Cambridge Computer Support

09/11/2026

Today's new attempt at phishing...

25/10/2026

The cyber security burden for the micro business is time & cost. The tools used in complex targeted attacks on big business are the same as those used against small businesses. The difference is likely to be more tools and better co-ordination. From the perspective of the defender - the same attack vectors and tools will be probing your systems - whatever size your business is. That means effective defence needs to use the same tools across the board. And the time needs to be taken to patch as an absolute priority. At least resilience is cheaper for the micro business. A couple of spare laptops, some USB backup flash drives and a chunky 5G failover broadband aren't the same as scale disaster recovery systems. But even when your prepared the whole biz might be off sick with computer flu for a week!

See more by Jane Frankland MBE here https://lnkd.in/p/eN4bsKy3

The cyber security burden for the micro business is time & cost. The tools used in complex targeted attacks on big business are the same as those used against small businesses. The difference is likely to be more tools and better co-ordination. From the perspective of the defender - the same attack....

22/10/2026

If your web host providers or designers haven't updated your PHP yet. Drop us an email [email protected] and we'll take over making sure any bad actors' code is left behind!

07/10/2026

Rogue AI agents
These are best understood as creator intent drift: agentic workflows whose live actions no longer match the boundaries, business purpose, or security approval that originally authorized them.

AI agents going rogue often begins with small goal-optimization choices, but broad tool access, write permissions, and weak approval gates can turn a minor reasoning error into operational impact.

Unsanctioned AI behavior usually has identifiable triggers, including vague instructions, excessive privileges, manipulated inputs, prompt injection, poisoned retrieval data, and test environments that are less isolated than teams assume.

Learn what rogue AI agents are, why unsanctioned behavior happens, and how to reduce risk with permissions, approvals, monitoring, and containment.

25/09/2026

Shadow AI
This is the unapproved and unmonitored use of artificial intelligence tools, large language models (LLMs), or AI agents by employees within an organization

Common Examples
Using public generative AI chat services to draft internal reports or summarize emails.
Pasting proprietary source code into an external coding assistant to debug an issue faster.
Uploading confidential customer data, financial records, or personal identifiable information (PII) into an unmanaged tool

Understanding why staff use unapproved AI tools is key to managing the security challenges they can create.

24/09/2026

Did the OpenAi agent looking at the Australian government webservers identify itself with a distinct custom User-Agent string belonging to OpenAI?

10/08/2026

Eggs in one basket. Today I received a notification that Microsoft will retire their SMS and telephone 2FA and they're doing it on Feb 1st 2027. In its place we will be forced to use "Passkeys". Passkeys are public and private key cryptography. A far more robust security solution than username and password pairs - especially given the massive volume of these that leak onto Dark Web stores. Call me cynical but I'm still uncomfortable with this. Passkeys are stored on your device's storage. Encrypted while not in use but de-crypted when used. So not as robust as I'd like. It moves the "multi" part of multi-factor authentication onto your device. Taking it away from the territory of sysadmins who're supposed to know how to keep this stuff safe. Much like the CPU migration to PCs in the 80's and back to the sysadmins in the cloud from 2010 I wonder if we're witnessing a new migration. This time its security accountability. Mercifully we still have MFA authenticator apps by Google and Microsoft and nowadays these can restore to new devices quite reliably. Finally Apple and password vault users will find the Passkeys, usernames and passwords all kept in the same place... Eggs in one basket...

22/07/2026

How did they get into our computer stuff and rob us? The same way over ¼ of a million attacks were launched against the NHS in the first six months of 2026.

Botnets are the things. Globally the use of over three million hijacked devices is sold on the dark web sometimes in groups of 10,000 allowing an attacker's location to be effectively invisible and giving them the facility to launch thousands of attacks on a single target simultaneously.

Increasingly devices are compromised by AI discovered "zero day vulnerabilities". This sort of vulnerability doesn't need one of us to click on something by accident or open an infected email attachment. The hackers can just connect and take over.

Top Compromised Devices
Attackers target hardware that is "plugged in and forgotten". In the UK, the most commonly conscripted devices include:
Consumer and small-business routers
Webcams and closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras
Digital video recorders (DVRs) and set-top boxes
Unpatched Voice over IP (VoIP) enterprise phone systems

All these devices are tiny Linux computers often internet facing so you can have remote access to them. But so can the hackers.

ref: National Cyber Security Centre

How to stay safe? Read our one page guide here https://tinyurl.com/2t4zczha

08/07/2026

Feeling privileged to support our splendid client Tracy McBride at the Kindred Open Studios, Kensington. Here I am at the beginning of the video pictured against a backdrop of her excellent work.

And what a great day out! Attention art lovers. They will be back with more open studios in September 2026. I have never seen such a diversity of top-quality artwork across the whole spectrum for sale in one place. Painting, sculpture, pottery, multimedia, couture, textiles and multidisciplinary objets. Prices to suit all purses though not so large as my adorable friends with Tracy Emin and Damien Hirst in their collections. Nonetheless – something for everyone. At our end of the price scale 😉 we were gifted a piece of embroidery that’s going to the framers as soon as they’re back from holiday.

And free performance art, live music and workshops for kids of all ages. With a balcony terrace bar and a ground floor vegetarian café it really is a “must go”. Watch this space for the dates.
Now this is in a place supposedly reserved for computer issues. My experience of artists is that they are largely a less technical group. Tracy the artist and techie is something of an exception but for those trading artists who could use a bit of free advice click https://tinyurl.com/2t4zczha for a one-page help sheet in absolute lay terms about keeping your business safe in what is now very a hostile cyber space. Expect to be terrified and secured simultaneously!

21/01/2026

Generally we like Google. But their anti-spam policies have become intolerable. Anyone who needs an email service for two or more mailboxes that actually receives their customer's, family or friend's messages please contact us here [email protected]