NetworkingTutorial
A one-page network diagram that stays true
How to build a single network map your team will actually update after every change, not a shelf document from the last migration.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Compliance & RiskTutorial
Purview retention without boiling the ocean
A practical starter for Microsoft Purview retention labels in a small Microsoft 365 tenant — keep what you must, delete what you should, and avoid a year-long taxonomy project.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Microsoft 365 backup: questions to ask before you buy
A practical checklist for evaluating Microsoft 365 backup scope, retention, access, restore behavior, security, compliance, and testing.
Michael Narehood6 min read
JIT vendor access instead of standing VPN
Standing VPN accounts for vendors age badly. Just-in-time access with time bounds and approval beats a shared tunnel nobody reviews.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Time to rotate service account passwords
Inventory service identities, replace passwords where possible, and rotate remaining secrets without breaking the workloads that depend on them.
Michael Narehood6 min read
Project Glasswing and the patch queue your business will feel anyway
Anthropic's April 2026 Project Glasswing put Claude Mythos Preview to work finding critical flaws with major vendors. What that means for downstream patching at ordinary SMBs.
Michael Narehood5 min read
Phishing-resistant MFA for executives first
Why the CEO's mailbox is the first account that deserves FIDO2 or passkeys, not another SMS code.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Backups & ContinuityTutorial
Verify your backups before you need them
A repeatable restore-testing drill for proving backup scope, access, timing, integrity, and recovery ownership before an incident.
Michael Narehood6 min read
Cyber insurance questions before renewal
A practical renewal-preparation checklist for collecting evidence, answering security questions accurately, and reviewing cyber-policy terms.
Michael Narehood6 min read
Air-gap vs immutable cloud backups in plain English
Two ways to keep ransomware from wiping your last good copy—and how to choose without overbuying.
Michael Narehood3 min read
VoIP toll fraud: what to lock down
A vendor-neutral VoIP toll-fraud baseline covering dial permissions, admin access, SIP exposure, alerts, logs, and incident response.
Michael Narehood6 min read
NetworkingTutorial
Document firewall changes on one page
A single change record template so every rule edit has a name, a reason, and a rollback path.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Offboarding: make the access cut the same day
A practical same-day IT offboarding runbook for identity, sessions, SaaS, devices, shared secrets, and company data without deleting first and asking later.
Michael Narehood6 min read
Retiring leftover on-prem Exchange after you move to Microsoft 365
Hybrid connectors, old MX records, and ghost servers still cost you money and attack surface long after mail lives in the cloud.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Entra-only vs hybrid AD for small offices
A practical way for a 20-60 user firm to choose cloud-only identity, hybrid identity, and the right Windows device join without keeping domain controllers by habit.
Michael Narehood6 min read
When to replace that aging firewall
Replace a firewall based on support, measured capacity, security requirements, and recoverability—not a birthday or a frightening sales chart.
Michael Narehood5 min read
Email & CollaborationTutorial
DNS and email authentication: SPF, DKIM, and DMARC
A practical rollout for authorizing every legitimate sender, signing mail, enforcing DMARC, and catching gaps before messages get rejected.
Michael Narehood6 min read
Is DNS filtering worth it for SMBs?
When blocking bad domains at the resolver beats buying another appliance—and when it is not enough on its own.
Michael Narehood3 min read
Business email compromise: red flags worth a phone call
How small businesses can recognize payment fraud, verify a request outside email, and respond quickly when money or a mailbox may be at risk.
Michael Narehood6 min read
MicrosoftTutorial
Intune enrollment that doesn’t strand new hires
A practical Autopilot / Intune enrollment path for small Microsoft shops so day-one laptops join the tenant instead of becoming help-desk tickets.
Michael Narehood3 min read
