A4Service

22/08/2026

The old advice to spot a scam by its bad spelling is dead. AI now pumps out scam texts and fake websites that look perfect, right down to the logo. Judge a message by what it asks you to do. If it's rushing you to click, log in, or move money, stop. Go to the real site yourself.

Google sued Outsider operators for allegedly using Gemini AI to create phishing pages tied to 1.59M URLs and 100K+ victims.

21/08/2026

If your team has a different password for every app, single sign-on is simpler, and you may already own it in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. One login opens everything. When someone leaves, switch off that one account and they lose all access. Fewer passwords to leak.

20/08/2026

That handy browser extension, the ad blocker or coupon finder, can read everything you type, including passwords. Some get sold to new owners who push out a malicious update. Check chrome://extensions, delete what you don't use, and have IT approve new ones first.

20/08/2026

Your customers are getting their answer before they ever reach your website.

Search Google for almost anything now and there's a good chance an AI-written answer sits at the top of the page. They already show up on a large share of searches, and that share keeps climbing.

When it's there, most people read it and never click through to a website at all.

That changes how people find you. Someone used to search a question your business could answer, land on your page, look around, and get in touch. Now the AI hands them the answer and they move on, and they never see you.

The businesses that get quoted inside those AI answers are getting more visits than before. So it's worth becoming the source it pulls from.

Start with your website. Make sure it answers the questions your customers ask, in plain words rather than marketing waffle, because that's what the AI picks up.

Keep your Google Business Profile filled out and correct.

And get your name onto other respected sites in your field. The more solid places that mention you, the more the AI leans on you.

If your visitors from search have been dropping and you couldn't work out why, this is a big part of it.

19/08/2026

Microsoft's June updates fixed 200 security holes, some already being used by attackers. Most businesses don't install updates for weeks, and that delay is exactly when attackers strike. Set computers to update on their own, and don't forget the spare laptop or closet server.

Today is Microsoft's June 2026 Patch Tuesday, with security updates for 200 flaws, including five publicly disclosed zero-day vulnerabilities and one actively exploited in attacks.

18/08/2026

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace ship with security settings switched off, and most businesses never turn them on. Ask your IT to confirm four things: legacy auth is blocked, audit logging is on, external sharing is controlled, and MFA is on for everyone, not just admins.

17/08/2026

Once-a-year security training does almost nothing. People forget it in weeks. A 5-minute reminder once a month sticks far better, especially when it uses real scams like fake 'paste this' prompts. And make it safe to report a click with no blame, so you catch attacks early.

16/08/2026

Two Scattered Spider hackers just pleaded guilty in the UK. They're teenagers who broke into major companies by calling IT help desks and talking their way in. No elite hacking. The same trick works on a 30-person firm. Train your team to verify anyone before acting on a request.

June 23, 2026 43 Comments Two men pleaded guilty in the United Kingdom this week to criminal charges stemming from an August 2024 cyberattack that crippled Transport for London, the entity responsible for the public transport network in the Greater London area. The duo were key members of a prolific...

15/08/2026

On open wifi at a hotel or cafe, someone on the same network can capture what your team sends, or set up a fake hotspot. Use a VPN on any device on public wifi, or better, use your phone's hotspot for anything sensitive. And turn off 'auto-connect to open networks.

15/08/2026

Microsoft has installed Copilot on business computers automatically.

It's worth getting your files in order before you use it.

Copilot can see any file the person using it can already open.

In most businesses, that's a lot more than it should be.

Files get shared with "everyone" for convenience. Folders get opened up for a project and never closed again. It piles up over the years, and no one notices, because no one goes looking through it all.

Once Copilot is in the mix, people don't have to go looking. They ask a question, and it answers using anything it's allowed to see, including files that were left open to the whole company by mistake.

So before you let the team use it, get someone to check your file permissions, starting with HR and finance. People should only be able to see what they need to.