What's included in this month's insider?
Most businesses don’t get caught out by one big IT failure.
They get caught out by small issues that build up quietly over time.
Here’s what we’re covering this month:
- Cyber resilience – Why it’s no longer just about stopping attacks, but recovering quickly when something happens
- Did you know? – Why AI isn’t launching fully autonomous cyber attacks anytime soon
- Hardware costs – What’s driving rising laptop, desktop, and server prices and why planning ahead matters
- Technology update – A Microsoft Teams guest chat change worth treating with caution
- Quick IT tip – Keyboard shortcuts that save time during a busy working day
- Downtime risk – A simple checklist to help you see where work would stop first if IT failed
- Engineer insight – How small details help prevent bigger problems later
No jargon.
No scare tactics.
Just practical insight to help you stay prepared and avoid disruption.
Cyber resilience: It matters more than you think
Most businesses still picture cyber security like an old-school castle.
Big walls. Heavy gates. Keep the bad guys out and hope for the best.
But the modern workplace isn’t a castle anymore. Your team works from home, the office, coffee shops… your data lives in the cloud… and your systems talk to dozens of other services every day.
There is no wall now. And cyber criminals know it.
That’s why the big focus in cyber security has shifted from “stop every attack” to “be ready to bounce back fast when something happens”.
That’s what cyber resilience is all about.
Because here’s the truth no one loves to hear: Even well protected businesses get hit. Someone clicks the wrong link. A supplier has a breach. A new AI-powered scam slips past a filter. It happens.
What matters is what happens next.
A cyber resilient business can spot trouble quickly, shut it down before it spreads, and get everything back on track with minimal fuss. It’s less “panic stations!” and more “okay, we’ve got this”.
A big part of that is having systems that constantly keep an eye out for odd behaviour. Things that look suspicious even if no one has pressed a big red alert button.
Modern tools (many using AI) are brilliant at this. They can catch weird logins, unusual file movements, or signs that someone is trying to sneak into a system.
And then there’s the safety net: Backups.
Not just any backups either. Proper, secure, tamper-proof backups that can’t be wiped or encrypted by an attacker.
When these are set up right, recovering from an incident can be surprisingly fast. Sometimes so fast your customers don’t even notice anything happened.
But technology is only half the story. The other half is people.
Your team needs to know what a dodgy email looks like. Leaders need a simple, clear plan for who does what in an emergency. And everyone needs to know that speaking up early is always better than hiding a mistake.
Cyber resilience isn’t about perfect systems. Cyber resilience is about being prepared, staying calm, and recovering quickly.
Does your business need help building a cyber resilience strategy?
Did you know...
… AI probably won’t attack you on its own
There’s been a lot of talk about AI being used to launch fully autonomous cyber attacks, but new research suggests that reality is still a long way off.
In tests, popular language models could create reliable malicious code on their own. While the models could generate scripts when pushed, the code often crashed, behaved inconsistently, or simply didn’t work. Especially inside cloud environments.
Even with newer models, guardrails stepped in and redirected harmful requests, making the output unusable for real attacks.
Hardware costs are rising. Here’s why it matters.
If you’re planning to buy new laptops, desktops, or servers this year, it’s worth being aware of what’s happening behind the scenes.
Memory chip prices are rising fast, and it’s not a short-term wobble. A big chunk of global supply is being pulled into large AI data centres, which means less availability for everyday business hardware. When memory costs rise, the price of the whole machine follows.
We’re already seeing this show up in quotes. Same spec. Same supplier. Different price, just weeks apart.
What does that mean for your business?
- Higher costs for new computers and servers
- Longer lead times on certain models
- Budgets getting squeezed if upgrades are left too late
This isn’t about buying the latest shiny kit. It’s about planning upgrades properly so you’re not forced into rushed decisions or unexpected spend.
If hardware refresh is on your radar for the next 6 to 12 months, now’s the time to plan it. Early conversations give you more choice, more control, and fewer surprises.
Technology update
Use guest chat in Microsoft Teams with caution
Microsoft Teams recently introduced a guest chat feature that lets anyone start a conversation with you using just your email address, even if you don’t normally use Teams.
Handy. But researchers have spotted a gap. When you join someone else’s Teams environment as a guest, you’re protected by their security settings, not your own. That means a malicious host could send phishing links or harmful files without your usual security tools spotting them.
It’s unlikely to affect most people but only accept Teams invites from people you trust. And be cautious with unexpected messages, no matter which platform they arrive on.
Quick IT Tip: Keyboard Shortcuts You’ll Actually Use
A few lesser-known shortcuts that can quietly save time and reduce frustration during a busy day.
Windows
- Windows + Shift + S
Quick screen snip. Select exactly what you want to capture without opening the Snipping Tool first. - Ctrl + Backspace
Delete whole words at a time instead of single letters. Surprisingly useful when typing emails or documents. - Alt + F4
Close the active app instantly. Handy when something won’t behave and you just want it gone.
Mac
- Command + Option + D
Show or hide the Dock instantly. Useful if you want more screen space without changing display settings. - Command + Control + Q
Immediately lock your Mac. Good habit when stepping away from your desk. - Option + Click (menu bar icons)
Access extra settings quickly, especially for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and sound.
Small things like this don’t feel like much, but over a week they add up to fewer clicks and less friction.
And if your tech still slows you down, that’s exactly what we’re here to help with.
How exposed is your business to downtime?
Most businesses don’t go down because of one dramatic failure.
They go down because of something small.
- One PC that holds all the planning files.
- One login that everyone shares.
- One backup that’s never been tested.
- One internet connection with no fallback.
When that weak point fails, work stops far faster than people expect.
That’s why we put together our Downtime Risk Checklist.
It’s a simple yes or no exercise designed for hands-on businesses that rely on planning, drawings, scheduling, dispatch, or cloud systems to keep jobs moving. It helps you see, in plain English, how quickly work would grind to a halt if your IT failed and where the biggest risks are hiding.
No jargon. No scare tactics. Just practical questions like:
- What would stop first if a key PC failed?
- Could your team still work if email or internet went down?
- How quickly could you actually recover your systems?
- Are your backups protected from ransomware, or just hoping for the best?
Most businesses don’t score as well as they expect. And that’s not a criticism. It’s because these risks build up quietly over time.
If the answers raise questions, that’s the point. It gives you clarity before an incident forces the issue.
You can download the checklist below and work through it. If you want help understanding what your score really means, we’re happy to help.
New To Microsoft
Microsoft is testing a ‘resume from phone’ feature
Windows 11 is testing a new “resume from phone” feature that lets you continue what you were doing on your Android device directly on your PC.
If you open an online Word, Excel or PowerPoint file in the Microsoft 365 Copilot app on your phone, you can hand it off to your Windows PC with a single tap. Some phones can also pass browser tabs or Spotify sessions.
It’s early days. Only a few Android brands support it, and it only works for online files, but it’s a promising step towards smoother cross-device working on Windows.
The AI browser flaw with a simple fix: Good habits
There’s been some talk recently about a technique called “HashJack” that can trick certain AI-powered browser assistants.
Sounds dramatic, but don’t panic. This isn’t something the average business is suddenly at high risk from.
But it is something worth being aware of as AI becomes more common in everyday tools.
Some AI browsers now have assistants that help you summarise pages, explain content or answer questions. The research found that, in some cases, those assistants can be influenced by text hidden at the end of a URL (after the little # symbol you sometimes see in a link).
This hidden text never leaves your device, so normal security tools don’t spot it.
If an attacker crafted a very specific, very unusual link, the AI assistant could potentially misunderstand it and offer misleading guidance or try to perform an action you didn’t ask for.
Importantly, the actual website you’re viewing still looks completely normal.
Now for the reassuring part: This isn’t something you’ll accidentally stumble into. It requires someone deliberately clicking a suspicious link, and even then, only certain AI assistants behave this way. And many vendors have already patched their tools.
The same good habits that protect you from phishing attacks work here too.
- Stick to links you trust
- Check the address bar before logging in anywhere
- Keep your browser, devices, and security tools up to date
- And if something feels off about a page or the assistant’s response, close the tab and start again.
You can add an extra layer of safety by keeping strong security software in place and making sure firewalls and filters are up to date. But you don’t need anything complicated.
We Asked Our Engineers: “What’s One Thing You Wish Clients Knew?”
This month, Niall from our support team shared something we see often:
“Little details make a big difference.”
Most IT issues don’t begin as major faults.
They usually start as small changes that are easy to miss during a busy day.
Things like:
- A laptop taking slightly longer to start
- Files opening more slowly than usual
- An app freezing occasionally, then working again
On their own, these aren’t urgent or alarming.
They’re just early signals.
When we know about them, it gives us more time and more options.
That often means:
- Simpler fixes
- Less disruption
- Fewer surprises later on
There’s no need to diagnose anything or explain it perfectly.
If something doesn’t feel quite right, that’s enough for us to take a look.
Q&A
Q: How do I know if our cyber security tools are working?
A: Good security tools should give regular reports, alerts and logs. We can review these with you and check whether anything looks unusual or needs improving.
Q: What’s the difference between a backup and a disaster recovery plan?
A: A backup saves your data. A disaster recovery plan gets your whole business running again quickly after an outage. You need both.
Q: How can we tell if one of our suppliers is a security risk?
A: Ask whether they use multi-factor authentication, encryption, and regular security audits. We can help you assess their risk level.