IT Pro Tuesday #278

Welcome back to IT Pro Tuesday!

In the latest episode of the Security Swarm Podcast: “Monthly Threat Report – November 2023” we bring you monthly insights into M365 security trends, email-based threats, and commentary on current events in the cybersecurity space. This edition focuses on data from October.

We’re also looking for your favorite tips and tools we can share with the community… those that help you do your job better and more easily. Please reply or leave a comment with your suggestions, and we’ll be featuring them in the coming weeks.

Trippy is a utilitarian networking tool that seamlessly merges traceroute and ping functionalities, crafted for in-depth analysis of networking glitches. A contemporary, cross-platform solution built in Rust, it serves as a sophisticated alternative to tools like mtr, boasting advanced features and an elegant Text User Interface. Kindly suggested by doglar_666.

Sage advice for the overstressed new sysadmin, compliments of 25-year veteran Mental-Aioli3372: 

1. Relax, stress will kill you and makes you ineffective, you can’t help anyone if you’re f*cked up or dead, and if you die of a heart attack at 4pm on a Friday, they’ll have a job opening posted before your body is cold.
2. Solving problems is just like hiking from point A to point B – figure out where you are, figure out where you need to go, draw a map, plot a course, divide it into individual turns, and start walking step by step, a little bit at a time. Get the big picture first, then zoom in, then go.
3. Learn to say no, learn to set boundaries, tell them to make a ticket, you’ll get to it in order of importance. Constant emergencies and distractions means nothing actually gets done completely. Don’t say yes just because you want to make people happy.
4. Learn to differentiate IT problems from HR problems, management problems, culture problems. You can’t fix bad business decisions.
5. Other people’s lack of planning is not your problem.
6. What does policy say? Do that. No policy? Make one.
7. Manage expectations, under promise, over deliver.
8. When you leave work, leave it at work. Work your 40 hours, use time wisely, then go home.
9. Get lots of sleep, have fun with friends, play video games, make sure you’re getting You Time. Separate you from your job. Take all your vacation days. Don’t burn out. It’s not worth it.
10. Make friends with the janitors. They know how shit really works and literally open doors to useful places.
11. Users lie, verify everything. Assume nothing.
12. Don’t answer calls if you’re not getting paid. Do Not Disturb means DO NOT DISTURB motherf*ckers.

The technical sh*t is whatever. You’ll figure that part out.”

World Time Buddy is a versatile online world clock, time zone converter, and meeting scheduler, designed for individuals navigating different global time zones. Its user-friendly interface allows efficient planning of international calls, webinars, and business meetings. Main-ITops77 says, “World Time Buddy is my favorite, very easy to see different time zones at a quick glance.”

How to build your wireless network for iOS/MacOS is a post that walks through the relevant details from Apple’s support documents that explain exactly how to build a wireless network for iOS/Mac OS to provide wireless roaming for enterprise customers.

Duff is a command-line utility that finds duplicate files, with a focus on speed. lilolalu explains, “reports clusters of duplicates in the specified files and/or directories. In the default mode, duff prints a customizable header, followed by the names of all the files in the cluster. In excess mode, duff does not print a header, but instead for each cluster prints the names of all but the first of the files it includes.”

PDF-Xchange is a versatile PDF editor and viewer that allows you to easily create, view, edit, annotate, perform OCR, digitally sign, and explore a range of features for efficient PDF management.

NuShell is a cross-platform shell that merges the Unix philosophy of connecting simple commands through pipes with the modern style of development. doglar_666 adds, “I also make occasional use of nushell for its native functionality for displaying CSV, YAML and JSON in terminal and there’s a DNS plugin which is a handy addition to usual nslookup/dig combo. It’s cross-platform, so useable on Linux, Windows and macOS.”