Tobias Zimmergren on Tech

How to populate Azure Storage Accounts with demo data

Tobias Zimmergren — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 11:06:53 +0200

If you, like me, love diving into features like monitoring and observability, discovery, insights and analytics, and more, you also know that testing new capabilities out without robust underlying data might be a challenge. Nobody

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/how-to-populate-azure-storage-accounts-with-demo-data/

Quickly switching between Light and Dark mode on Windows!

Tobias Zimmergren — Sun, 24 Aug 2025 23:08:57 +0200

If you’re like me, you move between different environments throughout the day: a bright living room, a darker home office, or a late-night coding session. Each space has its own lighting quirks, and after

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/quickly-switching-between-light-and-dark-mode-on-windows/

Staying productive with the Pomodoro Technique

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 04 Jan 2024 10:31:32 +0100

You've probably heard me emphasize 'Be productive, not busy' countless times – much like the quote in the header photo of this very blog post, which is hanging in my home office.

The distinction

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/stay-productive-with-the-pomodoro-technique/

Frameworks to strategically improve your cybersecurity

Tobias Zimmergren — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 09:11:38 +0200

In the article about the top 10 cybersecurity misconfigurations the NSA and CISA found we learned about the potential impact of weak network and security configurations for organizations.

In this article, the altitude remains

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/frameworks-to-improve-your-cybersecurity-nist-mitre-cisa-ciso/

Learnings from the NSA and CISA top 10 cybersecurity misconfigurations

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 10:25:45 +0200

In this article, I explore the recent joint advisory by the NSA and CISA, highlighting the top 10 cybersecurity misconfigurations commonly found in large organizations' networks.

Introduction

My reflections in this post

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/nsa-cisa-top-10-cybersecurity-misconfigurations/

What is the Cybercrime Atlas?

Tobias Zimmergren — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 07:55:47 +0200

In this post, I delve into an initiative making waves in the cybersecurity arena – the Cybercrime Atlas.

The Cybercrime Atlas is an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum (WEF) to better understand and combat

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/cybersecurity-what-is-the-cybercrime-atlas/

Celebrating 200 episodes of the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 24 Aug 2023 10:00:32 +0200

Wow. We've been running the Ctrl+Alt+Azure podcast for almost four years and just passed our 200th episode. Since the podcast's inception, we have published one episode every Wednesday at 3 pm CET (6

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/celebrating-200-episodes-of-the-ctrl-alt-azure-podcast/

Redacting sensitive information with Application Insights in C#

Tobias Zimmergren — Mon, 24 Apr 2023 09:26:30 +0200

In addition to this article, here are additional content that you may find relevant:

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/redacting-sensitive-information-application-insights/

Ultra-wide (21:9) vs a typical 4K (16:9) monitor for productive work

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 14:55:58 +0100

I have used a 3440x1440 ultra-wide monitor from LG for eight years. I recently needed to try something else, and I "downgraded" to 32", but with 4K, which made all the difference.

To set the

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/ultrawide-versus-4k-monitor/

Reading e-mails with Microsoft Graph using .NET

Tobias Zimmergren — Fri, 16 Dec 2022 09:00:50 +0100

Following a popular article I published on Sending e-mails with Microsoft Graph using .NET, I have been asked on several occasions how to read e-mails from an inbox.

There are several ways to accomplish this,

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/reading-emails-with-microsoft-graph-using-net/

A short recap of ESPC 2022

Tobias Zimmergren — Tue, 13 Dec 2022 12:17:37 +0100

It's been some time since I attended a conference in person. ESPC 2022 in Copenhagen was amazing, and I combined working remotely from the hotel at the venue with hanging out with great people and

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/recap-of-espc-2022/

Build sustainable solutions on Azure and save money

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 13:04:24 +0100

Okay, the headline is a bold statement. However, there is a strong correlation between cost and sustainability. Where you optimize workloads properly, they will likely accrue less cloud spending, ultimately reducing the carbon emissions they

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/building-sustainable-cloud-solutions-azure/

Favorite security-focused open-source workbooks for Azure Monitor and Microsoft Sentinel

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 27 Oct 2022 12:48:48 +0200

I have previously talked about workbooks in various forms. For more insights into how they can be utilized, I recommend browsing through these posts.

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/open-source-azure-monitor-microsoft-sentinel-workbooks/

How to: Remind me to reply to messages in Microsoft Teams

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 31 Aug 2022 08:00:36 +0200

Being a user that migrated from Slack to Microsoft Teams many years ago, there's one key capability that I kept missing out on. Namely, the ability to remind yourself about any given message, and specify

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/remind-me-messages-microsoft-teams/

Testing your internet speed from the command line on Windows, Linux, or Mac

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 08:50:33 +0200

I've recently come across the need to test the internet speed of devices without a Graphical User Interface (GUI) connected to the internet.

Devices include Raspberry Pi, virtual machines running Linux, cloud-based containers running Linux

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/testing-your-internet-speed-from-the-command-line/

Exam Study Guide: SC-100 - Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect Expert

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 13:29:42 +0200

I recently decided to sit the SC-100: Microsoft Cybersecurity Architect Expert exam which, if you pass, grants you the certification with the same title. I am happy to share that I passed the exam.

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/exam-study-guide-sc100-microsoft-cybersecurity-architect-expert/

I'm working at Microsoft

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 16:57:13 +0200

The cat is out of the bag. Recently, I mentioned that I left Rencore. Today, I'm announcing that I've taken a step towards a childhood dream - working at Microsoft.

I have moved into a

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/working-at-microsoft/

Goodbye, Rencore!

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 22 Jun 2022 14:56:28 +0200

This is one of those bittersweet posts you have to make once in a while. I have decided to leave Rencore to pursue some other adventures.

What a ride it has been. I've been working

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/goodbye-rencore/

Recommended books about Azure security!

Tobias Zimmergren — Fri, 13 May 2022 12:45:12 +0200

Recently, I got the question to share a list of books I read on Azure security. While I find most of my material online, in Microsoft Docs, Microsoft Learn, and community blogs, there are some

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/recommended-books-on-azure-security/

Use the Resource Explorer from the Azure Portal

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 11 May 2022 09:00:00 +0200

I explained how to use the Azure Resource Explorer in a previous post. Six years have passed since that, and I would like to revisit this with an update to the Resource Explorer.

This post

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/use-the-resource-explorer-from-the-azure-portal/

Three habits to improve health and work-life balance

Tobias Zimmergren — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 10:54:42 +0200

In recent months I have spent countless hours discussing work-life balance with friends, family, and peers in the industry. It's interesting how various things are critical aspects for some but entirely irrelevant for someone else.

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/habits-to-improve-health-and-work-life-balance/

Top 3 favorite capabilities in Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Tobias Zimmergren — Wed, 27 Apr 2022 09:00:00 +0200

Microsoft Defender for Cloud is a fantastic product.

We get comprehensive threat management, improved security posture of our infrastructure, and can harden the configuration of our resources. Additionally, we can measure how we compare to

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/top-capabilities-in-microsoft-defender-for-cloud/

Fixing the "Loading Microsoft Teams" infinite loop

Tobias Zimmergren — Mon, 25 Apr 2022 09:00:03 +0200

In recent weeks, I've had issues with loading Microsoft Teams after a reboot, or after Teams was closed. This has happened on all three devices I have used recently, all with Windows 11.

You may

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/fixing-the-loading-microsoft-teams-infinite-loop/

Estimating the real cost of Microsoft Defender for Cloud

Tobias Zimmergren — Thu, 21 Apr 2022 15:25:00 +0200

Introduction

In this post, I want to highlight the challenge of understanding the true cost of enabling Microsoft Defender for Cloud, and a recommendation for how to gain better insights using the (now) built-in Pricing

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/estimate-the-cost-of-microsoft-defender-for-cloud/

Favorite Visual Studio Code extensions

Tobias Zimmergren — Mon, 04 Apr 2022 09:00:00 +0200

I previously wrote about Favorite Visual Studio Code Extensions for Azure. This post was well-received but focused mainly on Azure-related extensions.

In this post, I want to line up all the favorite extensions I use

... Read the full post on https://zimmergren.net/top-visual-studio-code-extensions/