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Aptus Technology, 2 Church Street, Reigate (2026)

01/09/2026

One of the questions I hear more often is: "Can I trust AI to tell me whether something is a scam?" 🤔

Until recently, I'd have been cautious with that.

AI is brilliant at explaining things, but when it comes to cyber security, being almost right isn't good enough.

That's why I think this latest development is interesting.

Norton has integrated its Genie scam detection tool into both Claude and ChatGPT.

It means people can ask an AI assistant to help assess whether an email, text message, website or online offer looks suspicious 👀

The AI isn't giving its own opinion, it’s drawing on Norton's scam detection technology, which looks for things like impersonation, pressure tactics, suspicious links, and requests for sensitive information.

It's combining the conversational side of AI with technology that's specifically designed to identify scams 🔎

But I don't think people should stop thinking for themselves.

If an email claims your bank account is about to be closed or a supplier suddenly wants you to change their payment details, you should still check independently.

Tools like this could become useful as a second opinion though.

Online scams are becoming much harder to spot than they were a few years ago.

Criminals are using AI to write more convincing emails, create more believable websites, and remove the spelling mistakes that used to give them away 🤖

Anything that helps people pause and sense-check what they're looking at must be a positive step.

I can also see this becoming part of everyday working life.

Instead of forwarding a suspicious email to a colleague and asking, "Does this look right to you?", people may increasingly ask an AI assistant first.

It should never replace security awareness or good internal processes.

But it could help you make better decisions before you click a link or reply to a message.

👉 Would you trust an AI assistant to help you decide whether something was a scam, or would you still rather rely on your own judgement?

30/08/2026

One reason modern cyber attacks are becoming so difficult to spot is that many of them no longer rely on breaking into systems in the traditional sense 🦹

Instead, attackers are learning how to manipulate normal business processes and get people to unknowingly help them.

Microsoft has warned about a group called Storm-2949 doing exactly that through the password reset process used in Microsoft accounts.

The attack starts with information the criminals have already gathered.

Usually things like a person’s email address and phone number.

They then trigger a password reset request on the victim’s account and, at the same time, place a phone call pretending to be IT support 📞

The victim receives a genuine Microsoft authentication prompt on their device while the caller calmly explains that they need to approve it to “fix” the issue.

That’s what makes this attack convincing.

The notification is real. The system is real.

The attacker is abusing a legitimate process and persuading the person to cooperate.

Once the request is approved, the criminals can reset the password, lock the real user out of the account, and begin accessing company information.

In some reported cases, attackers downloaded huge amounts of data from systems like OneDrive because different employees had access to different folders and shared files 🗂️

MFA stands for Multi-Factor Authentication. It’s the extra security step where you approve a login using your phone, an app, or a code.

It’s still one of the best protections available, but attacks like this show that security tools are only effective if people understand what they’re approving.

Cyber security increasingly revolves around trust and human behaviour rather than purely technical weaknesses.

People are naturally inclined to cooperate when someone sounds professional, calm, and helpful on the phone.

Especially if a real security prompt appears at the same time ‼️

That’s why you need clear internal processes around password resets, account changes, and unexpected authentication requests.

🤔 If you received a real authentication request while speaking to someone claiming to be support, do you think you’d feel confident spotting whether it was genuine or not?

29/08/2026

One of the things businesses often underestimate about downtime is how quickly it spreads beyond “the IT issue”.

A system goes offline and, within minutes, people can’t access information 😱

Customers start noticing problems, communication slows down, and normal workarounds suddenly become much more difficult than anyone expected.

New research suggests the financial impact of unplanned downtime is growing at a huge rate, with major organisations collectively losing hundreds of billions every year.

It can mean staff sitting idle because systems aren’t available.

Delays to customer service.

Disrupted operations.

Marketing campaigns pausing unexpectedly.

In some situations, it can mean reputational damage that lasts much longer than the outage itself.

The interesting part of the research wasn’t really the size of the numbers, though.

It was the fact that many businesses still struggle to identify what’s causing the disruption in the first place 😵‍💫

In a growing number of cases, security incidents are initially mistaken for ordinary technical faults.

Something seems slow, unstable, or unavailable, so teams treat it as a normal IT problem while an attacker is still actively operating in the background.

That delay can make the eventual impact much worse 😰

At the same time, businesses are becoming more dependent on connected systems, cloud services, and digital workflows than ever before.

When almost every part of the company relies on technology in some way, even relatively short disruptions can create operational problems quickly.

That’s why resilience has become such an important conversation.

Not in the sense of trying to guarantee that nothing will ever go wrong, because that’s unrealistic.

Systems fail, updates cause problems, cyber attacks happen, and unexpected outages will always exist to some degree.

But it is important that you think through what happens next.

Who needs to know first?
How do teams continue operating?
Which systems are critical?
What can still function manually if necessary?

Those conversations are easier to have calmly before a problem happens than during the middle of one.

👉 If a major system outage happened tomorrow morning, would your business have a clear plan for keeping things moving?

26/08/2026

This is one of the clearest signs that AI is becoming part of mainstream business infrastructure…

Companies are now paying to reserve guaranteed AI capacity in advance.

OpenAI launched an enterprise plan that allows large organisations to lock in long-term access to its computing power 🔐

Specifically, so their AI systems keep running reliably, even during periods of very high demand.

That might sound quite technical, but the idea behind it is simple.

AI tools like ChatGPT rely on enormous amounts of computing power sitting inside data centres.

Every prompt, response, automation, and AI-driven workflow uses a small piece of that infrastructure.

As more businesses adopt AI, demand for that computing power keeps increasing 😰

The result is that AI availability is starting to matter in the same way internet uptime or cloud reliability matters.

A couple of years ago, most businesses treated AI as something experimental 🧫

People used it occasionally to write content, summarise notes, or brainstorm ideas.

Now some organisations are building AI directly into customer service, reporting, operations, workflows, and internal automation.

In those environments, even short outages become much more significant.

That’s why this announcement feels important to me.

It shows AI is moving towards being treated more like core infrastructure.

Businesses are no longer asking: “Can AI help us?”

They’re starting to ask: “What happens if our AI systems become unavailable?”

What’s also interesting is how much infrastructure sits behind all this.

OpenAI is continuing to build huge new data centre capacity to support growing demand, because the scale of AI usage now is difficult to comprehend.

And demand is still accelerating.

I think this is another reminder that AI adoption is moving much faster than many people expected.

💬 Do you think businesses are becoming too dependent on AI, or are we only just scratching the surface of what it’ll eventually become?

23/08/2026

Most businesses are no longer asking whether employees are using AI tools 🤖

They already know they are.

The bigger question now is whether the business can see how those tools are being used, what information is flowing through them, and whether the security around that use has kept pace 🏃

A recent report highlighted a growing gap between AI adoption and AI security.

Particularly in cloud-based systems ☁️

Cloud refers to services and data that live online rather than on computers sitting inside your office.

Platforms like Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, online storage systems, and many AI tools all fall into that category.

The challenge is that AI is becoming embedded inside these systems incredibly quickly.

While security processes are taking much longer to adapt.

The report found that many organisations have updated their security policies to account for AI.

On paper, they recognise the risks and understand that things have changed.

But far fewer businesses feel they have the right visibility and controls in place to properly manage what’s happening day to day.

Businesses are using AI to improve productivity, automate work, and help employees move faster 👍

Attackers are using it to produce more convincing phishing emails, generate malware, and create cyber attacks at a speed that traditional security approaches struggle to keep up with 👎

At the same time, employees are connecting systems together, uploading information into AI platforms, and using cloud services in ways that didn’t really exist a couple of years ago.

What stood out most to me was that some businesses admitted they couldn’t confidently tell whether certain AI-related security incidents had even happened.

Because they lacked visibility into their own environments 👀

That’s a difficult position to be in.

Avoiding AI or trying to lock everything down completely usually creates more frustration than protection.

Instead, you should be treating AI as part of wider operational and security planning. Not as a separate experiment happening off to the side.

That means understanding which tools are being used, making sensible decisions about where company information can safely go, and reviewing security policies regularly as the technology changes.

👉 Do you think most businesses currently have a clear picture of how AI is being used across their teams?

22/08/2026

One of the more uncomfortable truths about AI is that cyber criminals are often just as excited about it as businesses are.

And they’re getting more organised with how they use it.

New research has found criminals are increasingly using AI tools to impersonate real people.

It’s to bypass identity checks and commit fraud 🥸

That includes things like cloned voices, fake videos and generated documents.

They even use scripted conversations designed to help someone pretend to be another person from start to finish.

Ever verified your identity online by uploading ID or recording a quick video selfie?

That process is often referred to as KYC, short for “Know Your Customer”.

It’s commonly used by banks, financial services, and online platforms to confirm someone is genuinely who they claim to be.

Researchers found entire communities sharing methods, prompts, and step-by-step workflows for creating convincing impersonations.

Some were even selling complete kits that package everything together 📦

What stands out to me is that criminals are becoming very good at adapting existing tools and squeezing as much value out of them as possible.

It means these techniques become accessible to far more people, not just highly skilled hackers.

Identity and trust are becoming much harder to verify online.

For years, we’ve been trained to think: “If I can see the person or hear the voice, it must be genuine.”

But AI is weakening that assumption.

That doesn’t mean every video call or voice message suddenly becomes suspicious 🤨

But it does mean businesses need stronger processes around sensitive requests, payments, account changes, and approvals.

Especially when urgency is involved 🚨

The safest businesses are the ones that rely less on recognising someone and more on verification processes that can’t easily be faked.

Unfortunately, human instinct is still very easy to manipulate.

💭 If someone called you sounding like a colleague or supplier, do you think you’d spot the difference?

16/08/2026

I think one of the reasons some people still struggle with AI tools at work is that they often feel a bit awkward 😳

You open them, stare at a blank box, type something vague, and hope for the best 😅

Sometimes the answer is brilliant.

Sometimes it feels like the AI completely misunderstood what you wanted.

Microsoft seems to have realised that the problem is the experience around AI as much as the intelligence behind it.

That’s why it’s redesigning Microsoft 365 Copilot to feel more natural and less overwhelming.

Microsoft says it wants Copilot to behave more like a “thought partner” rather than another tool bolted onto your screen.

That means surfacing the right options at the right moment instead of throwing everything at you all at once.

There’s a term for this in software design called “cognitive load”.

It’s the mental effort required to figure something out.

Too many buttons, menus, and choices create friction 🤯

And a lot of AI tools still feel like that right now.

Copilot is becoming more connected to the apps people already spend their day in, like Word, Excel, Outlook, and Teams.

Instead of jumping between separate tools, the AI is slowly becoming part of the workflow itself.

Most people want less effort, less time hunting for information, less repetitive admin.

Microsoft says use of Copilot inside apps like Word and PowerPoint jumped significantly after some of these changes rolled out.

Whether those numbers hold long term is another question, but it does show something interesting: When AI feels easier to use, people use it more.

The companies getting the most value from AI probably won’t be the ones using the most advanced prompts or experimenting with the fanciest features.

It’ll be the businesses where the tools fit naturally into everyday work without slowing people down or confusing them.

🤔 Have you found AI tools useful at work yet, or do they still feel more awkward than helpful?

15/08/2026

At first, you might think the most surprising thing about this ransomware research is the amount of money involved 🤑

But I think it’s how normal some of the conversations sounded…

Researchers analysed hundreds of negotiations between ransomware gangs and the businesses they attacked.

In many cases the criminals behaved less like stereotypical hackers and more like aggressive salespeople.

They offered discounts for quick responses.

They split their demands into separate “services”.

Some even offered what they described as security reports or audits afterwards 🤯

As bizarre as that sounds, it tells you something important about how organised ransomware has become.

This is no longer somebody randomly locking files and demanding money.

These groups understand negotiation, pressure, and human behaviour extremely well.

In many attacks, the first demand isn’t even the amount the criminals expect to receive.

The research found businesses often negotiated the price down significantly, sometimes by huge amounts 💰

The attackers also leaned heavily on urgency ⏰

If the victim delayed, the price might increase.

If they responded quickly, a discount appeared.

Threats to leak stolen data were common too, along with warnings about contacting the press or exposing compliance failures.

The goal is to make people panic and react emotionally rather than think clearly.

In many cases, data is stolen first and then used as leverage during the negotiation.

And even if criminals promise to delete that information after payment, there’s no reliable way to verify they will.

You’re relying entirely on trust in a criminal organisation. Which obviously isn’t a great position to be in 😬

When an attack happens, businesses suddenly face operational disruption, customer concerns, legal questions, financial pressure, and difficult decisions all at the same time.

You must be prepared.

Having strong backups is vital, but so is knowing who would lead the response, how communication would work, and what steps would happen first if systems suddenly became unavailable.

👉 If your systems went offline tomorrow morning, do you think your business would know what to do first?

14/08/2026

One of the biggest myths about cyber security is that malicious apps always look malicious 👀

A lot of the time they don’t.

In fact, some of the most successful scams are built around things that appear completely boring and harmless 😰

Researchers recently uncovered a huge operation involving hundreds of fake Android apps that looked like ordinary tools people use every day.

Things like PDF readers, utility apps, and similar downloads you probably wouldn’t think twice about installing.

The apps worked properly. That’s what made them convincing.

The problem started afterwards.

Once installed, users would see a message saying the app needed an update.

But the “update” downloaded something completely different.

From there, the device started loading hidden adverts that no human ever saw.

The aim wasn’t to spy on people or steal passwords. It was ad fraud.

The attackers were generating fake advertising activity to siphon money from advertising platforms and businesses paying for online ads.

And the scale of it was huge.

Researchers say these apps were downloaded more than 24 million times 📱

What stands out to me here is how normal the whole thing sounds.

People simply installed tools that looked useful.

Employees install apps onto phones and tablets all the time without thinking of them as a security risk.

Especially when the app appears to do exactly what it promises.

Google has removed the identified apps from the Play Store, but stories like this are a good reminder that app stores are not perfect filters.

Harmful apps can still slip through.

You need to be cautious with what gets added to company devices.

Especially if an app suddenly asks you to install updates or software outside the official app store process.

💭 When was the last time you checked what apps are installed on your business devices?

09/08/2026

I think we’re moving into a different phase of AI now.

For the last couple of years, most people have used AI like a very smart search engine.

You ask a question, it gives an answer, and sometimes you double-check it because you’re not sure whether to trust it 😅

Tools like NotebookLM and Microsoft 365 Copilot are changing that approach completely.

Instead of pulling information from the entire internet, these tools work from your own information.

📝 Your meeting notes

📧 Your emails

📁 Your documents

📈 Your spreadsheets

💬 Your Teams chats

You give the AI the specific material you want it to use, and it reasons over that instead of guessing from random online sources.

One of the biggest frustrations with AI has been confidence.

People worry about “hallucinations”, which is the slightly strange term used when AI confidently makes something up.

By narrowing the information down to trusted business content, the answers become much more useful and grounded.

Microsoft is now expanding these notebook-style features inside its ecosystem, and honestly, I can see why.

Imagine finishing a Teams meeting and having the transcript, notes, files, and action points automatically pulled together into one workspace.

Or taking a photo of a whiteboard on your phone and turning it into structured notes, a presentation, or even a spreadsheet.

That’s where this starts becoming genuinely practical for businesses.

It reduces the amount of time people spend hunting for information, rewriting notes, or piecing together updates from five different places.

I think that’s the real story with AI at work.

The biggest productivity gains will come from removing all the small bits of admin and information overload that quietly eat away at the day.

Not from replacing your people 😅

Of course, there’s still a balance to strike around security and permissions, especially when company data is involved.

👉 If AI could take one repetitive task off your plate right now, what would you choose?

Aptus Technology

01/09/2026

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