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K_Street Consulting LLC, 1432 k Street, N. W. Suite#1000, Washington D.C., DC (2026)

09/04/2026

When was the last time you looked at the browser extensions installed on your computer?

The typical answer here is: Basically, never.

Once an extension is installed and working, it basically disappears into the background as you stop thinking about it.

That’s why this latest announcement from Microsoft caught my attention...

It has removed 119 malicious extensions from the Edge Add-ons store after discovering they had been downloaded around 2.6 million times.

These were tools people install every day, including ad blockers, PDF tools, VPNs, translators and video downloaders.

On the surface, they appeared perfectly legitimate, as the malicious behavior didn't start immediately.

In most cases, the extensions waited days before doing anything harmful, so they were much harder to detect.

From there, some were able to steal information stored in the browser, redirect people to malicious websites, or download additional software onto the device.

But, Cyberattacks are changing...

Years ago, we thought about security in terms of: downloading the wrong file or opening the wrong email attachment.

Today, attackers are much happier to hide inside software that people already trust.

A browser extension feels harmless simply because it’s designed to make life easier.

It might block adverts, help you edit PDFs or translate web pages, so it doesn’t raise suspicion.

Now, most browser extensions are perfectly safe and genuinely useful. But you need to treat them like any other software you install;

If you no longer actively use it, remove it.
If you don’t recognize it, find out what it does.

And if an extension asks for permissions that seem excessive, ask 𝘸𝘩𝘺 it needs that level of access.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗶𝗴𝗴𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱.

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵.

That’s what attackers are counting on 😱

💭 How many browser extensions do you think are installed on your computer right now… and could you name them all?

Tell us your input!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

09/02/2026

One of the questions we hear most often is: “Can I really trust AI to tell me whether something is a scam?”

While AI is brilliant at explaining things, cybersecurity is a different story. With Cybersecurity, being 'nearly' right isn't good enough.

This is why I think this latest development is truly interesting...

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

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

In this context, the AI isn’t giving its own opinion, it’s drawing from Norton’s scam detection technology to look for things like impersonation, pressure tactics, suspicious links, and requests for sensitive information.

𝗦𝗼 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗺𝘀 🔎

But I still 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.

In the grand scheme of things, 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 judgment?

Tell us your thoughts!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/31/2026

One reason modern cyberattacks 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 carry out their scheme.

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, (typical things like an email address and phone number).

Then, they trigger a password reset request on the victim’s account while simultaneously calling them on the phone, pretending to be IT support.

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

This attack is so convincing because the notification and the system is real.
But, the attacker is abusing the legitimate process to persuade the victim 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. 🗂️

The best defense against this is using a Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
Its the extra security step where you approve a login using your phone, an app, or a code.

While MFA remains one of the most steady protections available, its also only effective if people truly understand what they’re approving.

C𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗲𝗰𝗵𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘄𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀.

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

This is 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?

Tell us your input!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/28/2026

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

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 that the overall resulting financial impact of any unplanned downtime is growing at a substantial rate, with major organizations collectively losing hundreds of billions of dollars every year.

Downtime can result in staff sitting idle because systems aren’t available.
Delays to customer service.
Disrupted operations.
Marketing campaigns unexpectedly pausing, etc.

In some situations, it can also mean reputational damage that lasts much longer than the particular outage [/downtime] itself.

The interesting part of the research isn't even the size of the numbers, though.
..It was the fact that many businesses still struggle to even identify what caused 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, cyberattacks 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?

Tell us your thoughts!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/26/2026

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 organizations to lock in long-term access to its computing power 🔐

Specifically, this ensures that their AI systems keep running reliably, even during periods of 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 centers.

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 merely experimental 🧫

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

Now, organizations 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 is more important than it sounds;
It shows AI is moving towards being treated more like core infrastructure.

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

Tell us your thoughts.
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/24/2026

Most businesses are no longer asking whether employees are using AI tools 🤖
(Because 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 the rampant, increased usage has managed to keep up along with it.

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 most AI tools all fall into that category.

The challenge is that AI is becoming embedded inside these common systems incredibly quickly, all while the security processes are taking much longer to adapt accordingly.

The report found that while many organizations have already updated their security policies to account for AI, far fewer businesses feel that they actually have the right visibility and controls in place to properly monitor AI use.

On paper, they recognize the risks and understand that things have changed, but in reality, the confidence in the adapted security is lacking.

Nevertheless, 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 cyberattacks 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 👀

The take away here is that avoiding AI altogether or even trying to lock everything down completely usually just 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 organization?

Tell us your input!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/21/2026

One of the more uncomfortable truths about AI is that cybercriminals are often just as excited to use it as businesses are.

And they’re getting more organized about how they use it.

New research has found criminals are increasingly using AI tools to impersonate real people... to bypass identity checks and to commit fraud 🥸

This includes things like cloned voices, fake videos, and AI 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 most 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 recognizing 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?

Tell us your input!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/19/2026

I think one of the reasons some people still struggle with AI tool adoption at work is that the process often feels a bit awkward...
You open the AI program, stare at a blank box, type something vague, and then hope for the best or most favorable outcome. 😅

Sometimes the answer is brilliant... Sometimes it feels like the AI completely misunderstood what you were asking for.

Microsoft seems to have realized that the problem is with the user experience involved in using AI just 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 just another tool on 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 overall tend to 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 spent hunting for information, and less repetitive admin.

Microsoft says that the use of Copilot within apps like Word and PowerPoint has significantly increased 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?
Tell us your thoughts!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

08/03/2026

The FBI has issued a warning about a new type of phishing attack targeting Microsoft 365 users 😰

And this one's a little bit different…

Normally with phishing attacks, the attacker tries to steal your password.
This time, they’re trying to steal something called an “OAuth token”.

An OAuth token is like a temporary digital pass that proves you’ve already logged in successfully.

It’s what keeps you signed in on certain apps like Outlook, Teams, and OneDrive without needing to re-enter your password every few minutes.

So, If an attacker gets access to that token, they could also access your services as if they were actually you. 🥸

And the phishing emails themselves are becoming incredibly convincing, thanks to AI...

They can appear as shared documents, meeting invites, or even account notifications. And can often lead to real Microsoft login pages.

So, when someone approves the request, it seems perfectly legitimate.

That’s exactly the same trap in which the attacker is effectively getting you to approve access to, on their behalf.

This is a perfect example of exactly why cybersecurity is changing so rapidly right now.

For years, businesses focused heavily on securing passwords and antivirus software. And while those aspects are still important, attackers are increasingly finding successful work-arounds by targeting normal human behavior instead;

A rushed click or an approval without thinking is but a momentary distraction during a busy day; and its often all they need to strike.

Fortunately, there are protections you can put in place behind the scenes, especially around how Microsoft 365 handles authentication requests.

For now, its best to remember that if you receive an unexpected login request, verification prompt, or email asking you to approve access to anything.., 𝘀𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗯𝗲𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴!

👉 Have you noticed that phishing emails are harder to spot lately?
Tell us your input!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

07/31/2026

You could say that some of the AI stuff being pushed into Windows 11 lately has been rather annoying. 😅

If there are features you won’t use, it can feel like Microsoft is adding noise rather than value.

But buried under all the hype, there are a few AI ideas that really do make sense.

One of the best features Windows ever added was Clipboard History.

Press 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝗸𝗲𝘆 + 𝗩 and you can see everything you’ve copied recently, not just the very last thing. Once you get used to it, it’s hard to live without.

Now imagine instead of pasting what you copied, Windows could help you reformat it for use...

Copied a block of text? Turn it into bullet points.

Copied messy data? Convert it into a table.

Copied an image? Remove the background before pasting.

All this can be done directly from the clipboard, without opening another app.
That’s what Microsoft’s experimenting with.

It’s patented an idea that essentially adds a sort of "𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲” to the Windows clipboard, using AI to offer smart options when you paste.

That saves you the arbitrary formatting steps.

This is the kind of AI I like; small, practical help where it already fits naturally into how we work.

It’s still early, but it shows the direction Microsoft could be heading.

And honestly, if AI is going to win people over, it’ll be through features like this; quiet, optional, and genuinely useful.

❓Would you be more open to AI in Windows if it only showed up when it made your work easier?

Tell us your thoughts!
https://api.mspsites.com/sp/cf2684412c3

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