Office 365 tops Salesforce as most popular enterprise service

A new report from Okta shows businesses picking up Microsoft's office suite

Microsoft's Office 365 has passed Salesforce.com as the most popular service among companies that use Okta's device and identity management products, according to a new report released Thursday.

From November 2013 to June 2015, Microsoft went from being the fourth most popular service to passing Google Apps, Box and recently Salesforce.com to become the most-used app among the more than 2,500 companies that rely on Okta's services. Those businesses range from large enterprises like Intel to smaller firms with fewer than 250 people.

Unsurprisingly, 74 percent of large businesses with more than 4,000 employees run only Office 365, while just 50 percent of businesses with fewer than 250 employees subscribe only to Microsoft's office suite. It's most popular in the U.S., Canada and Western Europe.
Office 365 vs. Google Apps
Okta

Percentage of businesses using Office 365 vs. Google Apps

The massive adoption of Microsoft's new Office services has been driven by companies that want to use Exchange Online, according to Okta Chief Product Officer Eric Berg.

"I would say my street knowledge tells me that predominantly people are buying Office 365 for hosted Exchange," he said.

In addition, Berg said that Microsoft has an advantage over other services like Google Apps because they don't have to retrain employees who are already familiar with using Office for tasks like sending and receiving email through Outlook.

He went on to say that businesses implementing Office 365 will likely be rolling it out to many more users than something like Salesforce, since it includes applications and services like email that are applicable to most if not all of the users in an enterprise compared to something like Salesforce that's tailored for one part of the organization.

While Office 365 is ascendant, those gains didn't translate into user growth for Yammer, the enterprise social networking service that Microsoft bundles with many editions of its office suite. That service's user growth flatlined over the past few months, even as other applications exploded in popularity.

Berg, a former director of product management at Microsoft, said that the company has added Yammer as a feature of many of its Office 365 plans to encourage adoption.

"I think what you see happening here in the data is that Yammer, as an entity, as a product, as a business has lost a lot of focus independently in pushing [itself]," Berg said. "And what they've been focused on is integrating into Office 365, and their bet is just as that hockey stick curve is going up on Office 365, that's at least going to get everybody who buys that exposure to Yammer. Whether or not they actually use it, that's another question."

While Yammer isn't showing massive gains, its quasi-competitor Slack has seen major adoption among Okta's users, with its customer base growing 50 percent between April 2015 and June 2015 alone. Customers who want to use Okta's tools with Slack have to pay for the service, to boot -- there could be an even larger population of companies out there who are choosing to just use its free tier and not integrate it with Okta.

Overall, Berg said that the potential for new companies to come in and release a product that takes the business world by storm depends on what market they plan on entering. The enterprise collaboration world is still open to new entrants, but it's going to be more difficult for other companies to shake Microsoft's dominance with Office 365.

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Top 10 technology schools

Interested in going to one of the best colleges or universities to study technology? Here are the top 10 schools known for their computer science and engineering programs.

Top technology schools
Every year, Money releases its rankings of every college and university in the U.S., and not surprisingly, a number of those top schools are leaders in the tech space. Here are the top 10 technology schools, according to Money's most recent survey of the best colleges in America.

Stanford University
First on the list for not only technology colleges, but all colleges, Stanford University has an impressive 96 percent graduation rate. The average price for a degree is $178,731 and students earn, on average, $64,400 per year upon graduation. Stanford's global engineering program allows its 4,850 students to travel around the globe while studying engineering. There are nine departments in the engineering program: aeronautics and astronautics, bioengineering, chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, management science and engineering, materials science and engineering, and mechanical engineering.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, located in Cambridge, Mass., is the second best technology school in the country, with a 93 percent graduation rate. The average net price of a degree comes in at a $166,855, but students can expect an average starting salary of $72,500 per year after graduating. As one of the top engineering schools, it's ranked number 1 for chemical, aerospace/aeronautical, computer and electrical engineering. The top employers for the 57 percent of graduates that enter the workforce immediately include companies like Google, Amazon, Goldman Sachs and ExxonMobil. Another 32 percent of students, however, go on to pursue a higher degree.

California Institute of Technology
Located in Pasadena, Calif, the California Institute of Technology has a graduation rate of 93 percent. The average cost of a degree is $186,122, and students earn an average starting salary of $72,300. CalTech, as it's often called, has departments in aerospace, applied physics and materials studies, computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering, environmental science and engineering, mechanical and civil engineering, and medical engineering. The prestigious college is also home to 31 recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Harvey Mudd College
Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif., has a strong technology program, putting it at number 4 on the list of top technology schools. The cost of tuition is also one of the highest on this list, at $196,551 for a degree. Graduates of Harvey Mudd earn an average of $76,400 early on in their careers and the graduation rate is 91 percent. The engineering program at Harvey Mudd College focuses on helping students apply their skills to real world situations. Students can get professional experience and help solve design problems outside of the classroom through an engineering clinic.

Harvard University
Harvard University, located in Cambridge, Mass., technically ties with Harvey Mudd for top technology schools, and top overall colleges. The graduation rate is 97 percent and the average price of a degree is $187, 763 while graduates earn an average annual salary of $60,000 when starting their careers. In the Jon A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard, which goes back as far as 1847, undergraduate students can study applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, computer science, electrical engineering, engineering sciences and mechanical engineering.

University of California at Berkeley
The University of California at Berkeley has a graduation rate of 91 percent, and students can get a degree for around $133,549. After graduation, the average salary for students starting out their careers is $58,300 per year. The electrical engineering and computer science division of the University of California at Berkeley has around 2,000 undergraduate students and is the largest department within the university.

University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania, located in Philadelphia, Penn., has a graduation rate of 96 percent and the average cost of a degree is $194,148. Students graduating from Penn and starting out their careers earn an average annual starting salary of $59,200. The Penn engineering department focuses on computer and information science. Students can study computer science, computer engineering, digital media design, networked and social systems engineering, computer science, computational biology as well as computer and cognitive science.

Rice University
Located in Houston, Rice University has a graduation rate of 91 percent and the average cost of a degree is $157,824. Upon graduation, the average starting salary for students comes in at $61,200 per year. Rice University has a Department of Computer Science where students can work in faculty research programs and describes the perfect computer science student as a "mathematician seeking adventure," a quote from system architect Bob Barton. In the electrical and computer engineering department, students can prepare for a career in oil and gas, wearables, entertainment, renewable energy, gaming, healthcare, space industry, security and aviation.

Brigham Young University-Provo
Brigham Young University-Provo, located in Provo, Utah, has a graduation rate of 78 percent, but students won't have as many loans as other colleges on this list. The average price of a degree is a moderate $80,988 and the average starting salary for graduates is around $51,600 per year. Brigham Young University-Provo offers degrees in electrical engineering, computer engineering and computer science. With a wide array of programs to choose from in each degree, Brigham Young University-Provo boasts a rigorous course load with an emphasis on gaining practical skills for the workforce.

Texas A&M University
College Station, Texas, is home to Texas A&M University where 79 percent of students graduate and the average cost of a degree is $84,732. Students can expect to earn an average starting salary of $54,000 per year after graduation. The Texas A&M computer science and engineering programs boasts an "open, accepting, and compassionate community that encourages the exploration of ideas." Students should expect to leave the program prepared to help solve real-world challenges in the technology industry through applied research.

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How to uninstall Windows 10 and go back to Windows 7 or 8

Did you upgrade to Windows 10 and regret it? You can go back to your older operating system in a few clicks.

You’ve had Windows 10 for more than a week now, but try as you might the new operating system’s just not working out for you. Maybe a mission critical program doesn’t work properly, maybe you hate the new Start menu, or maybe Cortana is giving you the creeps.

If that sounds like you, it might be time to downgrade back to your past operating system and try again later.

To make life easier on Windows 7 and 8.1 converts, Microsoft will allow you to rollback your Windows 10 installation to the previous operating system for 30 days post-upgrade. Don’t worry—if you want to come back later, you can still take advantage of the free Windows 10 upgrade for the next year.

Keep in mind that downgrading to your older OS requires that you still have your Windows.old folder at C:\Windows.old. If you typically delete that after upgrading, or you’ve done a post-upgrade clean install of Windows 10, you’re out of luck.

Getting ready for the rollback
Before you use the rollback option, take the time to set a few things set up. First of all, make sure all your data is backed up on an external hard drive, or with a cloud-based back-up service like Backblaze or Carbonite.

You might also want to make sure you have your old Windows 7 or 8 product keys handy just in case. You shouldn’t need them, but it can’t hurt to have them on hand if you want to be careful. Don’t worry about saving your Windows 10 product keys—those are handled differently than in previous versions of the OS.

The keys for your previous operating should either be on a sticker on the back of your PC (under the battery if you’re on a laptop), or included with the system discs that came with your PC.

Once you’ve got all of that organized, it’s time to get with the rollback. Open the Start menu, select the Settings app, and go to Update & Security > Recovery.

windows 10 rollback
If you're eligible to downgrade you should see an option that says Go back to Windows 8.1 or Go back to Windows 7. If you see it, click Get started and follow along with the wizard.

Once you’ve returned to your previous version of Windows, you need to tinker with it to perfect your setup once again. Older programs may need to be reinstalled, and if you had a different password on the older system than you did with Windows 10, you’ll have to sign-in with that one.

Getting to this tutorial after the 30-day grace period has passed? If you need to downgrade to your past operating system and Windows 10's rollback option is gone, you’ll either need recovery discs generated from your original Windows 7 or 8 machine to do a clean install of your old system, or have a system image backup stashed somewhere.

If that doesn’t work, your last option is to install Windows 7 or 8.1 in a virtual machine on your Windows 10 system—if you can get your hands on a product key and the older system discs. It’s a pain, but a VM will work surprisingly well for those times when only Windows 7 or 8.1 will do.

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Symantec: Well-heeled hacking group Black Vine behind Anthem breach

A group has been singled out as the attacker behind the recently disclosed hack against Anthem, believed to be the largest waged against a health care company.

It was Black Vine that broke into the health insurer's systems and stole more than 80 million patients records, Symantec said Tuesday in a report.

For Black Vine, it was the latest in a long line of hacks that began in 2012. Black Vine has gone after other businesses that deal with sensitive and critical data, including organizations in the aerospace, technology and finance industries, according to Symantec. The majority of the attacks (82 percent) were waged against U.S. businesses.

Black Vine has deep pockets, giving the group the resources to customize malware, and uses zero-day vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer to launch watering-hole attacks. The IE exploits were used to install malware that gave Black Vine remote access to a victim's computer. To evade detection, Black Vine frequently updates its malware, according to Symantec.

The three modified malware strains Black Vine uses are Sakurel and Hurix, which are detected as Backdoor.Mivast, and Mivast, which is detected as Trojan.Sakurel.

Symantec claimed some Black Vine members have ties to Topsec, a Chinese IT security company, and the group has access to the Edlerwood framework, a platform for distributing new zero-day vulnerabilities. During its research, Symantec discovered Black Vine began using exploits around the same time as other hacking groups. Each group delivered different malware and went after certain organizations, but the fact that they used the same exploit suggests the attackers relied on the same distribution network.

One of the group's first attacks came in December 2012 against gas turbine manufacturer Capstone Turbine, Symantec said. That hack used the IE exploit CVE-2012-4792 and delivered the Sakurel malware. Symantec noted that the malware was signed with a digital certificate attributed to a company called Micro Digital, fooling Windows into believing the program was legitimate.

That same month, another unnamed turbine power manufacturer was attacked using Sakurel, leading Symantec to believe Black Vine was going after businesses in the energy industry.

In 2013 and 2014, Black Vine targeted companies in the aviation and aerospace industries. One third-party blog cited by Symantec noted that in 2013 specific employees at a global airline were sent spear phishing emails containing a URL that instructed them to download Hurix.

Black Vine compromised the website of a European aerospace company in 2014, accessing the company's domain and using it to attack the site's visitors. To carry out this attack, Black Vine used the IE vulnerability CVE-2014-0322 and installed an updated version of Sakurel on a victim's computer.

The Black Vine malware Mivast was used in the Anthem breach, according to Symantec. Anthem said the hack likely began in May 2014, but that it didn't realize its systems had been comprised until January. The company, which is one of the largest health insurance providers in the U.S., disclosed the breach in February. Hackers made off with personal data including names, birth dates, member ID numbers and Social Security numbers. Like the Capstone Turbine attack, the Mivast malware was signed with a fake digital certificate.

Symantec reckons spear phishing emails were used to deliver the malware since evidence of a watering hole attack wasn't reported. Anthem's IT staff was probably the attack's intended target, given that the malware was concealed as software related to technology like VPNs, said the security research company.

Anthem didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

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