TL;DR: QR code scams, also called quishing, hide a bad link inside an image so your email filter can’t read it. Scanning moves the person onto a personal phone that sits outside your company’s protection. Microsoft tracked a 146% jump in QR code phishing in early 2026. Protecting your business takes email security that inspects
How secure are the everyday tools your business relies on? In This Issue Welcome to the August 2026 edition of our Technology Insider newsletter! You’d be forgiven for thinking a cyberattack is dramatic or sophisticated. Instead, sometimes it starts with an old account nobody removed or a missed software update. The types of small security
TL;DR: Small businesses are the top ransomware target, not the exception. A 20-person company has enough money to be worth attacking and no security team to stop it. This post walks through how a real attack unfolds, step by step, from public records to a Friday afternoon ransom note. Then it shows five ordinary controls,
How a Hacker Breaks Into a Small Business for $14 Read More »
TL;DR: Your next cyber insurance renewal application is longer and more specific than last year’s, because carriers rewrote it after big 2023 and 2024 losses. Each question maps to a control that, if missing, let a real claim spiral. Answer honestly, declare any gaps with a fix date, and never overstate your controls. A false
Why Is Your Cyber Insurance Renewal So Long Now? Read More »
TL;DR: Microsoft has quietly tightened its default Microsoft 365 settings over the past few years, but those upgrades do not apply to older tenants. If your setup is more than two or three years old, five settings are worth checking: file sharing links, external email forwarding, old app permissions, audit log retention, and MFA enforcement.
How to Check 5 Risky Microsoft 365 Settings Today Read More »
TL;DR: A convincing phishing scam is sending fake billing and security warnings through Microsoft’s own Azure Monitor service. The emails come from a real Microsoft address, pass your spam filters, and push you to call a scam phone number. If you get one, do not call. Log in to Azure directly through your browser to
Stop Doing the Small Stuff AI Can Handle for You In This Issue Welcome to the July 2026 edition of our Technology Insider newsletter! How much of your day is taken up by the small, repetitive tasks that never quite go away? The follow-ups, the edits, the bits of admin that chip away at your
TL;DR: Most breaches don’t start with a clever hack. They start with a click on a personal email, a reused password, or a file dropped into a quicker-but-unapproved app. The human element is involved in around 60% of breaches. You can’t block your way out of it, because restrictions just push risky behavior somewhere you
Human Habits: The Security Gap Your Tools Can’t See Read More »
TL;DR: CISA Cyber Essentials is a free, voluntary framework that helps small business owners build a basic cybersecurity program. It isn’t a law, but the controls it points to (multifactor authentication, fast patching, and tested backups) are now what cyber insurers and larger partners expect. In 2026, CISA refreshed its companion Cybersecurity Performance Goals to
How to Turn CISA Cyber Essentials Into Real Security Read More »
TL;DR: Shadow IT, the tools and apps your team adopts without approval, usually isn’t rebellion. It’s a sign something felt slower than it should have. Cracking down often pushes the activity further out of sight. The better move is visibility: see what’s being used and why, then decide what to support and what to remove.
Shadow IT Might Be Telling You Something Important Read More »
