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Cybersecurity is rapidly rising on the agenda of small and medium‑sized businesses, but growing reliance on AI is exposing critical weaknesses in how well they’re actually protected. Many firms remain unprepared for evolving threats despite increased investment and awareness. IDC conducted a survey that included responses from 2,210 small and medium‑sized businesses across eight countries:…

AI systems are rapidly evolving from simple chat tools into powerful agents that can take real-world actions, which raises new and urgent safety challenges. In response, Microsoft has launched two open‑source tools designed to help developers build smarter, safer AI systems from the ground up. According to Microsoft, modern AI agents are no longer limited…

AD site topology is the way Active Directory (AD) models your physical network using sites, subnets, and site links. It helps clients find nearby domain controllers and helps replication follow efficient network paths. But the most common Active Directory performance problems are caused by bad site topology, not AD itself. In many environments, administrators spend…

A cybersecurity researcher has disclosed two new zero-day vulnerabilities affecting Windows and also released a proof-of-concept exploit for another flaw that Microsoft patched back in 2020. The disclosures have raised fresh concerns over Windows security, particularly because no official fixes were available for the newly revealed flaws at the time of publication. The researcher (known…

Microsoft is taking a major step toward phasing out on-premises Exchange servers with the public preview of writeback for cloud-managed remote mailboxes. The new capability resolves a long-standing issue in hybrid environments by automatically synchronizing Exchange Online changes back to on-premises Active Directory. In Exchange Online, cloud-managed remote mailboxes are a feature that lets organizations…

Hybrid IT has become the default operating model for most organizations. Not by design, but through years of incremental decisions driven by business needs. In a recent Petri Dish interview, Brad Cline, Vice President of IT Operations at SolarWinds, shared a frontline perspective on how infrastructure complexity emerged, why it continues to grow, and how…

Microsoft has announced new Intel-powered Surface devices aimed at business customers, bringing upgraded AI performance, enterprise-grade security, and premium hardware to its Surface Pro and Surface Laptop lineup. These new devices, which are powered by Intel’s latest Core Ultra Series 3 processors, expand Microsoft’s x86-based Surface portfolio for different organizational needs. Microsoft’s new Surface for…

Microsoft has confirmed that its May 2026 Windows 11 security update (KB5089549) may fail to install on some systems, triggering an error and rolling back changes during the process. The issue stems from the EFI System Partition (ESP) when it has 10 MB or less of free space available. The EFI System Partition (ESP) is…

Implementing passkeys in Microsoft Entra is far more than simply enabling a new authentication method. A successful passkey rollout requires careful planning and coordination. One of the most important aspects of a passkey deployment is using Conditional Access to enforce their use. This article isn’t about how to turn passkeys on but about what tends…

Cybercriminals are once again refining their tactics, as the Tycoon 2FA phishing kit evolves to target Microsoft 365 accounts. Instead of stealing passwords, attackers now manipulate users into granting access through device‑code techniques, which makes the attack harder to detect and block. Earlier this month, researchers reported that the Tycoon 2FA phishing kit had returned to full…

Microsoft has disclosed a critical vulnerability in on-premises Exchange Server that allows attackers to execute malicious code through specially crafted emails opened in Outlook Web Access. The company is urging administrators to apply emergency mitigations immediately while it works on a permanent security update for supported commercial customers. This security vulnerability (tracked as CVE‑2026‑42897) affects…

Microsoft has fixed a Windows Autopatch bug that was unintentionally deploying driver updates to certain managed Windows devices without proper approval controls. The issue impacted a limited number of systems running Windows 11 versions 25H2, 24H2, and 23H2, potentially causing unexpected restarts and stability problems. Windows Autopatch is a cloud-based service that automatically manages and…