In response to the invasion of Ukraine, Microsoft has suspended all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia.

Other Aspects Of Its Business Too  

Microsoft has described how it has been “horrified, angered and saddened” by the “unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia” which has led to its decision to suspend sales to Russia.

In addition to this, Microsoft has explained how, working with the governments of the United States, EU, and the UK, it is also stopping many other aspects of its business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.

Focusing On Helping Ukraine  

Microsoft has described how its “single most impactful area of work” is now the protection of Ukraine’s cybersecurity following recent Russian attacks, including a cyberattack against a major Ukrainian broadcaster. The software giant has highlighted how, since the war began, it has acted against Russian attacks on more than 20 Ukrainian government, IT, and financial sector organisations, and against cyberattacks targeting several civilian sites. Microsoft also says that it has now publicly raised its concerns that the attacks against civilians violate the Geneva Convention.

Helping Refugees  

As part of this focus on helping Ukraine, Microsoft says that it is also using its resources to help the country’s people by putting its Microsoft Philanthropies and UN Affairs teams to work alongside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and multiple UN agencies to help refugees. Also, Microsoft says that it will be providing technological and financial support for key NGOs (non-governmental / non-profit organisations) where needed, while defending these groups from ongoing cyberattacks.

Many Big Names Now Suspending Sales In Russia  

Microsoft joins many big-name corporations who have now suspended operations in Russia. The list, so far, includes Apple, Dell, H&M, IKEA, Marks & Spencer, the credit companies Visa and MasterCard, large fuel/energy companies like BP and Shell (exiting its joint ventures with Gazprom), ExxonMobil, Eni, and Siemens Energy. The conflict has also seen the suspension of operations in Russia for well-known vehicle manufacturers including Honda Motor Co. (shipments), Daimler Truck, Volvo, Ford, Mazda, Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, and Harley-Davidson (deliveries suspended).

What Does This Mean For Your Businesses?  

As well as governments, the business world in the west appears to have united behind the people of Ukraine by imposing their own commercial sanctions i.e., ceasing operations in Russia. It is hoped that combined sanctions of governments and corporations from many different sectors and countries will help to apply some serious pressure that will send a clear signal of a unified opposition and, hopefully, lead to negotiations that could halt a full invasion of Ukraine and the further suffering of its citizens. For those much smaller businesses who are more reliant upon trade with Russia, however, there are likely to be some tough times and tough decisions ahead. It is still relatively early days, and although sanctions have caused some serious effects on the Russian currency and the normal lives of its citizens, and while the country is looking increasingly isolated, Russia is still receiving $700 million per day from the US and its allies for oil, gas, and commodities. Unless this income stream is disrupted, which will have consequences in the west, Putin’s government look likely to press on with its war agenda.

Microsoft has announced that higher demand for cloud services resulting from home and hybrid working is the reason why it will delay its planned commercial price increases for Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft 365.

Two Week Grace Period  

An announcement posted in the ‘Partner Center’ section of Microsoft’s website states that the commercial price rises announced back in August will now be subject to a two-week grace period. This means they will come into effect after March 14 rather than on March 1.

Microsoft says the grace period will provide partners with additional lead time for adapting business processes and placing orders for “six Modern Work products” – Microsoft 365 Business Basic, Microsoft 365 Business Premium, Office 365 E1, Office 365 E3, Office 365 E5, Microsoft 365 E3.

This means that all CSP new commerce transactions for these products submitted into the system no later than March 14, 2022, 5 p.m., Pacific Daylight Time (PDT), or 12 a.m. UTC on March 15, 2022, will be invoiced at the February 2022 pricing. Those submitted after this cut-off point will be invoiced at the increased March price list pricing.

Price Increases  

As announced back in August, the new prices for Microsoft’s commercial products which were originally due to come into effect on March 1, 2022, range from increases of 9 per cent to 25 per cent depending on the product. The increases, as listed on Microsoft’s website are:

– Microsoft 365 Business Basic (from $5 USD to $6 USD per user).

– Microsoft 365 Business Premium (from $ 20 USD to $ 22 USD).

– Office 365 E1 (from $8 USD to $10 USD).

– Office 365 E3 (from $20 USD to $23 USD).

– Office 365 E5 (from $35 USD to $38 USD).

– Microsoft 365 E3 (from $32 USD to $36 USD).

Why?  

Microsoft has justified the prices by saying that although there hasn’t been a substantive price rise for 10 years, users have benefitted from many extra services and more value being added to services. For example:

– Since the introduction of 365, the company has added 1,400 features, and 24 apps to the suites.

– Microsoft 365 has added security capabilities including data loss prevention (DLP) for email and documents, sensitivity labels, and message encryption to help guard valuable company data.

– Content Search, eDiscovery, and core Litigation Hold have been added to help users with compliance.

– Built-in mobile device management (MDM) and other management tools like Microsoft Endpoint Manager have been added to, as has Microsoft Teams to help support remote and hybrid workforces. Teams, for example, has been particularly helpful to many businesses during the pandemic.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The price increases were announced 6 months ago, so were expected. A grace period, albeit just a couple of weeks is, of course, welcome. It is true also that there have been no major price increases in 10 years, which is a long time in the tech world, and many businesses will acknowledge that Microsoft 365 is better than it used to be. It is also much better for Microsoft to now have customers on their SaaS models. The cloud and apps like Teams have proven to be very important to users over the lasts two years of remote and hybrid working and, Microsoft says, it is the popularity of hybrid working that is behind the decision to give a grace period before the price increases. Of course, Microsoft needed to invest heavily on innovation to keep its products relevant and, over the last couple of years, to stay ahead of competitors in the collaborative/remote working market (Google, Zoom and Slack), which is another justification for its commercial price rises.

In this article, we look at what Starlink is and why it has been making the news in the last couple of weeks.

What Is Starlink? 

Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX company uses a constellation of low orbit satellites around the earth (launched by SpaceX rockets) to provide broadband internet. Starlink provides satellite Internet access coverage to most of planet and is particularly useful for areas where connectivity is unreliable or completely unavailable.

Starlink says that users of its satellite broadband can expect to see download speeds between 100 Mb/s and 200 Mb/s and latency as low as 20ms in most locations.

Sent A Kit 

Starlink customers are sent a kit which includes the Wi-Fi router, cables and base that enables them to connect to their satellite broadband. Being a satellite connection, however, users need to have a clear view of the sky to connect and need to download the Starlink App to determine their best install location.

Can Be Seen In The Night Sky 

Starlink’s satellites can be seen with the naked eye as a bright, equally spaced line of star-like objects orbiting in a line/train. This has led to criticism by astronomers that the SpaceX satellites are ruining their observations. Astronomers also say that in addition to the amount of light reflected by the satellites, there are also the problems of diffusion of background light and the radio noise from the satellites. Back in June 2020, SpaceX responded to the criticism by developing a new strategy to reduce the amount of light Starlink satellites reflect down to Earth. Starlink says that it now leads the industry in innovations to reduce satellite brightness, minimising the impact on astronomy. The company says that it is also testing rolling satellites, so the vector of the Sun is in-plane with the satellite’s body, i.e., so the satellite is knife-edge to the Sun.

Satellites Destroyed By Solar Storms 

Starlink suffered a costly setback recently after 49 satellites it launched in one mission were burned up in the earth’s atmosphere only days later costing the company $50 million. The failure was caused by a sun storm/geomagnetic storm. These storms, sometimes called ‘space weather’ happen because of explosions of plasma from the surface of the Sun and solar winds escaping Sun’s outer atmosphere. The result of these fluctuations is that electrons, protons, and other particles are blasted out from the sun into space. When this happens, as in the case of the recently launched satellites, the earth’s atmosphere absorbs the solar storm’s magnetic energy, heats up and expands upward. This expansion creates drag on satellites, and it was this drag (while the new batch were in their lower dropping off orbit i.e. between 60 and 120 miles/100 and 200 km) above the Earth’s surface, that caused them to fall towards earth and burn up.

Is This Your Space Junk? 

So-called ‘space junk’ (debris orbiting the earth/orbital debris) is a big problem. NASA (2021) said that the Department of Defence’s global Space Surveillance Network (SSN) sensors are tracking more than 27,000 pieces. Also, the European Space Agency estimates there are now 36,500 pieces of space junk larger than 10cm. These pieces of natural meteoroid and artificial (human-made) orbital debris include non-functional spacecraft, abandoned launch vehicle stages, mission-related debris, and fragmentation debris. The significant dangers are that are that debris and spacecraft are traveling at orbital speeds (approximately 15,700 mph in low Earth orbit), and any impact of even a tiny piece of orbital debris with a spacecraft could create catastrophic problems.

Recently, astronomers accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX firm as being the company responsible for an abandoned three-tonne rocket part that they had been tracking since 2015 and which was on a collision course with the moon, travelling at 5,500 miles per hour. On colliding with the moon, the part is reported to have left 65ft crater. Elon Musk has confirmed that the part did not belong to SpaceX, and it is now believed that it was a part of a Chinese rocket.

Needed In Ukraine 

Starlink also made the news last week after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky asked for Starlink internet terminals to be sent as Ukraine’s broadband infrastructure was damaged in Russian attacks. As well as being able to work in any areas where there is a clear view of the sky and not dependent on ground base infrastructure (apart from somewhere to mount the dish) President Zelensky has also commented that Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine in the wake of Russia’s invasion. Elon Musk, who communicated personally with President Zelensky, has now donated Starlink satellite internet terminals to the embattled country.

Thanked, But A Warning 

Ukraine’s vice prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted his thanks to SpaceX’s billionaire chief executive officer Elon Musk for help, including a photo of the truck, loaded with terminals. President Zelensky has also expressed his thanks.

There have however been warnings via Twitter from Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab project, that the terminals could become targets and beacons for Russian air strikes. Concern has also been expressed that the dishes would need to be installed in vulnerable locations for the system to work.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

The crisis in Ukraine has highlighted how useful the often-criticised Starlink system can be and has illustrated its advantages overs traditional ground-based systems operated often through state control. Although it can’t fully replace terrestrial internet on a large scale, it is likely to provide vital communication links where they’re needed. The speed with which Elon Musk responded and the fact that he became personally involved, which could hold a risk for him in the future, is also likely to have a positive impact on his public image which could rub off on his SpaceX and Starlink businesses. It remains to be seen, however, whether the Starlink terminals, and even the Starlink satellite operations end up being targeted by physical and or cyber-attacks.

In this article, we take a brief look at what agile working is, plus how technology contributes to it.

Agile

Agile working refers to the idea of connecting processes, people, technology, time, and place to create a dynamic workforce. By giving workers the freedom and maximum flexibility to work where and when they want, thereby minimising constraints, this can improve productivity and performance. Other results of agile working can include the creation of a more responsive, efficient, and effective organisation that has more balanced, motivated, innovative, and productive teams and individuals working within it.

There are models to help with agile working, such as core and flex and activity-based working.

Difference Between, Agile, Flexible, and Hybrid  

Whereas flexible working is primarily about working hours, and hybrid working is primarily about the mix of where work is carried out (home or office), agile working is a whole strategy which could include flexible and hybrid as components. Agile working, however, is more about removing traditional barriers and adopting new practices to enable staff to work at their best and most efficient.  

Challenges  

Examples of some of the main challenges to successfully introducing agile working include:

– Culture and mindset. Agile working means fully embracing an agile agenda where people are the organisation and are empowered in a relationship of trust and responsibility.

– Resistance to change from some key individuals and management not fully accepting the idea.

– Preserving outdated legacy systems.

– Inadequate resource planning and ignoring the cultural and change-management aspects of its introduction.

– Insufficient training and inadequate experience with Agile approaches.

Technology’s Contribution To Agile Working  

Agile working (being a whole strategy and approach) means that simply buying new technology is not enough, although there are many ways that technology can be used strategically to help to contribute to successful agile working. These include:

– Digital transformation to give workers fast access to information.

– Cloud-based technology. This facilitates the use of collaborative working platforms, real-time communication, and digital canvases that work groups can use, and can be updated in real time.

– Using wireless and plug-and-play solutions (in offices) to facilitate collaboration between workers.

– The early adoption and use of ‘disruptive technologies’ e.g., machine learning, artificial intelligence, the IoT and robotics.

– Agile working tools e.g., Kanban, and scrum/project management tools e.g.,  ActiveCollab, Jira, Pivotal Tracker, Trello, GitHub, also collaborative working, and comms platforms e.g., Teams, Slack, and Zoom.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?  

Agile working is a commitment to a new way of thinking and operating with the promise of being able to increase the speed and flexibility of the workforce, aimed towards improving productivity, performance, efficiency, and innovation which can all add value and create competitive advantages. The cloud is major contributory technology to operating agile working as are many of the agile working tools that operate in it to enable a dynamic approach that is being adopted by progressive businesses.

If you’re finding that you’re keeping up with the news more lately, try using ‘Widgets’ to catch upon the news at a glance in Windows 11. Here’s how:

– Sign into your Microsoft account.

– To show or hide the widgets board, select the Widgets icon on the taskbar, press the Windows logo key  + W, and click or tap anywhere outside the widgets board.

– To add widgets, select the ‘Add widgets’ button at the bottom of widgets board and follow the instructions to add widgets.

– To personalise your news feed widgets, go to ‘Manage your news and interests’ in the Widget settings dialog box. This will open the ‘My Interests’ page in Microsoft Edge.

– Use the search box to find topics or publishers you want to follow e.g., war in Ukraine.

– To fine tune your news feed, select ‘Tune your feed’ on the left side of the ‘My Interests’ page to be guided through the steps to set up your news feed.

In this article, we look at how, in addition to the devastating missiles, rockets, bombs, tanks and other weapons, Ukraine has also been the subject of cyber-warfare and we look at how these and other war-related issues could be cause for concern across Europe.

War In Ukraine

At the time of writing this article, as Ukraine has come under attack from Russian forces from the sea, ground and air, with reports indicating that:

– Russian troops are still trying to take Ukraine’s two biggest cities, Kyiv and Kharkiv.

– An estimated half a million refugees have left Ukraine.

– There are news reports that residential areas in Ukranian cities are now being hit with attacks such as cluster-bombs.

– The first round of talks about a ceasefire have been held.

– Satellite images have shown large columns of Russian armour and other military vehicles heading into Ukraine.

– Sanctions on Russia have caused the value of the Ruble to crash, leading to long queues at Russian banks.

Cyber Attacks – A Part of ‘Hybrid Warfare’ 

State-sponsored cyber-attacks are now also very much an ongoing threat faced by all countries but, specifically in the case of Ukraine, they are being used against them as a weapon of war.  Part military strategy, first proposed by Frank Hoffman, and highlighted in a NATO review last year, ‘hybrid warfare’ is described as an “interplay or fusion of conventional as well as unconventional instruments of power and tools of subversion” which are “blended in a synchronised manner to exploit the vulnerabilities of an antagonist and achieve synergistic effects.”  In short, it’s a combination of conventional and unconventional strategies, methods, and tactics which includes cyber-attacks. These cyber-attacks are now used to support the ‘hard power’ of military action by disrupting vital services like power and communications to create more fear and confusion.

A Feature of Previous ‘Hybrid’ Methods Believed To Have Involved Russia 

Russia has been blamed for the use of cyber-attacks against states before, including Ukraine, especially during military conflicts. For example:

– Russia has been blamed for DDoS attacks on both Georgia and Crimea during the incursions in 2008 and 2014.

– In December 2015, Ukranian power stations were hacked and taken offline. It was also reported that the telephone lines had been disrupted so that the engineers couldn’t make calls. The result was huge disruption for hours for homes, businesses and other entities.

– In June 2017, the software used for Ukraine’s tax return filing system was hacked and companies were attacked with ransomware. The malicious software also spread to other countries, including the UK, as well as causing huge disruption to merchant shipping. The cost was estimated at $5-10 billion.

– In 2019, Russian military intelligence was blamed for cyber-attacks (DDoS) on 2000 websites in Georgia. The websites affected included the presidential website and the country’s national TV broadcaster.

Recent Cyber Attacks 

The hard power of military attacks against Ukraine are reported to have been accompanied in recent weeks by cyber attacks. For example:

– In mid January, Ukraine blamed Russia for attacks on 70 government websites (the largest attacks on Ukraine in 4 years) including the Diia website. This system, linked to government services, is where personal vaccination data and certificates are stored.

– In mid-February, Ukraine reported that two state-owned banks, PrivatBank and Oschadbank, had been hit by large-scale DDoS attacks and other failures which interrupted banking services.

– Last week, there were reports of Distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and “wiper” attacks against Ukrainian organisations. These attacks have destroyed data on infected machines. Experts believe that the Wiper attacks may have been planned as far back as December.

– Ukraine’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) has reported that hackers from the Belarusian military (a group code-named “UNC1151”) have been targeting the private email addresses of Ukrainian military personnel “and related individuals”. The attacks have involved using password-stealing emails to break into Ukrainian soldiers’ email accounts and using the compromised address books to send further malicious messages.

Defence – The Rapid Cyber Response Team 

Countries have their own cyber protection units, usually linked to intelligence services/agencies, and the military. In terms of Ukraine’s defence against cyber-attacks, help could come from:

– The CRRT. Following a call for help from Ukraine, it has been reported that a rapid-response team (CRRT) is being deployed across Europe to help defend against Russian cyber-attacks which are accompanying (and preceded) the ground war. The team is reported to be made up of 12 experts, from Lithuania, Croatia, Poland, Estonia, Romania, and the Netherlands.

– Like the UK’s own Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) which was set up in 2013, Ukraine has its own CERT-UA.

Should We Be Concerned About The Spread of The War? 

While thoughts are of course with the people of Ukraine, there has been much speculation and some warnings which indicate how the war could spread. For example:

– Neighbouring countries are preparing for the possibility of attacks, invading forces, or events that could spill over into their territories, e.g. Poland, Latvia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and even Finland.

– Russia’s president Putin said that he has put Russia’s nuclear force on high alert. This, however, has been dismissed by many as a distraction attempt.

Should We Be Concerned About The Spread of the ‘Cyber War’? 

At the beginning of February, oil facilities in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands being targeted by cyber-attacks, thought to be of Russian origin, were seen as a way of Russia exerting pressure on Germany and came at a time when Russia was threatening to close its oil pipelines. Also, at the end of January, UK businesses were warned by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) to bolster their cyber defences in case Russia widened its attack scope to NATO countries and/or because of the spread of malware related to attacks on Ukraine. The NCSC has given advice about how to prepare here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/guidance/actions-to-take-when-the-cyber-threat-is-heightened

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

In addition to the terrible consequences of war for Ukraine’s citizens, there is uncertainty and fear about what happens next, and what could happen to escalate the conflict. Also, with more than one-third of Europe’s natural gas coming from Russia there are, of course, concerns about how the conflict could begin affecting other countries and there are bound to be big knock-on consequences for supply chains and other industries across the world. In terms of technology, there are clear risks of more Russian cyber-attacks being launched against NATO countries and the US and, as NCSC has warned, UK businesses now need to pay special attention to strengthening their cyber defences, not least to protect against malware attacks. Large UK companies and organisations involved with vital UK infrastructure could now face serious cyber-attacks (e.g. DDoS attacks) and, if not properly protected, this could have wider effects across the country for businesses and homes.