"23\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/23.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"370\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Wait while the Windows PE environment is copied to the reference computer and SYSPREP is run<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"left\">\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-7-of-11\/attachment\/24\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-99\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-99\" alt=\"24\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/24.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"389\" \/><\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 6 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-6-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:24 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-6-of-11\/","description":"<h1>Completing the Deployment Share Configuration<\/h1>\nNow you have imported an OS (from source media) and some WinPE drivers, we can go ahead and complete the configuration of the Deployment Share.\n<h2>6.1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Advanced Configuration<\/h2>\nThe Advanced Configuration section of MDT consists of four separate areas although, we only use the Selection Profiles section for now. \u00a0The rest are advanced topics which you can explore later!\n<h3>Advanced Configuration \u2013 Selection Profiles<\/h3>\nCreated a single additional selection profile \u2013 \u201cWinPE Drivers\u201d and configured it to contain only the drivers which Windows PE will use.\u00a0 We\u2019ll use this profile in a moment to configure the Windows PE environment. \u00a0The next three photo's are in order by actions:\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-6-of-11\/attachment\/15\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-87\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-87\" alt=\"15\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/15.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"398\" \/><\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 5 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-5-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:22 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-5-of-11\/","description":"<h1>\u00a0Creating a Sysprep &amp; Capture Task Sequence<\/h1>\nThe \u201cTask Sequence\u201d is the heart of the MDT deployment solution.\u00a0 It is a list of steps which need to be taken to successfully deploy an Operating System.\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Initially you need to create a \u201cSysprep and Capture\u201d task sequence.\u00a0 Go ahead and do this now.\u00a0 You don\u2019t need to worry too much about which choice of OS you make as it doesn\u2019t matter<b>.\u00a0 Make sure you select the \u201cSysprep and Capture\u201d template!<\/b><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 4 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-4-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:20 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-4-of-11\/","description":"<h2>4. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Importing an OS Image<\/h2>\nThe Operating Systems section of MDT lists all of the Operating Systems which are available to deploy from a Deployment Share.\u00a0 The deployment itself is controlled by a Task Sequence but the operating system source files need to be available.\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Simply right-click on Operating Systems on the left and Import your Windows 7 source media from either DVD or a network share.\u00a0 If you are planning to deploy both 32 and 64 bit versions, import both!\u00a0 You can also import Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003,\n2003R2,\n2008 and 2008R2 for deployment\u2026<\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 3 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-3-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:17 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-3-of-11\/","description":"<h1>Device Driver Management<\/h1>\n<h2>3.1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Obtaining Device Drivers for a Deployment<\/h2>\nIn order to deploy a single image to multiple hardware types, MDT performs a \u201cdriver injection\u201d during the OS load process.\u00a0 For this to work, any and all relevant drivers need to be imported into the deployment share in advance.\u00a0 Depending on the hardware vendor, the process for obtaining these drivers may vary but will generally involve going to the vendor website and downloading the drivers for specific hardware models.\u00a0 Once you have downloaded these drivers, they may require unpacking as the import process can only recognise drivers containing .INF or .CAB files.\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 2 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:43:01 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/","description":"<h1>2.1\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Creating an MDT Deployment Share<\/h1>\nAn MDT Deployment Share is the specific deployment environment which will be used for OS deployment.\u00a0 The share contains all elements of the deployment including drivers, applications, OS images etc.\n<ol>\n\t<li>Log on to the MDT server and open the \u201c<b><i>Deployment Workbench<\/i><\/b>\u201d<\/li>\n\t<li>Right-click on \u201c<b><i>Deployment Shares\u201d <\/i><\/b>in the left pane of the workbench and select <b><i>New Deployment Share<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/attachment\/2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-60\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-60\" alt=\"2\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/2.png\" width=\"323\" height=\"294\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<ol>\n\t<li>In the New Deployment Share Wizard, choose a location for the new share.\u00a0 \u00a0Once you\u2019ve selected a folder, click <b>Next<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/attachment\/3\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-61\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-61\" alt=\"3\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/3.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"401\" \/><\/a>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Give the share a name \u2013 the name used previously should be fine.\u00a0 Click <b>Next<\/b><\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/attachment\/4\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-62\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-62\" alt=\"4\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/4.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"395\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Enter a descriptive name for the share (\u201c<i>NewCustomer Deployment Share<\/i>\u201d for instance) and click <b>Next<\/b><\/li>\n\t<li>Uncheck the next three options - Allow Image Capture, Allow Admin Password and Allow Product Key \u2013 click <b>Next<\/b> after each<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/attachment\/5\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-63\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-63\" alt=\"5\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/5.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"397\" \/><\/a>\n<ol>\n\t<li>The Summary screen should look similar to the one below.\u00a0 Click <b>Next<\/b><\/li>\n\t<li><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/attachment\/6\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-64\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-64\" alt=\"6\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/6.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"397\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Wait while the deployment share is created.\u00a0 Once this is done, a Confirmation screen will be shown.\u00a0 Ensure no errors appear.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/21\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-2-of-11\/attachment\/7\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-65\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-65\" alt=\"7\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/7.png\" width=\"519\" height=\"397\" \/><\/a>\n<ol>\n\t<li>Click <b>Finish<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p align=\"left\"><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>"},{"title":"Mdt 2012 Deployment Guide Step by Step 1 of 11","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-1-of-11\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:57 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/mdt-2012-deployment-guide-step-by-step-1-of-11\/","description":"<h1>1.0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Deployment Infrastructure Overview<\/h1>\nThe new OS Deployment Infrastructure for the Configuration Centre is based around Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 with Update 1.\u00a0 MDT relies on a number of underlying software components and is able to deploy a number of different Operating Systems including Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 on the client side and Windows Server 2003,\n                    2008 and 2008 R2 on the server side.\u00a0 This document is focused on deployment of Windows 7 clients.\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>"},{"title":"Windows Comparison of Windows Commands and Linux Commands","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-comparison-of-windows-commands-and-linux-commands\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:53 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/windows-comparison-of-windows-commands-and-linux-commands\/","description":"<p>So I went to this conference awhile back and sat through a presentation.\u00a0 Not really interesting, but since I am new to the whole Linux world I thought I would pass this along.\u00a0 Here is a PowerPoint presentation explaining the difference&rsquo;s between Windows and Linux commands, at least common ones.\u00a0 Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/10\/linux-windows-comparison-of-commands.pdf\">Linux-Windows - Comparison of Commands<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Scripting Open Excel Sheets in Separate Windows","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/scripting-open-excel-sheets-in-separate-windows\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:51 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/scripting-open-excel-sheets-in-separate-windows\/","description":"<p>If you work in an environment similar to my previous position, then you would know how often you hear certain complaints after upgrading people to new applications or Operating Systems. Well one of those complaints came from individuals that we upgraded to Office 2010. They were use to the option of opening up Excel Spreadsheets in separate windows, but in Office 2010 you can&rsquo;t do this by default you have to make a few tweaks. My fix was to create a little Batch script that would alter the Registry and allow this to be done. I hope you enjoy&hellip;..<\/p>"},{"title":"Scripting Clean Java Temporary Install Files From User Profiles Win 7 Xp","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/scripting-clean-java-temporary-install-files-from-user-profiles-win-7-xp\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:48 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/scripting-clean-java-temporary-install-files-from-user-profiles-win-7-xp\/","description":"<p>So I had an issue awhile back that need to be rectified and the fix was to clean out temporary install files from the Sun\/Java folder in User profiles.  This had to be done on about 700 machines, so I created this little script that cleans out these files and pushed it out to via AD.  I hope you enjoy&hellip;..<\/p>\n<blockquote><strong>Win 7 - Clean Java Temp Files<\/strong>\n<code>\nCD C:\\\n<\/code><code>\nCLS\n<\/code><code>\nECHO<\/code>\n<code>\nREM *** This DELETES temporary install files from the\nREM *** SUN\/JAVA folder in User Profiles.\nREM *** Run this if you get a Pop-Up warning about your\nREM *** User Profile being too large.\nREM *** Click the corner [X\n                    ] to exit without running.\nREM *** Otherwise press the [Spacebar\n                    ] to continue.\n<\/code><code>\nPAUSE\n<\/code><code>\nDEL \"%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\LocalLow\\Sun\\Java\\*.*\" \/S \/F \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nRD \"%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\LocalLow\\Sun\\Java\\\" \/S \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nDEL \"%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\*.*\" \/S \/F \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nRD \"%USERPROFILE%\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\\" \/S \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nCLS\n<\/code><code>\nREM *** Folders are cleaned!\n<\/code><code>\nPAUSE\n<\/code><code>\nEXIT\n<\/code><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><strong>Win XP - Clean Java Temp Files<\/strong>\n<code>\nCD C:\\\n<\/code><code>\nCLS\n<\/code><code>\nECHO\n<\/code><code>\nREM *** This script is for Windows XP only it will NOT work on Vista or 7\nREM *** This DELETES temporary install files from the\nREM *** SUN\\JAVA and Local Settings\\Temp folders in User Profiles.\nREM *** Run this if you get a Pop-Up warning about your\nREM *** User Profile being too large.\nREM *** Click the corner [X\n                    ] to exit without running.\nREM *** Otherwise press the [Spacebar\n                    ] to continue.\n<\/code><code>\nPAUSE\n<\/code><code>\nDEL \"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Documents and Settings\\%USERNAME%\\Application Data\\Sun\\Java\\*.*\" \/S \/F \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nRD \"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Documents and Settings\\%USERNAME%\\Application Data\\Sun\\Java\\\" \/S \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nDEL \"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Documents and Settings\\%USERNAME%\\Local Settings\\Temp\\*.*\" \/S \/F \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nRMDIR \"%SYSTEMDRIVE%\\Documents and Settings\\%USERNAME%\\Local Settings\\Temp\\\" \/S \/Q\n<\/code><code>\nCLS\n<\/code><code>\nREM *** Folders are cleaned!\n<\/code><code>\nPAUSE\n<\/code><code>\nEXIT\n<\/code><\/blockquote>"},{"title":"Scripting Mount Printer at Startup Script","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/scripting-mount-printer-at-startup-script\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:35 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/scripting-mount-printer-at-startup-script\/","description":"<p>So I had to come up with a batch script that would allow the user (in a lab) to select the printer that they wanted to use during that login session.\u00a0 Pretty much this was placed in the startup folder on a few lab machines and every time someone would login (Deep Freeze Machines) it would ask them to select the printer that they wanted to print to.\u00a0 It worked pretty well, I hope someone makes use of it.<\/p>"},{"title":"Programming Final Project for X86 Assembly Language Class Zombie Game","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/programming-final-project-for-x86-assembly-language-class-zombie-game\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:31 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/programming-final-project-for-x86-assembly-language-class-zombie-game\/","description":"<p>So a few years ago I had to create a Zombie game for one of my Assembly Language classes and it was fun as heck.\u00a0 Sorry for the bad formatting and probably bad code in general, but I wanted to post it because it was fun to create!<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/10\/final-project-assembly-language.pdf\">Final Project - Assembly Language<\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Programming Understanding Binary and Its Hexadecimal Values","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/programming-understanding-binary-and-its-hexadecimal-values\/","pubDate":"Tue, 07 Aug 2018 20:42:13 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/programming-understanding-binary-and-its-hexadecimal-values\/","description":"<p>So one crucial concept that every programmer that enjoys or endures Assembly Language programming is the concept of Binary arthimetic and their corresponding Hexadecimal values.\u00a0 Here is a great example that you can use to make sure that you understand their values and thus it will help you understand IP addressing as well.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/10\/dec_hex_bin.gif\"><img title=\"Decimal, Binary, and Hexadecimal\" alt=\"\" src=\"http:\/\/msadministrator.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/10\/dec_hex_bin.gif\" height=\"450\" width=\"348\" \/><\/a><\/p>"},{"title":"Moving Away From Wordpress","link":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/moving-away-from-wordpress\/","pubDate":"Sun, 05 Aug 2018 12:55:27 -0400","guid":"https:\/\/letsautomate.it\/article\/moving-away-from-wordpress\/","description":"<p>Hello Everyone, I have decided this past weekend to final move completely away from WordPress for my blog; and I&rsquo;m 100% excited for this transition! I have decided to use GitHub Pages for my new blog.<\/p>\n<p>I plan on migrating content to this new locaton, but in the meantime if you find any missing content that you have seen previously then please let me know and I will get it moved over ASAP.<\/p>"}]}}