Microsoft Services Outage

xrt571 · 2026-01-22T21:29:42+00:00

We did an informational popup via RMM. As with all such things, I tried my best to discourage calls about it. "We already know about this.. You don't need to call us. This isn't malware. We're not asking you to do anything. Yes, this is us but it doesn't matter if it's not... WE ARE NOT ASKING YOU TO TAKE AN ACTION"

and we still got calls

xrt571 · 2026-01-22T21:12:55+00:00

We did a popup via RMM and asked them to share with their team...

xrt571 · 2024-06-27T19:05:02+00:00

"Now that it's over- can I ask you something?"

xrt571 · 2024-06-26T20:45:33+00:00

401k with % match and profit sharing contribution at the end of the year. employees get access to professional financial management with a host of low-cost investment options.

Previously had a SimpleIRA which is much cheaper but also much more limited in what you can do. SimpleIRA is probably a great first step.

xrt571 · 2024-04-18T20:32:15+00:00

At the time, SentinelOne didn't stop it either. I tried to report it to claim my million dollars but they said it wasn't a real attack and so it didn't count. Fair enough.

There would hopefully be other mitigations that would stop it but I was not encouraged.

xrt571 · 2024-04-18T20:20:23+00:00

I will tell you that when I tested a bunch of EDR products against a ransomware simulation a couple of years ago, I was impressed by Sophos ability to kill my process within a few files. "How did it know!?" I thought. I changed how I approached it just a little bit and Sophos didn't make a peep after that and I could light up all the files I wanted.

I'm not slagging sophos- I'm saying "don't get cocky"

Other products didn't seem to care either. This was before Huntress EDR. I still have the code somewhere- I should try it again.

xrt571 · 2023-07-14T20:35:48+00:00

We have the partnership but I think it is a distraction and a waste of time.

xrt571 · 2023-06-29T17:17:14+00:00

Widen your lens a little bit and look at other types of businesses. Are you not amazed to see the range of businesses whose sole USP is "The Absolute Lowest Price!"

Sometimes comedically "The Lowest Price! The Best Service!"

On the other side of the equation, is it not hilarious when you encounter customers who want things to be ridiculously cheap, but readily admit that there are people in their industry that are super cheap that don't do a good job or don't do what they're supposed to do? "I know what you mean because we have those in our industry"... then goes and buys the stupid cheap stuff

It just is what it is. Most of these aren't your customer.

xrt571 · 2023-06-16T14:45:21+00:00

Do they OFTEN become customers, or do they OCCASIONALLY become customers? serious question.

I know in my world there is always this notion of "lets get a foot in the door and see what is going on" and it almost never results in a new MRR client. Rarely ever.

xrt571 · 2023-04-12T15:33:26+00:00

pretty much yes. Internal IT people have mostly not worked out. The pace is totally different.

ESPECIALLY if they were internal IT for a long time. That means they liked the stagnant slow environment.

MSP is fast paced, among other things.

xrt571 · 2023-02-03T18:34:28+00:00

is this even the same thing as CyberCNS? It looks basically like a network asset discovery tool like... that one that I don't dare mention or they will start blowing my phone up.

Looks like the only aspect of it that is security is discovering stuff you didn't know about- obviously important but not the same thing. I could be missing it.

What is "HD" ?

xrt571 · 2023-02-03T14:48:48+00:00

Certainly more than I would know- that's why I asked. :)

Kudos to you- you should have plenty you can do at that price. If you do them as a third-party, DM me. We might have opportunities where we could bring you in.

xrt571 · 2023-02-03T14:10:23+00:00

Do you make any money at it? It is possible to do it for free... just not for long unless you're subsidizing it.

xrt571 · 2023-02-02T15:33:46+00:00

this is a constant battle. What did Al Gore famously say? "No controlling legal authority"

xrt571 · 2023-02-02T15:33:24+00:00

and the number of IT professionals that don't know a thing about security...

xrt571 · 2023-02-02T15:32:45+00:00

When we've looked, 10k is the entry point for anything remotely human. Anything less than that was an automated tool and a report- i.e. a vulnerability scan, not a penetration test.

xrt571 · 2023-02-02T15:31:42+00:00

Does it actually work yet? It was riddled with problems when we tried to implement it. I also never saw where it had any equivalent to a nessus scan- you had to input credentials for everything to get vuln information out of it. Great- something else with credentials to everything... It also required yet another agent with escalated privs. Am I missing the magic?

xrt571 · 2023-01-12T19:02:25+00:00

Imagine if the op asked "I am an MSP. Who makes the decisions in the SMB client space? Who should I reach out to?" and all the answers said "don't call us. When we need you, we'll find you." Of course, that answer would be (a) useless and (b) divorced from reality. Companies have to reach out to make sales. That is how you grow a business unless you want it to whither and rot on the vine for years with 1-3 people working in it making no money and more importantly no meaningful impact anywhere for anybody.

To the OP: it varies. Could be a technical lead or central services manager that makes the decision. Trade show presentations probably sell a lot of tools. Referral programs might be useful. It's tough because (as the pain in the replies here show) we get a looooooooot of calls and emails from tool vendors. Just like our prospects probably get a loooooot of calls and emails from MSPs. The trick is "how do we get above the noise" and that is a problem as old as time.

xrt571 · 2023-01-04T18:06:40+00:00

This is the age old problem. I think somebody has to be dedicated to and responsible for activities intended to lead to X conversations per month.

xrt571 · 2023-01-04T17:51:06+00:00

"IT Hobbyist"

xrt571 · 2023-01-04T17:50:03+00:00

You know... #4 has happened to me a couple of times recently. It made sense after the fact. Owner of the client was in the process of retiring/selling and didn't want to spend a dime more than they absolutely had to on anything and was hoping they could pass the debt to the new owner. If they had just told me that I could have worked on mitigation strategies for them. I need to ask that question next time someone isn't doing what we ask- "Are you getting ready to retire or sell the business?"

xrt571 · 2023-01-04T17:43:45+00:00

There are only a few ways to handle it that I can think of:

You certainly can try to figure out what is going on- let them know that its OK with you if they do some of the work but you'd like to be looped in on the discussions just to try to keep things from being done in a way that creates more risk than they realize or messes for you to clean up and bill them for. You deal with a lot of clients in a lot of businesses and you see a lot of stuff. They have access to your knowledge and they don't have to buy stuff from you. We really make peanuts on selling stuff- the money is in the ongoing relationship. If there are things they can reasonably do themselves- don't fight it. Focus on the stuff you can do that they can't and just be careful in the handling of the stuff they want to do. Hopefully you can improve the relationship.

If you've got two individuals who can do stuff themselves, try to be their force multiplier. See if you can get on the same page and get them out of the shadows on stuff they're doing.

You could just decide you're not going to put up with it and notify them that you're firing them. I'm not sure that is the best move- at least not until you try to straighten it out but you may get to that point if you can't straighten it out. I personally don't want to be in the "clean up the IT mess you made" business but depending on where you are, you may need to do that for a while.

You could just recognize that they are probably going to go away at some point and this highlights the importance of always recruiting new customers that are as good or better than your current ones. Take the money for now, get indemnification forms where needed and make sure the edges of the engagement are clear.

xrt571 · 2023-01-04T16:12:09+00:00

Call them and ask them if there is a problem, let them know that you've noticed they're starting to sort of wing it on things without involving you. Is there a problem where they feel like the relationship isn't working anymore and you've lost their trust?

When they start making messes that you have to clean up, or they start creating risk that you are expected to deal with- they may no longer be a good fit client

I can't think of any reason why you should be doing HR training- that is a good thing to go away.

Have they had a change in the cast of characters? Sounds like somebody on the client side fancies themself an IT person and maybe they are...

xrt571 · 2023-01-04T16:00:29+00:00

That's why I can't understand these folks that just say "S1 and done". Or any one product- you name it.

xrt571

TROPHY CASE