General Computer Development US

Message from General Computer Development

What's New with Microsoft Teams?

Microsoft 365 Teams Update

A new month is here, and so are some new features and enhancements that make Microsoft Teams even more powerful and easier to use!

· Chat and Collaboration

· Meetings, Teams, Webinars, and Town Halls

· Teams Rooms and Devices

· Teams Phone

Chat and Collaboration

There's no need to manually scroll and search through extensive chat histories. Now when you activate Copilot in your chat, you can use time-based phrases like "yesterday," "last month," "6 months ago," or "December 2023" in your prompts.

Meetings, Teams, Webinars, and Town Halls

Intelligent meeting recap with AI-generated notes and tasks for GCC environment

AI-generated notes and tasks within intelligent meeting recap are now available in the Government Community Cloud (GCC) environment. This will help streamline post-meeting processes by providing a comprehensive recap of meeting events, identifying follow-up tasks, summarizing key points, and granting quick access to essential meeting details.

Intelligent meeting recap for unscheduled townhalls for Android devices

Intelligent meeting recap enables unscheduled town hall participants using Android devices to browse meeting recordings by speaker name and topic title. This AI-powered feature from Microsoft Teams will help users catch up on missed meetings with AI-generated notes, follow-up tasks, name mentions, topics, chapters, and speaker identification.

Town hall reactions

Town hall participants can now send and see reactions (i.e. “like”, “applause”, “laugh”, or “surprised”) to express themselves in real-time during a town hall. Attendees can select the reaction they wish to temporarily display to the presenters and other attendees via the actions ribbon at the top of the town hall window.

Teams Rooms and Devices

Join Zoom meetings with an ID and passcode from a Teams room on Android
If your organization has enabled Direct Guest Join meetings for Teams Rooms on Android, you can now join Zoom meetings with an ID and a passcode. To be configured, this feature requires a Teams Rooms Pro license.

Custom background for Teams Rooms on Android using Teams admin center

This new feature for Teams Rooms on Android enables IT admins to upload custom background images from the Teams admin center. Custom backgrounds can showcase your brand identity or provide support information in your Teams meeting rooms.

Text and UI resizing for Teams Rooms on Windows

With text and UI resizing for Teams Rooms, IT admins can now adjust the size of the text and all other UI elements on the front-of-room display by changing the display scaling settings.

Teams Phone

Eligible callers waiting in a call queue can now receive a callback to their phone number when an agent becomes available. Eligible callers will be given the option to request a callback after the music on hold finishes playing, and admins can customize the messaging, key press, and notification email for failed callbacks.

Continue to stay up to date with the latest M365 features monthly, right here with us!

Learn more about M365 apps!

How Acquainted are You with Cyber Attacks?

Cyber Attack Prevention

In one sense, we hope it’s not a close relationship but in another, we hope you are in the know of the varieties of cyber-attacks to protect your networks and systems from being victimized.

Here are our top 5 cyber attacks we want you to be aware of and know how to protect yourself against:

1) Malware Attack

One of the most common types of cyberattacks, “Malware” refers to malicious software viruses including worms, spyware, ransomware, adware, and trojans.

The trojan virus disguises itself as legitimate software, ransomware blocks access to the network's key components, and spyware is software that steals all your confidential data without your knowledge.

However, we have some prevention tips to avoid an Malware attack using the following steps:

- Use antivirus software to protect your computer against malware.

- Use firewalls to filter the traffic that may enter your device.

- Stay alert and avoid clicking on suspicious links.

- Update your OS and browsers regularly.

2. Phishing Attack

Phishing attacks are one of the most prominent widespread types of cyberattacks. It is a type of social engineering attack wherein an attacker impersonates to be a trusted contact and sends the victim fake mails.

Phishing attacks can be prevented by following steps:

- Scrutinize the emails you receive.

- Make use of an anti-phishing toolbar.

- Update your passwords regularly.

3. Password Attack

It is a form of attack wherein a hacker cracks your password with various programs and password cracking tools.

Listed below are a few ways to prevent any password attacks:

- Use strong alphanumeric passwords with special characters.

- Abstain from using the same password for multiple websites or accounts.

- Update your passwords; this will limit your exposure to a password attack.

- Do not have any password hints in the open.

4. Man-in-the-Middle Attack

A Man-in-the-Middle Attack (MITM) is also known as an eavesdropping attack. In this attack, an attacker comes in between a two-party communication, i.e., the attacker hijacks the session between a client and host. By doing so, hackers steal and manipulate data.

MITM attacks can be prevented by following steps:

- Be mindful of the security of the website you are using. Use encryption on your devices.

- Refrain from using public Wi-Fi networks.

5. Insider Threat

As the name suggests, an insider threat does not involve a third party but an insider. In such a case; it could be an individual from within the organization who knows everything about the organization.

To prevent an insider threat attack:

- Organizations should have a good culture of security awareness.

- Companies must limit the IT resources staff can have access to depending on their job roles.

- Organizations must train employees to spot insider threats.

With the increasing number of cyber crimes today, it is necessary to be aware of cyber attacks, understand when a hacker has manipulated or is attempting to misuse the organization's data, and how one can protect their network.

Looking for more Cybersecurity tips to Adopt?

Recommended reads...

Labor Day GCD

We hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend/week full of rest and recharge!

We've moved! Our new mailing address is

9890 Liberia Ave #1234 Manassas, VA 20110

Don't miss out our announcements on Social Media!

Questions?