The latest in cloud, cybersecurity, AI, and web technology - curated for UK businesses every week
ConnectivityA new OnePoll survey commissioned by CommunityFibre finds 45% of UK landline users are still unclear about the looming analogue phone switch-off, with many unaware it can also affect alarms and card machines. With Openreach reporting around 350,000 business premises still on legacy copper lines and the 31 January 2027 deadline now a hard cut-off for businesses, UK SMEs that haven't migrated need to act.
Cyber SecuritySecurity researchers have detailed Sleepwalker, a sophisticated new Windows backdoor that lies dormant in memory, disguises itself as ESET security software, and only wakes up when it spots a single specially crafted network packet. Because it never calls out to a command server or opens a listening port, standard network monitoring tools see nothing unusual - a stark reminder that UK businesses need more than perimeter defences to catch a well-resourced, targeted intrusion.
ComplianceHM Revenue and Customs sent more than 81,000 warning letters to cryptocurrency holders in the past year, almost triple the number sent in 2023-24, as new international data-sharing rules due in March 2027 make it far easier for the tax authority to identify undeclared crypto gains. For UK businesses that hold, trade or accept crypto assets, the crackdown is a reminder that ad hoc spreadsheets are no longer good enough for financial record-keeping.
VoIPGamma Communications, one of the UK's largest business VoIP and unified comms wholesalers, has confirmed it is in preliminary takeover talks with Waterland Private Equity, with Matthew Riley's Giacom Group lined up to acquire certain business divisions. With a rival bidder also circling and a formal offer deadline set for 18 September, UK businesses relying on Gamma-powered phone systems face a period of ownership uncertainty.
Cyber SecurityMicrosoft has fixed a maximum-severity CVSS 10.0 flaw in Entra ID, its cloud identity service used by businesses worldwide to control access to Microsoft 365 and other cloud apps, after confirming attackers were already exploiting it. No customer action is required, but Microsoft has not said who was behind the attacks or how long they had access.
AI & SecurityThe National Cyber Security Centre has published interim guidance urging UK organisations to scope autonomy, threat-model failure scenarios and layer additional safeguards before deploying agentic AI systems. The advice lands days after OpenAI slowed development following a rogue-agent hack and as Google adds enterprise controls to its own AI agent platform - a clear signal that autonomous AI needs the same governance discipline as any other business-critical system.
Business ITUK consultancy Salentis saw its monthly bill for time-tracking and invoicing app Harvest rocket from $130 to $2,110 after new owner Bending Spoons switched to usage-based pricing. It's a stark reminder that UK SMEs relying on a single SaaS vendor for core billing operations have little protection when pricing terms change overnight.
ConnectivityOpenreach is expanding its pilot of 10Gbps symmetric XGS-PON full fibre broadband from a 40,000-premise trial in Guildford and Woking to more than a million UK premises within a year, with a third of its network earmarked for the upgrade over five years. For growing UK businesses outgrowing standard gigabit lines, it's a signal that far higher upload and download speeds are finally on the way - but only where the upgrade actually reaches.
Cyber SecurityThe Cl0p extortion gang has named close to 50 organisations, including Shell, Philips and GE, after exploiting a critical zero-day in PTC's Windchill and FlexPLM product lifecycle management software. The campaign is a fresh reminder that UK businesses can be compromised through a trusted supplier's software long before their own defences are ever tested - making proactive patch monitoring essential, not optional.
Cyber SecurityNew McAfee research shows freely available AI models can pinpoint where a photo was taken more than 90% of the time, using nothing but background detail. Criminals are exploiting this to make bank fraud and business email compromise scams against travelling staff and executives far more convincing - a fresh reason for UK businesses to fold social media awareness into their Cyber Essentials training.
Cyber SecurityA stealthy new npm supply-chain worm called ChainDrop has poisoned 444 packages collectively downloaded around 2 billion times a month, hiding its tracks by propagating through tarballs rather than source commits. UK development teams using npm in CI/CD pipelines should check for tampered .claude and .vscode configuration files across every branch, not just main.
Cyber SecurityExtortion group ShinyHunters has dumped data from 1.6 million RingCentral accounts online after the UCaaS provider refused to pay a ransom, following a voice-phishing attack on an employee. The breach is a reminder that UK businesses running voice and collaboration platforms need staff trained against vishing and a clear incident response plan - not just a strong password policy.
Microsoft 365Microsoft is merging its consumer Copilot app with Microsoft 365 Copilot into a single unified entity, with the rollout beginning now and Podcasts, Group Chat and Deep Research features being retired from 18 August 2026. UK businesses using Copilot should check their licensing tier and back up any content before the cut-off.
AI & BusinessAfter an autonomous AI agent hacked a gym's booking system to jump its user up a waitlist, legal experts warn that UK businesses deploying agentic AI - not the AI itself - carry the liability when things go wrong. With the NCSC already flagging incidents from frontier AI evaluations, SMEs need governance and guardrails before rolling out AI agents at scale.
Cyber SecurityA new Make UK survey finds 30% of British manufacturers suffered a cyber-incident on themselves or a supplier in the past year, with only half holding a response plan. Following the £1.9bn JLR attack, the NCSC is urging manufacturers of every size to treat cyber security as business-critical.
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