Last Updated on September 24, 2024 by Michael Morten Sonne

Intoduction

As we cross the midpoint of 2024, I can’t help but reflect on what an incredible journey it has been so far. This year has been filled with rewarding experiences, insightful conversations, and the joy of connecting with so many amazing people.

And soon, it’s summer holiday for me too—in just one week! I can’t wait to relax and enjoy some quality time with my family and my girlfriend Mathilde! 🌞💑

For some LinkedIn numbers, I have for the last time: 340.275 views and 2.667 followers and it´s growing fast! 🫣

What have happen

Microsoft Customer Connection Program

Celebrating one year with the Microsoft Customer Connection Program (aka CCP)

The Microsoft Customer Connection Program (aka CCP) is an initiative designed to foster collaboration between Microsoft and its customers. It allows customers to engage directly with Microsoft teams to provide feedback, discuss bugs, and help shape the development of new features. Participants in the CCP often have the opportunity to join NDA roadmap calls, feedback sessions, surveys, and private previews, contributing valuable insights that can influence product development. This program aims to build strong relationships and ensure that Microsoft’s products meet the needs and expectations of its users.

I am thrilled to mark my one-year anniversary with the Microsoft Customer Connection Program. In 2023, I was honored to be among the top contributors, and I am excited to continue this journey in 2024!

What an amazing year 2023 has been! Microsoft has a rockstar group of customers and partners that give input to make our security products better each and every day. These people are our community and friends. We want to recognize our biggest contributors with some fun superlative awards to end the year.

Over the past year, I’ve had numerous informative dialogues with Microsoft employees, discussing bugs, designing new features, and identifying the missing ones. These interactions have not only been enlightening but have also led to the formation of many cherished friendships and fun talks. Thank you to everyone involved for making this such a valuable experience!

Will you learn more about this? See more at www.aka.ms/JoinCCP

By signing up for one of Microsoft’s ongoing communities you will be added to the program’s Teams site(s), where Microsoft host NDA calls, feedback sessions, surveys, private previews and more.

Thanks all for this – I looking forward to keep doing this for us all! 😍🤘

The team behind Kristina Quick you all rock! I love being a part of this community. Thank you for all your handwritten letters and swag over the time – and all the credly badges too, that´s too crazy! 🫣🤣

The leaders in the Microsoft Customer Connection Program is as follow as today:

Kristina Quick Katie Ryckman Jeena Cassidy Linnet Kariuki Adrian Moore Ashley Martin
Pablo J. Chacón Megan Gremmell (PMP) Gabriela Arrevillaga Kari Feistner

and many more at Michael Morten Sonne – Badges – Credly…

Honored to be a Microsoft MVP

🏅 Honored to be a Microsoft MVP (Security) since 29/2/2024! 🏅

Time flies when you’re having fun! Since being awarded the Microsoft MVP award earlier this year (thanks for the nomination Kristina Quick and the rest of the amazing team behind it all and with your support to me), I’ve had the privilege of being part of a vibrant and supportive community.

The connections and friendships I’ve developed within this “closed” community are truly invaluable. Thank you to all my fellow MVPs and the wider Microsoft community for your ongoing support and camaraderie. It’s been an amazing journey, and I look forward to many more milestones together!

Will you learn more about this? See more at https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-US/mvp

Read my post here when I got the award: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7168862914152390656/

What is the Microsoft MVP Award

The Microsoft MVP Award is an annual recognition given to exceptional, independent community leaders who share their expertise, real-world skills, and passion for technology with others. Recipients of this prestigious award are acknowledged for their outstanding contributions, advocacy, and impact in their respective technical communities.

To you all: I feeling me incredibly grateful for all the kind words and support! 🎊🤝😍

Your encouragement means a lot to me, and I´m excited to continue contributing to the community and pushing boundaries together! 🙌😎

A small post on my blog: https://blog.sonnes.cloud/honored-to-receive-the-microsoft-mvp-award-in-security-febuary-2024/

Celebrating milestones on my blog

I’m also excited to share some incredible stats from my blog, blog.sonnes.cloud. Your support has been overwhelming, and I’m thrilled to see the growing engagement and readership.

Thank you to everyone who has visited, commented, and shared their thoughts – if you have input to content, let me know! 💁‍♂️

Your input helps me create content that is both informative and impactful. I use all the time I can to support and help you all, and thanks for the reactions and words I get alone with it!

Some stats from the last year (ish, when I have data for):

• As of now, we are on 71 blog post – that is sick! 🫣
• 42k+ visits (over 19,5k some from search engines 🥳)
• Top 5 posts
  • Microsoft Defender for Identity – What is it, how to install it and setup requirements – Blog – Sonne´s Cloud (sonnes.cloud)
  • Defender for Cloud – Permissions Management – New Features added to Cloud Infrastructure Entitlement Management (CIEM) – Blog – Sonne´s Cloud (sonnes.cloud)
  • Microsoft Defender XDR – Unified Security Operations Platform (Sentinel and Defender) – Blog – Sonne´s Cloud (sonnes.cloud)
  • Entra ID – Global Secure Access Client – Installation of the Agent on Windows – Part 2 – Blog – Sonne´s Cloud (sonnes.cloud)
  • Azure AD – Why use Cloud-Only Administrative/normal accounts and how to protect them in Azure AD from on-premises attacks – Blog – Sonne´s Cloud (sonnes.cloud)

Celebrating milestones for Open-source

Celebrating milestones for some of my tools being open-source! 🚀

I’m excited to announce that several of my tools are now open-source, with more to come over time. Some still need to be moved from my private Azure DevOps organization, but they will be available soon. Thank you for your support and stay tuned for more updates!

Here is a list of some of my public repositories out here:

• michaelmsonne/GitHubBackupTool: This tool creates a local backup of repositories of a given GitHub user with some options to filter based on some conditions. You can also use it to backup all repositories of an organization of you created a personal access token with the right permissions under there.
• michaelmsonne/AzureDevOpsBackupTool: This project provides a small console tool that enables you to backup your Azure DevOps Repos (Git based) using the API for Azure DevOps. The tool is built using C# and backups your repos to your local server/machine for an “offline” backup, and it can send you an e-mail report for backup status, deleted old backup and so on. (github.com)
• michaelmsonne/LookupIPtoDNSTool: The Lookup IP to DNS Tool is a C# utility designed to resolve IP addresses to their corresponding DNS hostnames asynchronously. This tool is built using asynchronous programming techniques to provide efficient and non-blocking IP-to-DNS resolution. (github.com)
• michaelmsonne/public: Repository of scripts and so on from my blog https://blog.sonnes.cloud. Scripts for Exchange, Microsoft 365, Entra ID, Active Directory, Windows OS and so on. Some is here just to be public too. Collection of scripts, will try keep them in order 😁 If you like these, please sponsor this project using the Sponsor button below (github.com)

and here is a list of some of the other nice public repositories out there I have contributed to:

• maester365/maester: The core repository for the Maester module with helper cmdlets that will be called from the Pester tests. (github.com) (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/merill_isnt-it-neat-when-a-group-of-folks-start-activity-7208652077332385792-8vuc)

• Azure/Microsoft-Defender-for-Cloud: Welcome to the Microsoft Defender for Cloud community repository (github.com)
• Gerenios/AADInternals: AADInternals PowerShell module for administering Azure AD and Office 365 (github.com)
• and many more…

Conclusion

🙏 Thank you to my friends, colleagues, Microsoft employees and my girlfreind Matihlde! 🙏

I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to all my friends, colleagues, and the dedicated Microsoft employees who have listened, collaborated, and stayed up to date with our shared goals. Together, we are making strides towards better solutions and a more connected community. Here’s to continuing our journey of innovation and excellence!

#Microsoft #NDA #Security #EntraID #Cloud #Defender #CustomerConnectionProgram #CCP #MVP #MVPBuzz #Community #Gratitude #Innovation #Blogging #Milestones #Support #Fun #Collaborative

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. Kindly share it with others if you find it helpful for them! 😉🔐👍

Stay tuned for the new post about something cool! 🥳