Modern Work Mindset

These are the source links for the January 2026 Microsoft recap article from my LinkedIn page.  Follow me there to keep up with Microsoft news, changes and overall updates. 

These are the official Microsoft references I used to write the Secure Score article, focused on how scoring works, how recommendations are evaluated, and how to document third-party mitigations. If you want to sanity-check a claim or go deeper on a specific section, start here. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-xdr/microsoft-secure-score Microsoft’s main overview of Secure Score: what it is, what it measures, how scoring works (including partial points), and how non-Microsoft solutions/alternate mitigations can still earn points. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/defender-xdr/microsoft-secure-score-improvement-actions How to read the Secure Score dashboard and recommendations list, including the different score views (planned, current license, achievable), recommendation statuses (planned, risk accepted, resolved via third party/alternate mitigation), and typical update timing (24–48 hours). https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/entra/identity/monitoring-health/concept-identity-s...

 Microsoft week in review 1/18/26 - 1/24/26 sources: Windows 11 out-of-band update (Jan 24, 2026) — Cumulative OOB patch for Win11 23H2 when you need the “stop the bleeding” fix. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/january-24-2026-kb5078132-os-build-22631-6495-out-of-band-ae8525fd-a0a8-4b9b-bba9-c647ea5dc8dd ( Microsoft Support ) Security baseline for Microsoft 365 Apps (v2512) — Updated recommended security configs for M365 Apps; expect policy/config ripple effects. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/microsoft-security-baselines/security-baseline-for-m365-apps-for-enterprise-v2512/4487213 ( TECHCOMMUNITY.MICROSOFT.COM ) Exchange: Message Trace support using Graph API (Public Preview) — New Graph-based message trace path; relevant if you automate trace/reporting. https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/blog/exchange/message-trace-support-using-graph-api-is-now-in-public-preview/4488587 ( TECHCOMMUNITY.MICROSOFT.COM ) Exchange: Public folder data + retention questions — H...

MICROSOFT 365 BACKUP (MICROSOFT’S DEDICATED BACKUP SERVICE) Microsoft 365 Backup overview (what it is, what workloads it covers): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/backup/backup-overview?view=o365-worldwide Microsoft 365 Backup documentation hub: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/backup/?view=o365-worldwide Set up Microsoft 365 Backup: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/backup/backup-setup?view=o365-worldwide Microsoft 365 Backup product page (high-level overview): https://adoption.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-backup/ SERVICE RESILIENCY AND DATA RESILIENCY (WHAT MICROSOFT COVERS) Built-in service resiliency in Microsoft 365: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/assurance/assurance-m365-service-resiliency Resiliency and continuity (Microsoft Service Assurance): https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/compliance/assurance/assurance-resiliency-and-continuity SharePoint and OneDrive data resiliency in Microsoft 365: https://learn.microsoft.co...

These are sources for the LinkedIn article of The System Engineer’s Guide to SharePoint Online Basics