Network Six

10/23/2026

Your backup communication channel needs to use a different service from your company email and chat.

If Microsoft 365 goes down, you may lose Outlook and Teams at the same time. If you think an account has been compromised, don't use either one to discuss the response because the attacker may be reading those messages.

Set up a separate way to contact staff during an outage or cyberattack. A managed SMS service or private messaging group can work for a small business.

Check how staff sign in before choosing the service. A backup messaging app that relies on Microsoft for its login may stop working alongside Microsoft 365.

Keep a copy of the staff contact list somewhere you can access without your main work account. Include the details for your IT provider and cyber insurer.

Decide who can send an emergency alert and how employees can confirm that the message is genuine. Then test the channel by sending a message and checking who receives it.

Need help setting this up? Send us a message and we'll work through it with you.

10/21/2026

Are the days of posting AI content without anyone knowing coming to an end?

Anthropic is adding an invisible watermark to text written by new Claude models.

You won't see the watermark. It is created through patterns in the words Claude chooses, so copying the answer into Word, an email or a website won't remove it. Some editing may leave the mark intact too.

Anthropic plans to provide tools that can estimate whether Claude helped write a piece of text.

Those tools cannot identify the person who used Claude, show what they asked or tell how much of the finished document was written by them.

A document may carry the watermark even if Claude was only used to rewrite part of it.

Businesses can keep using Claude for drafts and editing, but staff should know that its involvement may be detectable. Anything sent to a client or published under the company name still needs to be checked for accuracy.

If your team is already using AI at work and you're not sure what rules you need, let's have a chat.

10/19/2026

Some free VPNs make money by letting other people send traffic through your internet connection.

Google recently took down a large network that used devices running apps advertised as free VPNs.

While the VPN worked, the app also allowed other customers' internet traffic to pass through the device.

On a work laptop, that traffic would appear to come from your company's public IP address. Your IP could get blocked because of activity nobody in the business carried out.

Google also found that some of this software could expose other devices on the same network.

Check which VPNs and browser extensions are installed on company devices. Staff should use the VPN provided by the business, not one they found online because it was free.

Want to know whether unapproved VPNs or proxy software are installed on your company devices? Reach out and we can check for you.

10/16/2026

Don't trust hotel Wi-Fi. It can be compromised even when you've joined the correct network.

Microsoft has found attackers taking control of the systems used for Wi-Fi login pages at hotels and conference venues.

Once the login system has been compromised, guests can be redirected to a fake Microsoft 365 sign-in page or shown a fake browser update that installs malware.

The timing makes the request believable. You've just connected, the hotel page opens and it says an update is needed before you can continue.

Checking the network name with reception won't help because the hotel's real Wi-Fi is involved.

Use your phone's hotspot for work whenever possible. If you have to use hotel Wi-Fi, never enter your work password into the hotel registration page.

And if the page asks you to download an update, certificate or security tool, disconnect. Joining Wi-Fi shouldn't require you to install anything.

If your staff travel with work laptops, send us a message before their next trip. We'll make sure the devices are properly protected.

09/30/2026

Your bin might be the easiest place to steal your customer data from. Invoices, bank statements and employee files go in the rubbish and anyone can pull them back out. One rule: personal, financial or customer info gets shredded, not binned. Use a cross-cut shredder.

09/29/2026

An email from a supplier says their bank details have changed. You update them, pay the invoice, and the money goes to a criminal. Sometimes the supplier's own account was hacked, so it's genuinely from them. Never change bank details without calling on a number you already have.

09/28/2026

Researchers found the DragonForce ransomware group hiding inside normal Microsoft Teams traffic, undetected for up to two months. Their malware disguised its connection as ordinary Teams activity. Basic antivirus misses this. Ask your IT provider if what you have would catch it.

DragonForce-linked hackers used Backdoor.Turn to route C2 traffic through Microsoft Teams relay infrastructure during a U.S. firm attack.

09/27/2026

When did anyone last look closely at your card terminals? Skimmers get attached and terminals get swapped, and neither is obvious unless someone checks. Look at each one at the start of the day. If it looks different or loose, stop using it and call your provider.

09/26/2026

You've thought about what you'd do in a cyberattack, but have you practiced it? Sit your key people down for an hour and talk it through: files encrypted Monday morning. Who do we call first? Can we reach our contacts with email down? Note what nobody could answer.

09/25/2026

Microsoft will never call you about a virus on your computer. Neither will Apple. If a pop-up or a caller says your machine is infected and wants you to call a number, install something or pay, it's a scam. Close it or hang up, then call your own IT provider if you're worried.