Through our work in the Microsoft AI for Accessibility program, we have learned there are big gaps in mental health services around the globe. In some countries, there may only be one mental health professional per 100,000 people. When paired with the reality that 1 in 5 people have a mental health condition, we are asking how technology can and should be involved. In February, we shared our call for project proposals that aim to accelerate mental health research, data insights, and innovations using AI, and today we want to highlight the projects we’re supporting.
Adaptive text-messaging with Mental Health America
Of the 89% of people who screened positive for major depression through Mental Health America’s online survey last year, 79% do not want to pursue psychotherapy or medications, yet 50% want access to digital tools. There are thousands of mental health apps available, but even the top 30 apps see 97% of people stop using them in the first two weeks.Northwestern Universityand University of Toronto, in partnership with Mental Health America, are developing an adaptive text-messaging service to help people better manage their mental health. Text messages can reach everyone with bite-sized information and prompts, and to increase people’s engagement, machine learning algorithms will be used to discover how to customize the content and timing of messages. By combining clinical psychology, human computer interaction, and machine learning, they hope to design interventions that are easily delivered, effective, and engaging.
Understanding empathy in text-based peer support
While understanding the time and frequency for when a person wants to engage with mental health prompts is important, the tone and language of messages plays a unique role. The University of Washington, in partnership with TalkLifeand Supportiv, are building a natural language model to understand empathy in text-based peer support. By adapting measurements of empathy developed in clinical therapy settings, they intend to create an annotation rubric for the millions of messages in their dataset, train models to recognize aspects of empathy, then offer suggestions to make responses more empathetic. This project will help researchers better understand the language of empathy within a mental health scenario and offer an opportunity to explore how to improve human connection among the peer support volunteer community and those seeking help.
Deliver more impactful services in India
In addition to online peer support forums, crisis lines may be one of the only ways people can get mental health support in some parts of the world. People calling for support can experience long wait times, dropped calls, or be matched with volunteers who don’t share the same sociocultural background or lived experiences. Georgia Tech, working with Befrienders India, is developing a dashboard and models intended to match crisis line callers with volunteers based on demographic and sociocultural characteristics, the needs and issues of the callers, and the lived experiences of the volunteers. The team aims to explore if AI can not only improve the efficiency and staffing of the crisis line system, but more importantly, help deliver more impactful services for people.
More to learn, more work to do
Digital tools and peer services are not replacements for mental health professionals, but our grantees will be investigating how to customize technology support for language, cultural background, help us communicate with each other with more empathy, and get nudges at times and in ways that are the most meaningful. We are grateful for the passion and commitment to inclusion each of our grantees has demonstrated and we look forward to sharing more as this research progresses.
If you are interested in applying for the Microsoft AI for Accessibility program, our next grant application deadline is on July 30, 2020 and is an open call for any project idea related to disability, accessibility, and AI. We will then two have additional focused award rounds, one on Smart Cities and Transportation with a deadline of December 15, 2020, and a second on Education with a deadline of March 12, 2021. Check out our application FAQ’s for more details on the program.
Today, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia unsealed documents detailing Microsoft’s work to disrupt cybercriminals that were taking advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic in an attempt to defraud customers in 62 countries around the world. Our civil case has resulted in a court order allowing Microsoft to seize control of key domains in the criminals’ infrastructure so that it can no longer be used to execute cyberattacks.
Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) first observed these criminals in December 2019, when they deployed a sophisticated, new phishing scheme designed to compromise Microsoft customer accounts. The criminals attempted to gain access to customer email, contact lists, sensitive documents and other valuable information. Based on patterns discovered at that time, Microsoft utilized technical means to block the criminals’ activity and disable the malicious application used in the attack. Recently, Microsoft observed renewed attempts by the same criminals, this time using COVID-19-related lures in the phishing emails to target victims.
This malicious activity is yet another form of business email compromise (BEC) attack, which has increased in complexity, sophistication and frequency in recent years. According to the FBI’s 2019 Internet Crime Report, the most-costly complaints received by their Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) involved BEC crimes, with losses of over $1.7 billion, representing nearly half of all financial losses due to cybercrime. While most of the public’s attention in recent years has justifiably focused on the malign acts of nation state actors, the increasing economic harm caused by cybercriminals must also be considered and confronted by the public and private sectors. For our part, Microsoft and our Digital Crimes Unit will continue to investigate and disrupt cybercriminals and will seek to work with law enforcement agencies around the world, whenever possible, to stop these crimes.
These cybercriminals designed the phishing emails to look like they originated from an employer or other trusted source and frequently targeted business leaders across a variety of industries, attempting to compromise accounts, steal information and redirect wire transfers. When the group first began carrying out this scheme, the phishing emails contained deceptive messages associated with generic business activities. For example, the malicious link in the email was titled with business terms such as “Q4 Report – Dec19,” as seen below.
Business-themed phishing email
With these recent efforts, however, the phishing emails instead contained messages regarding COVID-19 as a means to exploit pandemic-related financial concerns and induce targeted victims to click on malicious links. For example, using terms such as “COVID-19 Bonus,” as seen here.
COVID-19-themed phishing email
Once victims clicked on the deceptive links, they were ultimately prompted to grant access permissions to a malicious web application (web app). Web apps are familiar-looking as they are widely used in organizations to drive productivity, create efficiencies and increase security in a distributed network. Unknown to the victim, these malicious web apps were controlled by the criminals, who, with fraudulently obtained permission, could access the victim’s Microsoft Office 365 account. This scheme enabled unauthorized access without explicitly requiring the victims to directly give up their login credentials at a fake website or similar interface, as they would in a more traditional phishing campaign.
After clicking through the consent prompt for the malicious web app (pictured below), the victim unwittingly granted criminals permission to access and control the victims’ Office 365 account contents, including email, contacts, notes and material stored in the victims’ OneDrive for Business cloud storage space and corporate SharePoint document management and storage system.
Consent screen of the malicious web app
Microsoft takes many measures to monitor and block malicious web apps based on telemetry indicating atypical behavior and has continued to enhance our protections based on this activity. In cases where criminals suddenly and massively scale their activity and move quickly to adapt their techniques to evade Microsoft’s built-in defensive mechanisms, additional measures such as the legal action filed in this case are necessary. This unique civil case against COVID-19-themed BEC attacks has allowed us to proactively disable key domains that are part of the criminals’ malicious infrastructure, which is a critical step in protecting our customers.
As we’ve observed, cybercriminals have been adapting their lures to take advantage of current events, using COVID-19-related themes to deceive victims. While the lures may have changed, the underlying threats remain, evolve and grow, and it’s more important than ever to remain vigilant against cyberattacks.
The global pandemic has forever changed our workplaces and reshaped our cybersecurity priorities. While in recent months cloud apps have helped people around the globe stay productive and connected. They also pose an increased cybersecurity risk to businesses large and small, especially when you don’t know which cloud apps your employees may be using. Now, as many countries and companies are entering a new phase toward hybrid work environments, we must apply digital empathy—the idea that cyber systems need to provide both strong security and a great user experience—to address this critical security and compliance priority.
Even before COVID-19, software-as-a-service (SaaS) was growing rapidly because the cloud makes it easy and cost-effective for people to find the tools they need. At the same time, businesses using conventional security suites to try to address vulnerabilities and protect their estates were finding limited success with low visibility into their data, user behavior and sensitive data moving to the cloud.
According to a May 2020 Forrester Consulting Total Economic Impact™ (TEI) Study commissioned by Microsoft, these limitations have led to the rise of shadow IT, difficulty recognizing and remediating security threats, and the need to rapidly adapt to new compliance requirements for the cloud. The study interviewed four existing customers in four industries, including manufacturing, medical devices, education, and health care. It also provided a closer look at the potential financial impact of using Microsoft’s Cloud App Security solution to gain visibility of an organization’s native and third-party applications. That included easier monitoring of security and risks associated with cloud applications and sensitive data, improving detection and remediation of incidents, and improving compliance.
The Forrester study shows a three-year 151% ROI and less than 3-month payback on Cloud App Security investment
To better understand the benefits, costs and risks associated with a Microsoft Cloud App Security investment, Forrester interviewed four organizations with years of experience using Cloud App Security. It also developed a financial analysis of a composite organization to create a financial model framework. The results show organizations can save time and resources with a three-year ROI of 151% and payback of less than 3 months by more easily discovering potential security and compliance risks, automating threat protection and providing more time for people to focus their attention on higher priorities.
Key findings include:
80% reduction in time to monitor, assess and govern cloud application portfolio risks.
75% elimination of threats automatically due to increased visibility and automated threat protection.
40% reduction in the likelihood of a data breach with the potential savings of more than $1.6 million over three years.
90% reduction in the hours required to audit cloud apps.
When customers deploy Cloud App Security in their environment(s), they are frequently surprised at how many apps it uncovers. For almost any use case, employees can often quickly begin using an app without support from IT. This can result in hundreds or even thousands of unmanaged apps—what we refer to as Shadow IT. Although employees mean well, they don’t always understand the security and compliance risks associated with sharing and storing data in cloud apps. One of the organizations interviewed used MCAS to discover 9,000 apps being used by employees—1,600 of which did not meet the company’s security standards and were immediately shut down.
Another customer in the study noted the compliance benefits were critical as the health care organization moved sensitive information off-premises to the cloud. “We’ve been somewhat slow to move to the cloud because of protected health information and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) regulations,” said the CIO interviewed. In researching cloud application security brokers, this leader realized the ability to get good governance, compliance and audit support was key as the organization moved to the cloud.
From using AI to crunch massive data sets, to analyzing threats in a fraction of a second, given the global scale of the pandemic, integrated security and diversity of data are two key advantages organizations reap as a result of leveraging the cloud. These are also two advantages among the five significant longer-term cybersecurity paradigm shifts, including digital empathy, zero trust, and cyber resilience strategies, that we anticipate as a result of organizations needing to respond quickly to the challenges of the pandemic.
Our Microsoft Cloud App Security Journey
At Microsoft, we’ve been on a journey with our customers gathering feedback and enhancing Microsoft Cloud App Security to meet their needs. The software has matured significantly, with new capabilities released every two weeks such as integrations with our 1st party security and compliance products as well as many 3rd party vendors that continue to represent a large portion of the market. These product improvements have led to the benefits and value described in this independent study with MCAS customers, and these benefits also ring true for Microsoft’s own Security Operations Center.
In an organization as large as ours with 156,000 worldwide employees, 160+ physical data centers in 60 countries and countless endpoints to monitor, it’s a significant task to track all the cloud services that our employees use. When the company team first deployed Cloud App Security in 2017, it created visibility they didn’t have before across all the non-Microsoft apps used. Once discovered, the team leveraged more than 80 risk factors built into Cloud App Security to evaluate them for compliance with corporate policies. If an app doesn’t meet the company standards, the team can block it from the network. Conversely, the team also uses Cloud App Security to sanction approved apps and if an app is really popular, onboard it onto Azure Active Directory (Azure AD) for single sign-on (SSO), further improving security for employees. Being able to weed out vulnerable apps and apply Azure AD security controls to non-Microsoft apps gives a lot more control over the app portfolio.
The Microsoft SOC receives tens of thousands of security signals a day. With integrated user and entity behavioral analytics (UEBA) and machine learning (ML) algorithms in MCAS our team can weed out false positives, detect behavioral anomalies across all our cloud apps and better respond to threats. This helps us uncover ransomware, compromised users, or rogue applications. This past June we released new documentation to help customers get familiar with our UEBA alerts.
Microsoft’s SOC team echoed the report’s findings on the usefulness of Cloud App Security in investigation and remediation. Allowing SOC analysts to see the data that is truly necessary helps them to ask the right kinds of questions, pivot with agility in pursuit of data that sparks curiosity and leads to better response patterns.
They also pointed out that Cloud App Security’s ability to assist in further refining the detections that already exist, emailing or texting analysts in custom policy designs and leveraging the powerful API integrations, including SIEM integrations, all led to better response and deeper, more correlated incidents across multiple data sets. The ability to customize queries remove alerts on “normal behavior” allows teams to zero in on abnormalities and even create a detection rule.
The remediation tools natively available in Cloud App Security which allow immediate revoking of user tokens (therefore prompting an immediate request to re-sign in) drastically simplifies the time to respond and the ability to increase agility when answering an attack. One of the most challenging things in this environment is how much the speed of attack has increased in recent years. With Cloud App Security, the team is better postured to identify a compromised user account, enforce revocation of user tokens to mitigate the threat, as well as analyze the touchpoints along the way that provides a deeper understanding of the “BDA” or – before, during, and after – phases of the attack. These findings can ultimately lead to stronger preventative (and detective) controls that address the root cause of the attack.
In a post-pandemic world where our cybersecurity priorities have forever shifted, all companies big and small must think differently about how to keep their data and people safe. By applying digital empathy to their approach, trusting nothing and no one in their Zero Trust journey, and leveraging the power of the cloud and threat intelligence from their tools and people, we all will be stronger and safer no matter what global event, security risks or cyberattacks come next.
Bookmark the Security blog to keep up with our expert coverage on security matters. Also, follow us at @MSFTSecurity for the latest news and updates on cybersecurity.
Microsoft named ONE Championship’s preferred cloud provider, delivering new fan engagement experiences powered by Microsoft Azure and best-in-class collaboration with Microsoft 365
SINGAPORE — July 6, 2020 — The largest global sports media property in Asian history, ONE Championship™ (ONE) and Microsoft Corp. (Microsoft) today announced a strategic partnership to harness the Microsoft cloud, including Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365, to transform digital fan experiences and enhance collaboration for employees. Microsoft is now ONE’s preferred cloud and data services provider, powering its digital transformation and accelerating innovation across all touchpoints.
Microsoft and ONE, through this alliance, are co-investing in digital fan experience transformation. The partnership is set to further enhance ONE’s position as a leading global sports media property and further execute its vision to engage fans through its unique brand of Asian values, world-class athletes and global appeal. As ONE accelerates its digital journey, the company will leverage the power of the cloud and data to build new capabilities and deliver cutting-edge digital experiences for its millions of fans around the world.
Empowering and enriching fan experiences
ONE will further enhance its over-the-top platform by leveraging Azure to accelerate its world-class streaming services and personalized content offers for fans around the world. AI-powered recommendation engines and analytics on fan behavior and viewing habits will allow ONE to better engage fans across all touchpoints and provide them with reimagined, tailor-made experiences.
Through Azure AI, machine learning and data analytics, ONE will expand its core data capabilities and transform its direct-to-consumer digital experiences. To further delight fans, ONE will provide them with unique sets of data and statistics to better understand the strength of a kick or a punch. Ultimately, the fans will be able to enjoy a more immersive experience when watching live events.
The collaboration between Microsoft and ONE will also allow fans to experience events remotely with the flexibility and scalability needed to address increasing demand from end users — especially during this unprecedented time when sports entertainment shifts to digital. In the future, the partnership will also enable ONE to explore other innovations such as the use of holographic computing in injury prevention; as well as the ability to improve athletic performance through AI and machine learning.
“I am thrilled to announce that ONE Championship has officially partnered with Microsoft to deliver fans the absolute best in data-driven digital experiences,” Chatri Sityodtong, chairman and CEO of ONE Championship, stated. “ONE Championship is a global leader in live sports, and through the Microsoft cloud, we can accelerate our capabilities and digital presence.”
“Demand for digital experiences has never been higher and our partnership with ONE Championship — a leader in sports entertainment with the largest and most rapidly growing millennial fan base — will enable them to deliver on this opportunity in innovative new ways and enhance the services they provide for supporters, athletes and employees,” Jean-Philippe Courtois, EVP and president, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing & Operations, stated. “We’re looking forward to working with ONE to help accelerate its digital transformation for the benefit of millions of sports fans around the world.”
Expanded productivity and content ecosystem
As part of its push toward digital transformation, ONE will roll out Microsoft 365, including Microsoft Teams, as the primary productivity platform for ONE employees worldwide, helping to ensure seamless collaboration in a new remote work reality.
In addition, to provide fans with a one-stop source of digital content, ONE has also partnered with Microsoft to bring its exclusive content stacks to the Microsoft News ecosystem, which reaches more than 500 million people in 180 countries every month through personalized news feeds on MSN, Bing and Microsoft Edge, as well as through dozens of global syndication partners.
World-class global sports thought leadership
ONE and Microsoft will also leverage the Global Sports Innovation Centre (GSIC),[1] a collaborative initiative between private, public and academic partners powered by Microsoft, to support innovation in the sports industry around the world. ONE is a powerhouse of innovation and thought leadership in sports, and through its involvement in GSIC activities, initiatives and open innovation projects, ONE will connect with industry stakeholders in other continents, exchange experiences, learn and add value to the sports tech ecosystem of start-ups, companies, organizations, universities and research groups.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About ONE Championship™
ONE Championship (ONE) is the largest global sports media property in Asian history. Headquartered in Singapore, ONE is the world’s largest martial arts organization, hosting bouts across all styles of martial arts such as Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Karate, Kung Fu, Silat, Sanda, Lethwei, Mixed Martial Arts, Tae Kwon Do, Submission Grappling, and more. ONE hosts the biggest sports entertainment events across Asia, featuring some of the world’s best martial artists and world champions on the largest global media broadcast in Asia. ONE Esports, a subsidiary of ONE Championship, runs Asia’s largest global esports Championship Series with some of the biggest blockbuster game titles in the world. With a focus on both martial arts and esports, ONE Championship is currently the largest producer of millennial live sports content in Asia. In addition to its digital platforms, ONE Championship broadcasts to over 2.7 billion potential viewers across 150+ countries with some of the largest global free-to-air and digital broadcasters, including Star Sports, Tencent, ABS-CBN, Astro, ClaroSports, Startimes, Fox Sports, Thairath TV, Turner Sports, Skynet, Mediacorp, Great Sports, Mediaset Italia, ProSiebenSat.1, Dubai Sports, and more.
For more updates on ONE Championship, please visit https://www.onefc.com/about-us/, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @ONEChampionship, and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ONEChampionship.
For more information, press only:
Microsoft Asia, Joanna Frackowiak, joannafr@microsoft.com Microsoft Singapore, Antonia Ong, anong@microsoft.com Edelman (Partner Agency for Microsoft Asia), Adeline Goh / Amanda Sng, EdelMSFTComm@edelman.com
ONE Championship, Tammy Chan, Director of PR & Communications, +601 9326 2473, t.chan@onefc.com ONE Championship, Cissy Long, Director of PR & Communications, China, +86 186 2179 9403, c.long@onefc.com
[1] The Global Sports Innovation Center (GSIC) is a collaborative initiative between private, public, and academic partners to support innovation in the sports industry across the world, as a driver of job creation and economic growth. Its goal is to improve the value chain of the Sports Industry by leveraging the most advanced technologies, and enabling business connections among startups, sports organizations, educational institutions, and enterprise organizations. With over 170 members located in 20 countries all around the world, the GSIC has become a worldwide reference for the sports industry.
Every member of the consortium is currently focused on saving lives, but I asked Mathieson and Hoare whether the project would change how McLaren and Ford worked in the future. Will the levels of speed, agility and focus they were forced to adopt be transferred to their own operations?
“Very simply, this is how we need to operate going forward,” Mathieson says. “The auto industry –and it’s true of many other sectors as well – will have to embrace a lot of change, and a lot of that will be focused around technology and culture. This has been a fantastic example of what can be achieved if you get rid of all the normal obstacles, have a clear, laser-sharp focus on the objective, and then people just come together to make it happen.
“Remote working has really come to the fore, and now companies are looking at the future and thinking ‘what space do we need and how do we operate our teams’.”
Workers celebrate the first Penlon ventilators heading to the NHS
Hoare believes HoloLens will continue to have a major impact at Ford.
“When you use technology like HoloLens, all of a sudden the rest of your world starts to change shape,” he says. “We can certainly think of applications for the headset in the automotive world. This technology will set us free, reducing our carbon footprint through reducing the amount our staff have to travel. When we need an answer to a very specific problem, we often end up saying, ‘We need Fred on the plane’, and Fred will fly from Asia to the UK to help solve the problem. Then we realise it actually wasn’t Fred we needed, it was Barry who has the skills we need, so he flies over on a plane. There is tremendous potential for HoloLens there.
“It will be one of the memories I take away from the consortium: how the right tools in the right hands with the right need makes all the difference.”
How can teams support their colleagues with disabilities? What was helpful for you?
Frederik Gylling, Partner Tech Strategist, Microsoft Denmark: Every disability is personal, so it’s normal if your team doesn’t immediately understand. My particular situation affects my vision, and I think that at first my team was surprised to learn about the extent of its impact. However everyone has been curious to learn more and understand how they can help.
It was important for me to speak up so that everyone was aware of my situation and my manager supported me with this. Adapting to a new environment was a learning experience – it’s about identifying gaps and working with my employer to find the solutions to close them.
Alina Kudriavtceva, Interpreter of M&O, Microsoft Russia:During my job interview I outlined potential issues that might arise as a result of my disability and provided examples of possible solutions. As a result, my colleagues always provide me with necessary support; helping me with tech requests, or in navigating the office space or unfamiliar places during our off-sites. My manager also carefully followed my onboarding journey and assigned me buddies who helped me to adapt to internal procedures.
Ilias Arkoudeas, Software Asset Management Lead & Territory Channel Manager for Education, Microsoft Greece:I acquired my disability 10 years ago in a road accident. Although Greece is not famous for its overall accessibility, company policies have been well defined since then. My manager and team have been thoroughly supportive and proactive in ensuring the office is fully accessible in terms of infrastructure and facilities. Flexible working has also been key in helping to ensure work can be managed alongside my personal life and to perform without compromise.
What kind of adjustments were made at work to meeting your specific accessibility requirements?
Odel Kadosh, Software Developer, Microsoft Israel R&D Center:Among other things, I was given a parking space and improved access between buildings. A kitchenette was also installed on my floor with a special table that would be comfortable to sit and eat at. These adjustments have improved office conditions, giving me the opportunity to express my talent and to put aside the complexity that is an integral part of my life.
Tomi Kuuppelomäki, Sr. Communications Manager, Microsoft Western Europe, Finland:I have been in a wheelchair for almost 30 years, following a motorcycle accident. Since I’m part of a virtual team, my disability doesn’t prevent me doing anything but when we have in-person meetings my requirements are well taken care of. I actually prefer working in the office as it helps me to improve my work-life balance. It’s also convenient for dropping off and picking up my kids, which is helped by having a designated parking space and easy access to the office.
What accessibility challenges have you faced in your career to date?
Yahav Bar, Software Engineer, Microsoft Israel R&D Center: Unfortunately, people make assumptions, so I have encountered many instances of people expressing doubts about my ability to achieve certain goals. I realized that I wanted to join Microsoft when, during my interview, I explained that I was visually impaired and the interviewer answered ‘okay, so what?”. My visual impairment, which is a result of albinism, has not stopped me from striving far. Besides working at Microsoft, I’m a qualified lawyer as well as a teaching assistant in Hebrew University’s engineering and computer science faculty, and I teach Android app development. I do not want special treatment and I don’t want people to lower their expectations of me. I want to challenge myself like everybody else.
Tomi Kuuppelomäki:I have missed out on a few opportunities due to people ‘judging the book by the cover’. Those few occasions have given me more strength to show what I’m capable of, instead of being bitter or angry. Mastering things that people might not think you are able to do – that’s how to overcome the obstacles.
Ilias Arkoudeas:Occasionally I have faced difficulties in meeting and interacting properly with people outside our premises, especially when remote meetings were not possible and no efforts were made to find an alternative solution. Technology can help with this.
What advice do you have for other people with disabilities entering the workplace?
Alina Kudriavtceva: Always be open-minded. Discuss the barriers that directly impact your work with your manager, and share suggestions to help you and your team overcome them.
Frederik Gylling:I think it’s important to align on expectations from the offset and make it clear what you will need in order to do the job successfully, so that you can hit the ground running. The more you talk about it the more people understand. If you are early in your career, join employee resource groups – these have been invaluable for me to share experiences and learn from others.
Odel Kadosh:Remember the reason you’re there. I’m working as a programmer at Microsoft not because I have a wheelchair, and someone took pity on me, but for the same reason that every other person works here: because I’m good at what I do.
Tomi Kuuppelomäki:I would encourage people to try to not consider themselves primarily as disabled, but people who happen to have a disability. Everyone faces their own personal challenges, and everyone is just trying to get things done.
Ilias Arkoudeas: Creating a culture of inclusiveness is about having both the necessary accessibility policies and the mindset of treating everyone equally, irrespective of different kind of abilities. If certain accessibility standards haven’t been adopted in your working environment yet, speak up, be an ambassador and make them happen.
No one knows your child’s needs like you do, so try mixing and matching activities to make a schedule that works for you. This weekly schedule comes filled with activity ideas, and you can customize it to fit your needs. We’ve also listed some free and paid programs that can help fill the time and keep your kids occupied—but try adding in other activities that are tried-and-true favorites for your family.
Team up for success.
Planning everything can be tiring, so try partnering with other parents and guardians and have each person gather activities for a set day of the week. Then share what you’ve found, like printables, activity ideas, crafts, and more.
Consider themed days.
Brainstorming activity ideas can be tricky, but picking a theme for certain days can help streamline the process and kickstart your creativity. Need ideas? This customizable schedule has a few to get you started.
Browse free activities from Microsoft.
From fun learning to creative projects to family activities, these ideas can help keep kids busy and engaged.
Check out virtual summer camps.
These camp and online learning ideas span age ranges, with free and paid options, all with a focus on keeping summer full of fun.
Age 3-18
Outschool Summer Camp—Feed your kid’s curiosity and elevate their summer with a variety of fun classes where they can learn with peers in live video classes that meet in small groups. From subjects like reading, writing, and math, to the history of comics, spy school, hand-sewing, and Star Wars tech, they’ll find something to keep them engaged. The inspiring teachers consist of professional educators, artists, scientists, and adults with an expertise to share. Class prices vary and start at $5/class.
Camp Wonderopolis—Kids get hands-on with cool experiments that exercise their mind and body. Build vocabulary, background knowledge in science, reading comprehension, critical thinking, and other literacy skills along the way. Whether you register as a Camper (kids of all ages) or Counselor (parents, community and library program staff, teachers), you’ll find appropriate activities for you. Free
Age 4+
Epic!—Explore this digital library with resources for kids under 12. Get instant access to over 40,000 of the best books, learning videos, quizzes, and more, including fiction and nonfiction titles. Try free for 30 days. Afterward, unlimited access is $7.99/month.
DIY.org—Search this huge library of hands-on projects, how-to videos, and an awesome kid community. DIY.org has a variety of courses for any skill level, across 50 different categories that include photography, drawing, science, Minecraft, music, Legos, cooking, inventions, and more. Kids earn badges while they learn new skills. Activities range from simply watching fun videos to teaching and inspiring other kids. Try free for 14 days, give as a gift, or buy for yourself. The cost is $15-25/month depending on the number of kids and your billing preferences.
Kanopy—Access Kanopy with your library card for a free way to watch thousands of films, TV series, animated books, and educational content—all without ads. You can check out up to 10 titles per month, with three days to watch each. Plus, get Kanopy Kids for unlimited age-appropriate shows and movies with access to parental controls. Free. If your library isn’t on Kanopy, the app helps you send a request.
Age 8-15
Age 14+
BBC micro:bit—Create, learn, and code with the pocket-sized computer that’s transforming the world. Do quick projects in MakeCode, Python, and Scratch to help you get the most out of the micro:bit’s features or tackle design challenges and work to save the planet with technology. Micro:bit cost can vary. Free projects and lessons available at microbit.org.
CreativeLive—Browse this collection of educational video courses with content ranging from photography, flower arranging, mixed-media collage, drawing, and music composition to lifestyle content such as business skills and personal growth. Courses range from $9.99 to $199. App is for iOS | Website is for everyone Microsoft 365 (formerly known as Office 365) subscribers get more than 300 hours of creative classes taught by experts. Valued at $120, free for 3 months, it’s perfect for the summer! Learn more about the benefits
No matter what summer activities you choose, we hope the season is filled with fun, new adventures, and learning together.
While Microsoft’s Puget Sound campus has achieved Zero Waste Certification since 2016, the Hackathon was the first Microsoft event to achieve that honor in 2018, and again in 2019. With sustainability as a priority, the Hackathon planning teams share details of what it means to be zero waste.
Every summer Hackathon brings together employees from different disciplines and organizations, along with customers, nonprofits, students and teachers, to build on the ideas that inspire them. Typically, Hackathon’s presence energizes the Redmond campus in the form of football-field sized tents accommodating thousands of participants who gather to hack on projects. This year, participants will experience the same lively and inspiring energy, in collaboration with enthused colleagues, from within the comforts of their home. An endeavor as large as the Hackathon experience requires careful planning and thoughtful solutions to reduce the event’s carbon footprint and grow more sustainable each year.
Participants of Hackathon 2019 in Redmond entering the Hackathon tents. Photo credit: Scott Eklund
Early this year Microsoft’s leaders announced the company’s commitment to be carbon negative by 2030, reducing and removing direct carbon emissions and emissions across supply chains. Environmental responsibility and sustainability have been a priority driving both large- and small-scale efforts at the company. Microsoft’s new Silicon Valley campus will be the first tech campus with Net-Zero Water certification. Projects born from employee passion like FarmBeats help farmers around the world sustainably grow and manage their crops. At Microsoft’s global Hackathon, the world’s largest private hackathon with participation from employees in nearly 70 countries, a Sustainability Challenge was set forth calling for projects to accelerate innovation and environmental sustainability across the company and around the globe.
While Microsoft’s Puget Sound campus has achieved zero waste certification since 2016, Hackathon was the first Microsoft event to achieve Zero Waste Certification in 2018, and was re-certified in 2019. According to Green Business Certification Inc., the certification program’s goal is to divert at least 90% of waste from the landfill, rating facilities with a point-based credit system on how well they perform “in minimizing their non-hazardous, solid wastes and maximizing their efficiency in the use of resources.”
What does zero waste look like at Microsoft Hackathon?
In 2018, the Hackathon planning team alongside vendors and suppliers brought more awareness to sustainability, installing customized signage around the working space in the tents and the food areas. Expertly trained Zero Waste Ambassadors were stationed at disposal bins to help direct waste into the proper containers, ensuring all materials were sorted properly both at the front and back of house. Educational outreach coordinators helped participants be more aware of what items they used and discarded, the diligent SBM Janitorial staff used color coordinated bags to line disposal bins to distinguish between landfill, recycle, and compost, a best practice that has since been implemented for all campus-wide waste bins. The food and catering team switched to durable serving platters, which helped reduce the amount of compost material generated from the event by 3.8 tons, the weight of two mid-sized cars. Suppliers and vendors for Hackathon re-used materials from previous years, including furniture, carpet, pallets, and the tents themselves. These are a few of the initiatives that helped Hackathon achieve Gold-Level Zero Waste Certification in 2018.
By the next summer, Hackathon crews had identified additional opportunities for sustainability that built on the previous year’s successful model. New sustainability goals and standards achieved in 2019 included requirements for all event supplies to arrive with limited packaging and 100% recyclable packaging, publicizing waste reduction educational materials for attendees when they registered online for the event, requiring vendors to take responsibility for products and packaging, planning and tracking all environmentally preferred practices and products, and giving preference to vendors who embraced zero waste goals.
Hackathon 2019 food and beverage area. Photo credit: Scott Eklund
2019 was also the second year that Hackathon had a single dining tent and kitchen, saving food and catering teams time and resources. Tim O’Brien, Director of Operations for catering, explained how this cut down on waste. “Having more than one kitchen causes some waste running back and forth between places. With a single kitchen and dining tent, we saved on transportation – all our routes back and forth are right-hand turns so vehicles were not sitting and idling, reducing our carbon footprint and prioritizing safety, with continuous routing back and forth. It makes things a lot more efficient.” Tim works with a team of 200 kitchen and catering staff that keep the hackers fed and happy from sunrise to sunset. They feed on average 40,000 meals daily during the Hackathon. “At base, we had everything pre-packed and ready to roll. Some of those efficiencies are translated to less vehicles on the road. We also used all electric golf carts on the Hackathon fields,” Tim explained.
From the durable serving platters, to meals that used only essential, natural ingredients, the catering team’s choices greatly reduced waste and cost.
But the biggest food-related efficiency in 2019 came in the form of replacing snack boxes with a bulk presentation of self-serve snacks. “This was the first year we truly felt we solved the snack dilemma,” said Kayte Caldwell, Production Planner with Eventions, Microsoft’s campus-wide event planning staff managed by Compass Group. “The snack boxes had caused a very interesting behavior where people would take more than they actually needed, or they wouldn’t eat certain items in the box, leading to more wasted food.” With the new snack bar presentation, participants only took what they wanted and in smaller portions, wasting less. Kayte worked closely with Tim and other stakeholders for the event, handling logistics and managing expectations across groups to ensure everyone could operate at their best.
For Hackathon participants who see what seems like an abundance of food, enough to feed thousands of hackers three meals a day, a valid concern might be ‘What happens to the leftover or un-eaten food?’ The reality is that careful planning and adjustments are made up until the very last moment about how much food is prepared, and during the event, catering staff are rigorously monitoring how much food should be served at any given time depending on the demand. All leftovers are composted, except for any food that has not been served which is donated to nonprofit organizations like Food Lifeline and Northwest Harvest.
Hackathon 2019 food and beverage. Photo credit: Scott Eklund
“We went from Gold level to Platinum-Level Zero Waste Certification, which is the highest level of certification, and I think that shows the hard work we put into it,” said Leah Tischler, Site Sustainability Manager with SBM who brought her knowledge and experience implementing strategies on campus to the Hackathon. Leah and her team were fundamental in helping Hackathon achieve Zero Waste Certification.
An important part of the sustainability efforts included re-using or up-cycling products, something that Leah hopes they can do more of in the future. In fact, over 200 tons of material was re-used from Hackathon 2019, everything from furniture to electronic waste to office supplies, including 1.25 tons in food donations.
During the event 11 tons of material including food waste and products were diverted from the landfill, commercially composted, and given new life with Cedar Grove, a local Washington industrial composting company who make their finished product available to consumers. “I’d like to find opportunities for waste reduction and integrate more of the circular economy process,” said Leah. “For example, we could use the compost to grow food on campus that we later consume.”
Rather than creating products from new materials, the circular economy approach is to use products and materials that already exist to reduce carbon emissions and generate less waste since less new material is created overall. Beyond Hackathon efforts, Microsoft Dining and those supporting Real Estate and Facilities have a long history of close collaboration, building synergies to develop and innovate new smart ways to be more sustainable on campus. Many of those tactics involved practicing a circular economy. “We recycle our cooking oil and make it into soap to use on campus,” explained Leah. “Whatever we send out for recycle, we always think about how we can bring it back to our events or on campus so it can serve another purpose.”
As society embraces more virtual meetings and telework, there is an opportunity for each person to be more conscientious of sustainability within their homes. Hackathon 2020 will follow the course of other large-scale events and become an all virtual event, creating a whole new set of challenges and opportunities. The frenetic energy of on-site Hackathon venues and gatherings will be translated into a deeper global connection felt from home offices, living rooms, and kitchen tables around the world. To engage participants on sustainability, Brad Smith is sponsoring this year’s Sustainability Challenge at Hackathon. The Sustainability Challenge will reflect the Microsoft’s ambition in addressing four resource areas: carbon, water, waste, and ecosystems. In addition to the Sustainability Challenge which will call for ideas and projects from employees and teams, there are plans underway to bring the sustainability message into the virtual Hackathon experience including programming, communications, and more tips for how every individual can minimize waste.
“Waste prevention is the most effective way to reduce the amount of waste we create. Before you purchase, consider if there’s a need to buy that item you want,” said Alessandra Pistoia, Program Manager leading Microsoft’s global waste and circular economy program, spanning operations and products. Her charter is to help define corporate sustainability goals for waste and circularity, including events. Alessandra has expert knowledge on how to be more sustainable with waste from basic life hacks to more complex regulations around responsible materials management. “I encourage folks to take a moment to think before tossing anything away. First consider if it can be reused or redistributed to another organization, like Goodwill. If it needs to go out for curbside pickup, be sure to separate into the appropriate bin. By separating our waste materials into the right bin we support a healthy recycling system and minimize the amount of waste that goes to a landfill. Know where things go before you throw.”
Alessandra also pointed out that it is important to remember sustainability can be practiced as individual or collective action. Impact can be made at any scale. Individual efforts to reduce what you buy or repair a broken object make a positive impact personally and at a global scale. Similarly, if as a society we practice sustainable materials management, we will see the optimization of material use and less waste generated overall. In the end the goal is a universal one – improving quality of all life, together.
Read more about Microsoft’s commitment to be carbon negative by 2030.
Learn more about the work Microsoft is doing around sustainability:
When it launches this holiday, Xbox Series X will be the most powerful console the world has ever seen.
One of the biggest benefits of all that power is giving developers the ability to make games that are Xbox Series X Optimized. This means that they’ve taken full advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X, both for new titles built natively using the Xbox Series X development environment as well as previously released titles that have been rebuilt specifically for the console. In our Inside Xbox Series X Optimized series, these creators will share the behind-the-scenes accounts of how they’re optimizing their titles for Xbox Series X and what that means for the future of gaming. Today, we’ll be chatting with Jacek Zięba, Producer at Bloober Team about optimizing The Medium for Xbox Series X.
Q: “What excites you most about developing and bringing The Medium to life on next-generation hardware?”
A: The simple answer is that thanks to the next-generation hardware, we can realize our vision for The Medium at all. Of course, theoretically, you could rescope any game idea, but in our case it would mean completely changing the core game features.
Thanks to the power of Xbox Series X, we can develop the game the way we have always envisioned it. I’m not talking only about graphics, although certainly it helps create an immersive and disturbing atmosphere, but also about gameplay.
Q: In addition to benefiting from the power and performance of Xbox Series X for quicker load times etc. what Xbox Series X features were you most excited to explore leveraging in the development of The Medium?
A: The SSD and how it allows for no noticeable loading times is certainly a big deal for us. Thanks to it, you can create a more cinematic and atmospheric experience, and keep the player immersed in the game – with no immersion-breaking loading screens.
Also, the sheer power of the CPU and GPU lets you go a bit crazy with your gameplay ideas, and we believe the new hardware will quickly change how games are being designed.
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Q: How will these enhancements impact a player’s experience with The Medium?
A: We’re putting a lot of effort into creating a heavy, disturbing atmosphere in the game. We’re using a variety of means to immerse the player into both our worlds, including music and environment, and thanks to no loading screens these methods are so much more effective. Before, it was a bit of an uphill battle to keep the game immersive and cinematic despite obvious breaks, and now the next generation simply makes that problem go away.
Q: Why did your development team choose to focus on 4K resolution and DirectX Raytracing as enhancement areas for The Medium?
A: These are the features that fits our game and its genre the best. The 4K resolution helps us showcase the art style and environment of the real and the spirit world, while Ray-tracing will add to the atmosphere of the game. In other words, these features make the game’s strengths shine even brighter.
Q: How do you expect fans of The Medium will respond to playing it on Xbox Series X with these enhancements?
A: I hope they will love it 🙂 Unlike many cross-gen titles revealed so far, The Medium is a next-gen only game. We don’t have any porting plans for current-gen consoles, so the Xbox Series X will offer the experience we always meant for the game.
Q: What is it like developing on Xbox Series X?
A: It’s really exciting to be one of the first studios developing for Xbox Series X. This is truly a great piece of hardware, one that enables us to realize our vision of the game without compromises. I can’t wait for the fans to see what the console is really capable of.
Q: Which enhancement were you most excited about to explore leveraging for The Medium on Xbox Series X?
A: We’re heavily using the CPU and GPU for the interactions between the real world and the spirit world. We have still much to reveal about The Medium, including one of our core gameplay features. The marketing team will kill me if I say too much too soon, but we’re using the extra power to really push what’s possible gameplay-wise on the next generation, and I simply can’t wait for players’ reactions.
Q: What does Xbox Series X/next-generation development enable in current or future projects that you could not have achieved with the current generation of consoles?
A: As in the example with loading times, the next generation removes obstacles that until now consumed development time and resources. Now developers can devote more attention to creative gameplay. I also strongly believe that as we see more games developed specifically for the new generation, genuine breakthroughs and innovations will shortly follow.
If there are two words that define the way we’ve used technology this year, they might just be “remote everything.” Our jobs. Our meetings. Our kids’ schools. Our social gatherings. Everything has moved online, accelerating our digital transformation both professionally and personally. We not only need the right apps to stay productive while working remotely, but we also need the right apps to stay connected with family and friends.
Files are often the starting point for getting work done and staying connected. Memos, presentations, photos, videos—these are the conduit for more fruitful interactions. That’s why we’re excited to announce new OneDrive features across Microsoft 365 that bring a more connected and flexible files experience to business users, more control to admins, and a more personal touch to everyone at home.
“Where can I find that file?” It’s a question we’ve all asked our colleagues, our teams, and, most often, ourselves countless times. But those five short words, which are the bane to anyone’s productivity, will soon be short-lived.
Later this month, for our business users, we’re rolling out in public preview a new feature called Add to OneDrive that makes it easy to add shared folders directly to your OneDrive.
Shared folders include content that others shared with you through their OneDrive or content that is a part of your shared library in Microsoft Teams or SharePoint.
With Add to OneDrive, not only can you bring all your shared content into one place, but you can also work with the shared content with the same power and flexibility as if they are files you own. This means that the added content can be synced, shared, and collaborated on—and that it retains all existing security and compliance policies. The public preview rollout will be enabled in your tenants by default with the option for admins to opt out if they choose.
Add to OneDrive is just one of several features that makes your files experience more connected, flexible, secure, and personal. Read on to learn about others.
More connected
Teams sharing integration—Microsoft 365 should feel the same no matter which app you’re in. This is especially true for Teams, which has become central to our remote work lives. To extend this familiarity to files, soon we’re rolling out the same file sharing and access control experience in Teams that business users like yourself already know from other Microsoft 365 apps, including OneDrive, Outlook, or Office. Soon, when you go to share a file from within Teams, you’ll have the option to create sharing links that provide access to anyone, people within your organization, people with existing access, or specific people, including those in a private or group chat.
Synced metadata support—Metadata adds structure and compliance to your files. Currently shared libraries with mandatory metadata synchronizes as read-only. We are excited to announce that in the next few weeks we are rolling out an update to the OneDrive sync app supporting read and write sync for shared libraries that contain required metadata. This will enable business users to edit content in their synced libraries while working from their desktops.
Move and keep sharing—Your files should move as your workflow does. As a document moves through its lifecycle—from creation to review to final—it needs to relocate to shared cloud libraries that reach a broader group of collaborators. But it needs to do so without affecting the original group’s access. Later this summer, business users can do exactly that in OneDrive by choosing to keep sharing with collaborators when they move their files. This means all business users who had original access to a file will be re-added to it if that file changes shared library locations. Those users will now receive a new link maintaining the same permissions they had before and receive a notification about the move.
More flexible
100 GB file updates—As of today, we are proud to announce that we have increased the upload file size limit from 15 GB to 100 GB in OneDrive and SharePoint for everyone! This is especially helpful for business users that work in predominately large file types, like 3D, CAD, and media files. Previously released differential sync will help expedite the upload process for large files by only syncing the parts that changed instead of the entire file.
Comment notifications—Notifications can keep you on track—but they can also be distracting. To help you stay productive when you need to focus, later this year, we’re adding the option to turn off comment notifications for individual files. Doing so will only affect that file, not the entire files library.
Address bar sharing—If you access or work on a file in a browser, you’ll soon be able to share links copied from your browser address bar with your internal colleagues (if admin-enabled). These URLs will respect all sharing policies, empowering natural and easy collaboration within your organization.
More control
Sync admin reports—Strong reporting leads to strong auditing and monitoring. As an admin, you can better assist your users if you know what’s happening in their environments. Sync admin reports allow you to do just that by providing visibility and insights on adoption and health of the OneDrive sync app across your organization. Use this new dashboard to check sync app versions, sync status, and top sync errors on individual devices. You can even monitor deployment progress of Known Folder Move, which we recommend implementing to help redirect your users’ known folders (Desktop, Documents and Pictures) on Windows to OneDrive. Help-desk resources can also leverage these reports to support users with their sync.
Sync admin reports will be available later this year, but we are excited to share a sneak peek with you today!
Streamlined admin experience—We’ve been expanding the OneDrive toolkit to streamline the admin experience, including new options for easily migrating content to OneDrive. There are also several enhancements on the horizon. Later this year, all OneDrive admin capabilities, including controls for sharing, access, sync, and storage, will be available in the SharePoint admin center, consolidating admin tools in one place. This will unlock several enhancements in reporting, WCAG 2.1 accessibility support, Global Reader support, error messaging and performance.
This summer, we’re also releasing a new option to set mandatory expiration dates for external collaborators that can be extended or revoked based on user discretion.
More personal
Our work and personal lives have become increasingly intertwined as this super-charged digital transformation takes hold. We’re not just managing work documents online these days—we’re also sharing family photos, schedules, planning documents, roommate expense spreadsheets, and much, much more. And just like we expect seamless sharing and collaboration on the job, now more than ever, we need it in our personal lives.
Family and group sharing—We’re making it easier to stay connected with family and group sharing in OneDrive, coming later this month. This new consumer feature, available on OneDrive for the web, lets you predefine a group of people from your personal life and then easily share files, photos, videos, and albums with that group. Groups can be family, friends, your kids’ sports league, your sports league, old college buddies, new game night pals—anyone you want to stay connected with.
To share files to your group, select the file or folder you want to share in OneDrive, click Share, and then type and select the name of the group. All members of the group need a Microsoft account, and each will need to accept your invitation to the group to access it.
You can learn more about family and group sharing here.
Family and group sharing is included in all free and paid OneDrive consumer plans and will begin rolling out soon on OneDrive for the web, with general availability expected by the end of July. It will become available on the mobile app, sync client, Mac, and directly from Word, Excel, and PowerPoint by the end of this year.
Dark Mode for the web—Following its releases for iOS and Android, we’re soon bringing Dark Mode to OneDrive for the web across commercial and personal accounts. Aside from its aesthetic appeal, Dark Mode also reduces eye strain and improves your device’s battery life.
Better collaboration with friends and family—Newly released features like OneDrive’s file detail pane and activity feed let you see your file activity and comments in single view, so you can quickly get back into the flow of what you and your friends and family are working on together.
Peace of mind—Your OneDrive files are protected and secured by our comprehensive security features, which include file encryption, Personal Vault, virus scanning, suspicious activity monitoring, ransomware protection, and many other measures. (Note that ransomware protection requires a Microsoft 365 Personal or Family subscription.) You also get the privacy you deserve. Microsoft does not scan the contents of your files or photos for targeted ads. Our consumer privacy policy is transparent and puts you control your OneDrive data with easy-to-use settings and clear choices in your privacy dashboard.
Learn more and stay engaged
To learn more about the new capabilities for business users and admins, join the OneDrive team for a free webinar: What’s new and coming in OneDrive on July 28, 2020 at 9:00 AM PDT.
Learn more about how you can use OneDrive to collaborate better at work with our new e-book that includes usage scenarios for human resources, marketing, sales, legal, engineering, and finance teams.
The best place to stay current on all things OneDrive is our Tech Community site, where you’ll find the latest news and an enthusiastic group of other users. We also encourage you to send us suggestions for making OneDrive even better on UserVoice.
Participants of Hackathon 2019 in Redmond entering the Hackathon tents. Photo credit: Scott Eklund
Hackathon 2019 food and beverage area. Photo credit: Scott Eklund
Hackathon 2019 food and beverage. Photo credit: Scott Eklund
Hackathon 2019 Waste Ambassador. Photo credit: Leah Tischler
