DEV Community: Folashade Chijioke

Secure Your Computer Against Unattended Access(Windows)

Folashade Chijioke — Thu, 06 Feb 2025 10:07:22 +0000

We would take a look at a scenario based question to explore how to secure you PC basically for windows OS.

Scenario
As a seasoned IT professional, it is incumbent on you to ensure that the work area is as safe as possible. This means implementing best practices regarding cyber safety procedures and physical steps that can be enacted to protect company property and data. As part of your job description, it is important to educate staff members on the best procedures. In this exercise, you are to teach employees to strengthen the security of their workstations. The advantage of this is to strengthen company security by not allowing an authorized device to be used to access the system. Concretely you are to ensure that all workstations
left unattended for 1 minute automatically lock and require
a login on reactivation.
Step 1: Set up screen saver
Right click on the background of your windows PC and select Personalize

Alternatively, you can select Settings from the Start menu and select Personalize. While in this menu you can change settings
to suit your personal taste.

Step 2: Set Lock screen
Here, navigate to the lock screen. This menu allows you to configure what images are displayed on tour screen and for how long.

You have successfully set up a lock screen against unattended access, so that anytime your PC is inactive for about 1min,2min or based on your preferential set time the screen automatically locks to prevent access to an intruder.

Creating A user Account on Your Local Machine

Folashade Chijioke — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 12:04:19 +0000

Hey Dev.to!

Here is a scenario based question to practice using your local PC.

You have been asked to set up a new computer for a company staff member. He will require a user account to access his essential work applications and files, but he shouldn't have administrative privilege over the system.

We shall be using Windows

Step 1: Create a standard user account.
Open Start>Settings>Accounts>family & Other users

Select add other user> add account

Select I don't have this person's sign-in information then Next
Then click Add a user without a Microsoft account then Next

Fill the required information as seen below.
Fill the security questions below then select Next
and voila the staff member's account is set.

Step 2: Set your user permissions

Return to Settings>Accounts> Other users
Seek for the newly created account under the Other users and click on it
Select Change account type
under the account type select standard user from the dropdown menu
Then click Ok to comfirm

Step 3: Grant specific Permissions

Settings> Privacy & Security
Under App permissions, you can explore any permission settings. Note:Grant only the minimum access required for the user's job function

Wow! you have successfully created a standard user account.
You should grant administrator privileges only when absolutely necessary and to trusted users.

Checking Users on your Local Machine

Folashade Chijioke — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 15:29:12 +0000

Introduction

Take this opportunity to check your own system for users and their allowed privileges. Note that there are separate instructions for Windows and MacOS users.

Windows

Step 1: Navigate to user location--

The following steps below reveals how to find users associated with a computer in the windows utility

Select the windows icon on the taskbar at the bottom of your screen.
Click on the settings icon from the menu, this leads to windows setting utility.

Step 2: Select Accounts

Click on Accounts
In the accounts settings menu, click on family and others option. All the accounts created on your computer and their permissions will be listed there.

Using an Existing Windows VM To Create And Attach a Data Disk And Initialise It For Use.

Folashade Chijioke — Tue, 09 Jul 2024 16:34:10 +0000

OS DISK

The OS disk on a Windows VM refers to the virtual hard disk that contains the operating system. It’s the primary disk that a virtual machine (VM) boots from and is pre-installed with the selected OS when the VM is created.
This disk includes the boot volume and it's recommended to store only the OS information on the disk.

TEMPORARY DISK

The Temporary disk is a storage space that is provided automatically with each VM
This disk is located on the physical server where the VM is hosted and is intended for temporary data storage.
Data on the temporary disk may be lost during a maintenance event, when you redeploy a VM, or when you stop the VM.
On Azure Linux VMs, the temporary disk is typically /dev/sdb and on Windows VMs the temporary disk is D: by default.

DATA DISK

Data disk is a managed disk that's attached to a virtual machine to store application data instead of storing them on the OS also for storing other data you need to keep.
The size of your virtual machine will determine how many data disks you can attach to it and the type of storage you can use to host the disks.
Data Disk offer the following benefits:
Improved Backup and Disaster Recovery, More flexibility and scalability,
Performance isolation, Easier maintenance, Improved security and access control.

Let's delve into the practical hands-on of how to attach a data disk and initialize it for use

Login to the Azure portal open and connect to your windows 11 VM
Once connected click on the File explorer as highlighted(red) on the image
The file explorer opens up this page; observe and note the disks available, you will notice there 3 disks:
Disk (C:) - Windows OS Disk, Disk (D:) - Temporary Disk and Disk (E:) The DVD Drive
There isn't a Data disk yet, we shall be attaching the Data disk either by creating an independent data disk and attach to an existing VM or from the VM create and attack the disk

From the Portal open the existing windows VM, from the menu click on Settings, then click on Disks click create and attach a new disk

Give a name to the disk, pick a storage type e.g Standard SSD, or Premium SSD according to your desired need. You can also decide to increase or decrease the size of your disk from 4-8GiB or more then Apply
Once you apply it will create and update the VM
Now Connect back to the VM and right click on the windows icon below then click on Disk management

Click on OK to initialise the disk from the initialise prompt from the context menu
Scroll down the disks and right-click on "Disk 2", click on "New Simple volume" from the context menu that pops up

When the New Simple Volume Wizards context menu appears, click on "Next" till "Finish"

once the initialization is complete, it opens up to the page below.

You can close up this page and click on file explorer, click on my PC and it will open up the page that displays the Disks, you now see the New Volume (F:)

And Voila!! your Data disk is ready for use

You can click on the disk to rename for your personal need, also upload files for your local machine

Unleash The Power of Azure: Creating A Linux VM with SSH keys Security.

Folashade Chijioke — Sun, 02 Jun 2024 03:30:27 +0000

Hey dev.to community! Ready to level up your cloud game? Today we're diving into Microsoft Azure to create a Linux virtual Machine(VM) with the added security of SSH keys. Ditch those risky passwords and embrace a more secure way to access your cloud resources.

Why SSH keys on Azure?

Let's kick things off with a quick rundown of why SSH keys are the way to go for your Azure VMs:

Fortress-like Security: SSH keys offer solid protection against brute-force attacks, making your VM virtually impenetrable.
Streamlined Access: Say goodbye to typing passwords every time you log in. SSH keys make connecting to your VM seamless.
Automation Ace: SSH keys are a delight for automating y=tasks like deployments, updates and maintenance on your VM

What You'll Need For This Adventure

An Azure Account: No account? No problem! Sign up for a free Azure trial to get started.
Linux Knowledge: Basic familiarity with Linux commands, and Azure portal will make it a breeze.

Let's Build Your Linux Fortress!
Step 1: log in to Azure portal
Head over to Azure portal(https://portal.azure.com/) and log in with your credentials.

Step 2: Create a New Virtual Machine
Just like creating a windows VM from our last post:

Go to the search box and type "virtual machine" then click.
On the Virtual machine page, click "Create", under create click on the option "Azure virtual machine"

Create a Resource group
Name your VM (e.g. "MyLinuxVM").
Select your region(for optimal performance, choose one close to you).
Choose an Availability zone(e.g. Zone 1, 2 or any other option peculiar to you)
Leave security type in its default state(Trusted Launch)
Under "Image", pick your preferred Linux distribution e.g. Ubuntu.

Step 3: Authentication

Under "Authentication Type" select "SSH public key"

Configure Your VM

Choose the VM size that matches your needs, start small; you can always scale up later
Set up network if needed:; you can leave at default network provided by Azure.
Inbound port should be on SSH(22)
_ Leave every other configuration at their default for now as our main focus is creating a VM with Linux OS

Step 5: Review and Create

Give your settings a final check and click "Create". Azure will get to provisioning your Linus VM once your validation is passed.

N:B Validation may not get passed when some of your configurations(Network, image, region, resource and others) are not complete or unsupported by Azure at the moment or by Azure services. Once you get such feedback, you can go back and double check where the error lies, then align.

While Azure is provisioning your Linux VM, copy the prompt on your screen "Download private key and create resource"

Just like the windows VM, your deployment gets complete

Step 6: Connect with your SSH key

Click on "Go to resources" select "Connect" then "Native SSH" this opens up instructions on how to connect to your Linux VM, but we shall connect using the CLI or the Powershell.

Open a CLI or Powershell from your PC
Type in the following command "ssh -i /path/to/your/private key/ your vmuser@yourvmpublicIP for example:
```
ssh C:\Users\User\Documents\Mytestubuntu_key.pem azureuser@ 20.75.82.93 press "Enter"
```

And Voila! here comes your Linux VM interface

Step by Step Guide to Launching a Windows 11 VM on Azure.

Folashade Chijioke — Tue, 28 May 2024 17:14:16 +0000

Are you ready to dive into the world of cloud computing? Today,I'm going to walk you through how to spin up a windows 11 virtual machine (VM) on Microsoft Azure, the cloud platform that's got everyone buzzing.

Why Azure VMs?

Before we get hands-on let's quickly cover why you'd want a windows 11 VM on Azure.

Scalability: Need more power? Azure's got your back. Easily adjust your VM's resources as your needs go.
Flexibility: Azure's global network means you can deploy your VM in the region that works best for you.
Cost Efficiency: Only pay for what you use, no hefty upfront hardware investment required.
Windows 11 Goodness: Get all the latest features and security updates of windows 11 in a virtual environment.

Gear Up - What You'll Need

An Azure Account: If you don't have one, sign up for free account. You will get some free credits o play around with!
Basic Azure Knowledge: This guide assumes you're familiar with the Azure portal.

Let's Get Building!

Step 1: Open The Azure Portal
log in to the portal(https://portal.azure.com/). It's your control center for all Azure resources.

Step 2: Create a New virtual Machine

Click on "create a resource"> Compute > Virtual Machine Or you can click directly on "Virtual Machines"

On The Project Details: Choose a Subscription and resource group or (create a new one).

Name your VM (e.g.,"windows11VM")
Select your region (Pick one close to you for optimal performance).
For the image, choose "windows 11".

Step 3: Configure Your VM

Choose the size (VM type) that matches your need. Start small: you can always scale up later.
Set your Administrator username and password.
For inbound ports, select "Allow selected ports" and open port 3389 for RDP access.
Skip every other step for now until Review and Create.

Step 4: Review and Create
Double-check your settings and click "Create". Azure will now go to work and provision your windows 11 VM.

Step 5: Connect To Your VM

Once you click on "Create" your screen will read Validation passed

After the validation has been passed, it further indicates deployment in progress.

Deployment complete

Click on "Go to Resource" > "Connect" > "Connect" > "Download RDP file"
Connect using your Administrator credentials

Boom! you are now connected to your new windows 11 VM on Azure.