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Google Cloud's UK Outage Knocked Out Banks and Courts - Because There's Only One UK Region to Fail Over ToCloud & Infrastructure

Google Cloud's UK Outage Knocked Out Banks and Courts - Because There's Only One UK Region to Fail Over To

A power failure in a single Google Cloud availability zone in London knocked out banking apps, the courts' video platform and delivery networks across the UK on 20 October 2026, after backup generators failed to engage. Because europe-west2 is Google's only UK cloud region, customers who hadn't built resilience across multiple regions or providers had no UK location to fail over to - a hard lesson in what single-region cloud dependency really means when it fails.

21 October 2026Read more
Security Patches Are Breaking 10x More Often - Why ‘Patch and Move On’ No Longer WorksCyber Security

Security Patches Are Breaking 10x More Often - Why ‘Patch and Move On’ No Longer Works

AI penetration-testing firm Terra Security has found that the share of GitHub security fixes needing a follow-up advisory for a failed patch jumped from around 0.2% to 2.3% in 2026, after six years of stable, low numbers. Vulnerabilities with broken fixes are four times more likely to end up on CISA's actively-exploited list, and the timing fits a growing use of AI by attackers to probe new patches for gaps the moment they ship.

20 October 2026Read more
ConnectWise Suspends Cloud Backup After M365 Credential Theft - Why MSP Supply Chains Matter to Every UK BusinessCyber Security

ConnectWise Suspends Cloud Backup After M365 Credential Theft - Why MSP Supply Chains Matter to Every UK Business

ConnectWise has suspended its Cloud Backup, SaaS Security and Cloud Management services after detecting unauthorised access to application identities, with security firm Huntress alleging a stolen Microsoft 365 credential is being actively used to compromise customer tenants. Because ConnectWise sells its tools to managed service providers who in turn support thousands of small businesses, most end customers affected will have no idea their IT support relies on the platform at all.

19 October 2026Read more
When Ransomware Locks the Doors: Why Building Systems Are the New Cyber FrontierCyber Security

When Ransomware Locks the Doors: Why Building Systems Are the New Cyber Frontier

Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting building automation systems that control door access, HVAC, lighting and fire alarms, using physical lockouts and real-world chaos as leverage to extort ransom payments. Research from ServiceNow's Armis Labs found 73% of organisations own building systems that have been used in ransomware attacks, and 91% of those systems communicate over insecure protocols - a blind spot most UK businesses have never assessed.

18 October 2026Read more
CMA Proposes Special Status for Microsoft - What It Could Mean for UK Businesses Locked Into 365Microsoft 365

CMA Proposes Special Status for Microsoft - What It Could Mean for UK Businesses Locked Into 365

The Competition and Markets Authority has proposed designating Microsoft a "strategic market status" firm across five areas of its business software, from Windows and Office to security tools and SQL Server, citing switching barriers that make it hard for UK organisations to use rival providers alongside or instead of Microsoft. With a final decision due by February 2027 and a roadmap covering Copilot, Teams, cloud licensing and security bundling, it's a regulatory process every UK business dependent on Microsoft 365 should be watching.

17 October 2026Read more
ICO Reprimands Met Police Over Shadow IT - A Governance Lesson for Every UK BusinessCompliance

ICO Reprimands Met Police Over Shadow IT - A Governance Lesson for Every UK Business

The Information Commissioner's Office has reprimanded the Metropolitan Police Service for an "ongoing failure" to stop staff using unauthorised IT platforms, after officers created 500 accounts on a retailer anti-shoplifting tool and uploaded sensitive data on suspects without oversight. The case is the second shadow IT failure at the force in four years, and a clear warning that policy alone doesn't stop staff adopting convenient tools outside IT's control.

16 October 2026Read more
Cisco's Email Security Gateway Hit by Second Root-Access Zero-Day in Two MonthsCyber Security

Cisco's Email Security Gateway Hit by Second Root-Access Zero-Day in Two Months

Cisco and CISA have confirmed active exploitation of a critical, CVSS 9.8 vulnerability in Cisco Secure Email Gateway that lets an unauthenticated attacker gain root access simply by sending a malicious email attachment. With no workaround available and a second such zero-day in as many months, organisations running the appliance face emergency patching - and should check whether their email security actually sits behind one.

15 October 2026Read more
Phase Eight, Hobbs and H&M Targeted as UK Retail Cyber-Attacks Keep ComingCyber Security

Phase Eight, Hobbs and H&M Targeted as UK Retail Cyber-Attacks Keep Coming

TFG London, owner of fashion brands Phase Eight, Hobbs and Whistles, is investigating a cyber-security incident that hit some IT systems over the weekend, while H&M is separately probing a hack claim from the group ShinyHunters. The pair join ASOS on the list of UK fashion retailers hit within weeks of each other, prompting one security expert to compare the pattern to waiting for a bus: "you wait for one, and suddenly three come along at once".

14 October 2026Read more
UK Minister Warns AI-Driven Cyber Breach Is ‘Likely, If Not Inevitable’ - What It Means for UK BusinessesCyber Security

UK Minister Warns AI-Driven Cyber Breach Is ‘Likely, If Not Inevitable’ - What It Means for UK Businesses

UK AI minister Kanishka Narayan has warned that a cyber-attack similar to the OpenAI agent breach of Australia's Medicare system is "likely, if not inevitable" in Britain, as the government considers using the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill to introduce mandatory reporting of AI safety incidents. For UK businesses already navigating a wave of agentic AI attacks this year, the message from government is that existing defences may not be enough.

13 October 2026Read more
Two Letters Are All It Takes to Fool Chrome - Why Lookalike Domains Still Slip Past Browser SecurityCyber Security

Two Letters Are All It Takes to Fool Chrome - Why Lookalike Domains Still Slip Past Browser Security

Security researchers have found that two obscure characters - a Cyrillic barred letter and a hooked Latin letter - can trick Chromium-based browsers like Chrome and Edge into displaying fraudulent lookalike domains as if they were genuine. The flaw lets attackers register convincing imitations of trusted websites, including banks and major brands, that bypass the built-in checks browsers rely on to flag suspicious URLs - a fresh reminder that domain-based trust has limits.

12 October 2026Read more
Mastercard Is Adding Offline Payments Across Europe - A Lesson in Business Continuity for Every UK RetailerBusiness Continuity

Mastercard Is Adding Offline Payments Across Europe - A Lesson in Business Continuity for Every UK Retailer

Mastercard is rolling out offline payment capability across Europe, including the UK, letting chip-and-PIN transactions of up to €200 go through even when power or network connections fail. The move follows the catastrophic 2025 Spain and Portugal blackout that left millions unable to pay for anything digitally, and offers a clear lesson for UK businesses of any size: critical systems need a fallback that doesn't depend on the same infrastructure they normally run on.

11 October 2026Read more
Microsoft Is Cutting OneDrive Storage by Up to 4TB - Why This Matters If Your Business Runs on a Personal 365 PlanMicrosoft 365

Microsoft Is Cutting OneDrive Storage by Up to 4TB - Why This Matters If Your Business Runs on a Personal 365 Plan

Microsoft is overhauling OneDrive storage allowances on its Family, Premium and Pro consumer tiers, moving from a fixed 1TB-per-user allocation to a smaller shared pool across all users on the plan. Fully-used Family and Premium subscriptions stand to lose up to 4TB of combined storage, and Pro subscriptions up to 1TB - a reminder that many sole traders and micro-businesses relying on personal Microsoft 365 plans to save money are exposed to changes business-tier customers are shielded from.

10 October 2026Read more
UK and Allies Call Out China-Linked Firm Enabling Global Cyber AttacksCyber Security

UK and Allies Call Out China-Linked Firm Enabling Global Cyber Attacks

The NCSC and eight international partners from six countries have issued a joint advisory exposing Integrity Technology Group, a China-based company accused of enabling cyber actors to exploit and compromise networks worldwide using AI-enabled tools, large-scale botnets and manual exploitation techniques. Activity linked to the group is associated with well-known campaigns including Flax Typhoon, and organisations of every size are being urged to strengthen their defences against internet-exposed devices.

9 October 2026Read more
Supreme Court to Rule on ‘Trivial’ Data Protection Claims - What It Means for UK BusinessesCompliance

Supreme Court to Rule on ‘Trivial’ Data Protection Claims - What It Means for UK Businesses

The UK Supreme Court is hearing a case that will decide whether people need to show a "threshold of seriousness" before claiming compensation for data protection breaches, as complaints to the Information Commission jump from 42,300 to over 76,700 in a year. Whichever way the ruling goes, the underlying lesson for UK businesses is the same: logged, corrected and non-repeated incidents are defensible, while an uncorrected pattern of errors is not.

8 October 2026Read more
ASOS Customers Sent ‘Hacked’ Notifications - Why Customer Messaging Platforms Are a Blind SpotCyber Security

ASOS Customers Sent ‘Hacked’ Notifications - Why Customer Messaging Platforms Are a Blind Spot

ASOS customers across the UK received a threatening app notification reading "ASOS HACKED" after what the retailer describes as unauthorised activity on third-party platforms it uses to communicate with customers, with names and contact details possibly accessed. An unverified group calling itself Xuanye Group claims to have compromised ASOS's Snowflake data platform - a reminder that customer messaging tools often sit outside the systems a business protects most carefully, yet can reach every customer instantly in its name.

7 October 2026Read more

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Structured Data and Schema Markup: A UK Business Guide to Winning Rich Results in Google Search in 2026
SEO5 Nov 2026

Structured Data and Schema Markup

Schema markup is structured code added to web pages that describes their content in a standard vocabulary search engines understand: this page is a product...

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Website Redesign Planning: A UK Business Guide to Avoiding the Mistakes That Tank SEO Rankings During a Rebuild in 2026
Web Development4 Nov 2026

Website Redesign Planning

Treating website redesign SEO as an afterthought is the most reliable way for a UK business to lose the organic traffic it spent years building. The pattern is...

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Virtual CIO Onboarding: A UK Business Guide to What the First 90 Days Should Actually Look Like in 2026
Virtual CIO3 Nov 2026

Virtual CIO Onboarding

Good virtual CIO onboarding looks, from the outside, surprisingly unglamorous. Many UK businesses sign a virtual CIO contract expecting a strategy presentation...

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Network Capacity Planning: A UK Business Guide to Forecasting Growth Before Your Network Becomes the Bottleneck in 2026
Network Admin1 Nov 2026

Network Capacity Planning

Network capacity planning is the practice of knowing how much headroom each part of your network has, forecasting when growth will use it up, and acting before...

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Office Downsizing and Consolidation: A UK Business Guide to Moving to a Smaller Office Without Losing IT Capability in 2026
IT Office Moves31 Oct 2026

Office Downsizing and Consolidation

Planning office downsizing IT is a different exercise from planning a normal office move, and treating it as a smaller version of one is where most problems...

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Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption: A UK Business Guide to Why Most Deployments Fail to Change How People Work in 2026
Microsoft 365 Copilot30 Oct 2026

Microsoft 365 Copilot Adoption

A workable Copilot adoption strategy starts from an uncomfortable fact: buying Microsoft 365 Copilot licences does not change how anyone works. The pattern in...

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Microsoft 365 Copilot ROI: How UK Businesses Are Measuring Productivity Gains in 2026
Microsoft 365 Copilot29 Oct 2026

Microsoft 365 Copilot ROI

Most UK organisations that bought Copilot in 2024 and 2025 have reached their first or second renewal, and the question in the room has changed. Nobody is...

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Penetration Testing for Web Applications: A UK Business Guide to OWASP Top 10 Testing and What a Web App Pen Test Actually Covers in 2026
Penetration Testing28 Oct 2026

Penetration Testing for Web Applications

Web application penetration testing examines the software your customers, staff and partners actually use your portal, platform, booking system or API to find...

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Backup Encryption: A UK Business Guide to Protecting Backup Data at Rest and in Transit Without Locking Yourself Out in 2026
Cloud Backup27 Oct 2026

Backup Encryption

Backup encryption at rest and in transit is now standard across almost every backup product, and most UK businesses assume their backups are protected because...

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Private Connectivity to Azure and AWS: A UK Business Guide to ExpressRoute and Direct Connect vs Public Internet VPN in 2026
Cloud Networking26 Oct 2026

Private Connectivity to Azure and AWS

Private cloud connectivity means linking your offices or data centre to Azure or AWS over a dedicated circuit Microsoft ExpressRoute or AWS Direct Connect...

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