Ctrl+Alt+Azure

In this episode, we reflect on Microsoft certifications and what value they provide. It's been a while since we last looked at these, and plenty has happened - what's new, what's retired, and what's useful in 2026? We also reflect on the usefulness of certifications for juniors and seniors.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:10) - Show content starts.Show links- Certification Poster- New AI business solutions credentials- Certification updates- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we look at Microsoft Agent 365 and Entra Agent ID. What are these new capabilities, and why should you care? We dissect them both, in contrast with agentic engineering, vibe coding, and the growing needs of governing agents.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:52) - Show content starts.Show links- What is Entra Agent ID?- What is Agent 365?- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a deeper look at Defender for Cloud and Cloud Security Posture Management. We reflect on what this is all about, what you can do, and how you should approach the capabilities as part of CSPM.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(02:42) - Show content starts.Show links- What is Defender CSPM- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:43) - Show content starts.Show links- Entra ID-based identities for Azure Blob Storage SFTP- GA: Draft & Deploy on Azure Firewall- Microsoft 365 E7 (and Agent 365)- Azure Skills Plugin- Defender for Cloud release notes- Microsoft Sentinel what's new- Defender XDR what's new- Microsoft Entra releases and announcements- AKS supported Kubernetes versions- AKS security bulletins- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we look at the newly released Microsoft Cloud Security Benchmark v2, which is now in preview. What is it, why should you care - and what changed since v1? We take it for a spin, discuss aspects of governance and regulatory compliance, and how to apply them in practice.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:57) - Show content starts.Show links- MCSB v2- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a focused look at Startup-Scale Landing Zones. We've previously discussed Enterprise-scale Landing Zones and how the default model from the Cloud Adoption Framework is the usual approach for new deployments. SSLZ is an opinionated approach that is better suited to smaller environments. We talk about the pros, cons, differences, and how to get started.(00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:51) - Show content starts.Show links- Startup-Scale Landing Zone (GitHub)- Nice intro page for SSLZ- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we're not diving deep into a single feature of Azure - instead, we'll talk and share our insights on how to build a career working with Microsoft security. What should you know? What's relevant? What's less relevant? What are the core skills you should have? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:51) - Show content starts.Show links- No links this week :)- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at the transition from "vibe-coding" to shipping verifiable, production-grade AI applications. This is the critical shift from relying on "gut feel" and prompt tinkering to implementing rigorous audit trails, versioning, and security controls. We discuss why many AI pilots fail due to a lack of explainability, the specific risks of privilege expansion and data leakage in agentic workflows, and also outline how to use Microsoft Foundry/Azure AI Studio to operationalize your models like true regulated software. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(05:30) - Show content starts.Show links- RedAmon (GitHub) for automated agentic offensive security- Give us feedback!

In this week's episode, we look at recent Microsoft Tech updates. By popular request, we're expanding our scope beyond Azure to include Microsoft 365, Power Platform, and related Microsoft platforms and capabilities. What's new? What's interesting? What's retiring? (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:30) - Show content starts.Show links- Preview: Virtual Network Routing Appliance- Claude and Codex on Agent HQ (Github Copilot)- Disabling NTLM by default- What's new in Microsoft Sentinel- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at the Unified Tenant Configuration Management APIs, or UTCM. This is a set of capabilities that allow you to monitor and extract tenant configuration for automated and code-based monitoring and management. We discuss why you would use these, how they work, and also try them out by building tooling around the APIs. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:13) - Show content starts.Show links- UTCM APIs- Jussi's vibe-coded tooling on GitHub- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we take a look at Windows Backup for Organizations. What's the capability, and why should you use it? What's required, and anything that's missing from it? We discuss backups in general, also, and provide insights on what you should back up. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(03:30) - Show content starts.Show links- Windows Backup for Organizations- LEGO Arcade Machine (40805)- Give us feedback!

In this episode, we dissect the newly refreshed Well-Architected Framework guidance on building AI workloads. What is AI, actually? The guidance is organized into sections, and we walk through each one, sharing our insights and thoughts. (00:00) - Intro and catching up.(04:26) - Show content starts.Show links- Google Gemini- AI Workload guidance in Well-Architected Framework- Reference architectures- Give us feedback!