Mike Owens
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qu13t0ne.bsky.social
Mike Owens
@qu13t0ne.bsky.social
Infosec at @TrustedSec.com. Remediation. Cloud and systems hardening. Risk management. Always learning.
https://michaelowens.me
New blog in which my team and I go down the rabbit hole of Entra privileged roles and try to make sense of things... Check it out and let us know what you think!
Confused by Entra ID’s admin roles? You’re not alone. In our blog, our Remediation Team cuts through the noise with a three-tier model that highlights which roles matter most and how to secure each one—resulting in a consistent and smarter identity strategy. Read now! trustedsec.com/blog/managin...
Managing Privileged Roles in Microsoft Entra ID: A Pragmatic Approach
trustedsec.com
November 18, 2025 at 4:10 PM
Reposted by Mike Owens
Good statement from the US conference of Catholic Bishops
November 14, 2025 at 2:17 AM
Reposted by Mike Owens
BREAKING: At Pope Leo XIV’s urging, U.S. Catholic bishops just delivered the strongest rebuke of a sitting president in Church history — condemning Trump-Vance raids as “inhumane” and “dehumanizing” in a 216–5 vote.
NEW: At Pope Leo’s Urging, Bishops Issue Historic Rebuke of Trump’s Raids
Nearly all U.S. Catholic bishops united in Baltimore to denounce the Trump administration’s “inhumane” deportation campaign — a near-unanimous, unprecedented moral stand against a sitting president.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Oh come on!
And yet I've been in this field long enough that I'm not even surprised.
the password to the louvre surveillance server was "louvre"

www.thesocialpost.it/2025/11/02/f...
November 3, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Reposted by Mike Owens
"We’ve reached out to Google to inquire about why a custom ROM created by volunteers [@grapheneos.org] is more resistant to industrial phone hacking than the official Pixel OS. We’ll update this article if Google has anything to say." arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025...
Leaker reveals which Pixels are vulnerable to Cellebrite phone hacking
Cellebrite can apparently extract data from most Pixel phones, unless they’re running GrapheneOS.
arstechnica.com
October 31, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Reposted by Mike Owens
Headed to the Queen City Conference? Don’t miss @qu13t0ne.bsky.social presenting “I Will Survive: Protecting Backup and Recovery in the Age of Ransomware” on Friday, November 7 at 1:00 PM. See you there, Cincinnati! queencitycon.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Which public cloud infrastructure provider will go down today and why does nobody care if it's GCP?
October 30, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Excited to share that I'm presenting at Queen City Conference in Cincinnati, Nov. 7-9. Join me Friday afternoon for "I Will Survive: Protecting Backup and Recovery in the Age of Ransomware". See you there! queencitycon.org
#cybersecurity #conference #backups #ransomware
October 28, 2025 at 7:56 PM
"It turns out, in the end, that there’s only one check and balance that actually matters: Good character. Everything else in a constitutional system follows and relies on that simple foundation." Another incisive take from @vermontgmg.bsky.social
www.doomsdayscenario.co/p/the-only-c...
The only check-and-balance that actually matters
www.doomsdayscenario.co
October 23, 2025 at 11:08 AM
Reposted by Mike Owens
Pls, usem Linux
This is the future of Windows. Microsoft wants to rewrite Windows to turn computers into AI PCs that you talk to. It's now bringing AI features to all Windows 11 PCs today, in a bid to convince you to talk to your PC and let AI control it. Full details 👇 www.theverge.com/news/799768/...
Microsoft wants you to talk to your PC and let AI control it
Copilot Voice and Vision are now rolling out.
www.theverge.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Reposted by Mike Owens
Just an astonishing, powerful op-ed that drives home what we are losing and what's already been lost.

We are so incredibly fortunate to live with the advances modern medicine and health science. Destroying and stymieing it is just unforgivable.

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
Opinion | We Ran the C.D.C.: Kennedy Is Endangering Every American’s Health
www.nytimes.com
September 1, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Check out my latest work -- a framework for ensuring you can recover from backups when disaster strikes!
You’ve made backups, now it’s time to make them resilient. In our new blog, Mike Owens presents the Defensive Backup Infrastructure Controls framework, a system he developed to protect backups, harden systems, and ensure recovery during data loss or attacks. Read now! trustedsec.com/blog/protect...
Protecting Backup and Recovery in the Age of Ransomware
trustedsec.com
August 28, 2025 at 5:54 PM
"'Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now,' [Minneapolis Mayor Jacob] Frey said at a news conference outside the school. 'These kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school. They were in a church.'"
apnews.com/live/minneap...
Live updates: Shooter at a Minneapolis Catholic school kills 2 children, injures 17 people
A gunman identified as Robin Westman has killed two children and injured 17 other people at a Minnesota Catholic school on Wednesday before killing himself, officials said.
apnews.com
August 27, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by Mike Owens
We haven't learned a darn thing.
My heart breaks into 10,000 pieces once again.
August 27, 2025 at 4:22 AM
Reposted by Mike Owens
They're in Georgetown, which if you know Washington, tells you how stupid this invasion of DC is.
This is so dumb. The FBI has actual skills to contribute to fighting crime—and walking a beat in Georgetown as a large group in tactical gear isn’t it. This is public safety LARPing.
FBI, DEA and other law enforcement recorded in Georgetown walking around

“There’s not much going on around here… maybe they’re practicing”
August 13, 2025 at 11:49 AM
Reposted by Mike Owens
Former CISA Director Jen Easterly responds to the DOD retracting her teaching position at West Point due to Loomer's conspiracy theories

www.linkedin.com/pulse/harder...
The Harder Right
I spent 25 years in uniform, including four as a cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point and two and a half more teaching economics and national security at West Point’s Department of Social Sciences, USMA (a.k.
www.linkedin.com
July 31, 2025 at 9:43 PM
Today is the 157th anniversary of the official adoption of the #14thAmendment to the U.S. #Constitution. Seems like an appropriate time to post the text of article 1 in particular, just in case anyone has forgotten what it says:
"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, ...
(1/3)
July 28, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Reposted by Mike Owens
me: they’re just-
wife: don’t say it
me: ...
wife: I mean it
me: ...
wife: ...
me: lion there
July 25, 2025 at 1:10 PM
With the demise of @mozilla.org #pocket app, I'm switching to #selfhosted #wallabag. To migrate my thousands of saved articles and hundreds of favorites, ended up building a few scripts to fix migration deficiencies on both sides. Check it out if you're moving too: github.com/qu13t0ne/poc...
GitHub - qu13t0ne/pocket2wallabag: PowerShell scripts to ease the migration from Pocket (RIP) to wallabag
PowerShell scripts to ease the migration from Pocket (RIP) to wallabag - qu13t0ne/pocket2wallabag
github.com
July 6, 2025 at 1:42 AM
What saves a man is to take a step.
Then another step.
It is always the same step,
but you have to take it.
(Saint-Exupéry)
June 12, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Nice clear article on setting up break glass monitoring in Microsoft Entra
www.thetechtrails.com/2025/06/moni...
Monitoring Microsoft Entra ID Break Glass Accounts: Best Practices & Real-Time Alerts Part 1/2
Monitor Entra ID break glass accounts with real-time alerts, audit logs, and best practices to ensure emergency access is always secure
www.thetechtrails.com
June 11, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Finished watching #Andor last night. So good all around. Story telling, characters, cinematography, complexities of motivations both good and I'll.

A show timely and relevant, unfortunately.
June 8, 2025 at 3:34 PM
Reposted by Mike Owens
I have friends everywhere.
June 8, 2025 at 11:34 AM
C'mon folks, it's 2025. If your Disaster Recovery Plan doesn't account for a major ransomware attack, what are we even doing here?

No, this isn't about anyone in particular. But if you feel triggered right now, just think of this as a friendly nudge.
May 2, 2025 at 4:01 PM