Network security

AWS outage shows the cost of cloud concentration

A single fault can bring down the modern web. During the outage on Monday, 20 October 2025, millions woke to broken apps, games, banking, and tools after database errors at Amazon Web Services rippled outward. When a shared backbone stumbles, the blast radius engulfs everything from chat to commerce.

The outage underscored cloud concentration risk. Roblox, Fortnite, Pokémon Go, Snapchat, and workplace staples like Slack and Monday.com stumbled together because many depend on the same region and data layer. Failover, throttling, and retries help, but simultaneous strain can swamp safeguards.

On Friday, 19 July 2024, a faulty CrowdStrike update crashed Windows machines worldwide, triggering blue screens that grounded flights, delayed surgeries, and froze point-of-sale systems. The fix was simple; recovery wasn’t. Friday patches gained a new cautionary tale.

Earlier shocks foreshadowed today’s scale. In 1997, a Network Solutions glitch briefly hobbled .com and .net. In 2018, malware in Alaska’s Matanuska-Susitna knocked services offline, sending a community of 100,000 back to paper. Each incident showed how mundane errors cascade into civic life.

Resilience now means multi-region designs, cross-cloud failovers, tested runbooks, rate-limit backstops, and graceful read-only modes. Add regulatory stress tests, clear incident comms, and sector drills with hospitals, airlines, and banks. The internet will keep breaking; our job is to make it bend.

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SMEs underinsured as Canada’s cyber landscape shifts

Canada’s cyber insurance market is stabilising, with stronger underwriting, steadier loss trends, and more product choice, the Insurance Bureau of Canada says. But the threat landscape is accelerating as attackers weaponise AI, leaving many small and medium-sized enterprises exposed and underinsured.

Rapid market growth brought painful losses during the ransomware surge: from 2019 to 2023, combined loss ratios averaged about 155%, forcing tighter pricing and coverage. Insurers have recalibrated, yet rising AI-enabled phishing and deepfake impersonations are lifting complexity and potential severity.

Policy is catching up unevenly. Bill C-8 in Canada would revive critical-infrastructure cybersecurity standards, stronger oversight, and baseline rules for risk management and incident reporting. Public–private programmes signal progress but need sustained execution.

SMEs remain the pressure point. Low uptake means minor breaches can cost tens or hundreds of thousands, while severe incidents can be fatal. Underinsurance shifts shock to the wider economy, challenging insurers to balance affordability with long-term viability.

The Bureau urges practical resilience: clearer governance, employee training, incident playbooks, and fit-for-purpose cover. Education campaigns and free guidance aim to demystify coverage, boost readiness, and help SMEs recover faster when attacks hit, supporting a more durable digital economy.

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AWS glitch triggers widespread outages across major apps

A major internet outage hit some of the world’s biggest apps and sites from about 9 a.m. CET Monday, with issues traced to Amazon Web Services. Tracking sites reported widespread failures across the US and beyond, disrupting consumer and enterprise services.

AWS cited ‘significant error rates’ in DynamoDB requests in the US-EAST-1 region, impacting additional services in Northern Virginia. Engineers are mitigating while investigating root cause, and some customers couldn’t create or update Support Cases.

Outages clustered around Virginia’s dense data-centre corridor but rippled globally. Impacted brands included Amazon, Google, Snapchat, Roblox, Fortnite, Canva, Coinbase, Slack, Signal, Vodafone and the UK tax authority HMRC.

Coinbase told users ‘all funds are safe’ as platforms struggled to authenticate, fetch data and serve content tied to affected back-ends. Third-party monitors noted elevated failure rates across APIs and app logins.

The incident underscores heavy reliance on hyperscale infrastructure and the blast radius when core data services falter. Full restoration and a formal post-mortem are pending from AWS.

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Microsoft warns of a surge in ransomware and extortion incidents

Financially motivated cybercrime now accounts for the majority of global digital threats, according to Microsoft’s latest Digital Defense Report.

The company’s analysts found that over half of all cyber incidents with known motives in the past year were driven by extortion or ransomware, while espionage represented only a small fraction.

Microsoft warns that automation and accessible off-the-shelf tools have allowed criminals with limited technical skills to launch widespread attacks, making cybercrime a constant global threat.

The report reveals that attackers increasingly target critical services such as hospitals and local governments, where weak security and urgent operational demands make them easy victims.

Cyberattacks on these sectors have already led to real-world harm, from disrupted emergency care to halted transport systems. Microsoft highlights that collaboration between governments and private industry is essential to protect vulnerable sectors and maintain vital services.

While profit-seeking criminals dominate by volume, nation-state actors are also expanding their reach. State-sponsored operations are growing more sophisticated and unpredictable, with espionage often intertwined with financial motives.

Some state actors even exploit the same cybercriminal networks, complicating attribution and increasing risks for global organisations.

Microsoft notes that AI is being used by both attackers and defenders. Criminals are employing AI to refine phishing campaigns, generate synthetic media and develop adaptive malware, while defenders rely on AI to detect threats faster and close security gaps.

The report urges leaders to prioritise cybersecurity as a strategic responsibility, adopt phishing-resistant multifactor authentication, and build strong defences across industries.

Security, Microsoft concludes, must now be treated as a shared societal duty rather than an isolated technical task.

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Capita hit with £14 million fine after major data breach

The UK outsourcing firm Capita has been fined £14 million after a cyber-attack exposed the personal data of 6.6 million people. Sensitive information, including financial details, home addresses, passport images, and criminal records, was compromised.

Initially, the fine was £45 million, but it was reduced after Capita improved its cybersecurity, supported affected individuals, and engaged with regulators.

A breach that affected 325 of the 600 pension schemes Capita manages, highlighting risks for organisations handling large-scale sensitive data.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) criticised Capita for failing to secure personal information, emphasising that proper security measures could have prevented the incident.

Experts note that holding companies financially accountable reinforces the importance of data protection and sends a message to the market.

Capita’s CEO said the company has strengthened its cyber defences and remains vigilant to prevent future breaches.

The UK government has advised companies like Capita to prepare contingency plans following a rise in nationally significant cyberattacks, a trend also seen at Co-op, M&S, Harrods, and Jaguar Land Rover earlier in the year.

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An awards win for McAfee’s consumer-first AI defence

McAfee won ‘Best Use of AI in Cybersecurity’ at the 2025 A.I. Awards for its Scam Detector. The tool, which McAfee says is the first to automate deepfake, email, and text-scam detection, underscores a consumer-focused defence. The award recognises its bid to counter fast-evolving online fraud.

Scams are at record levels, with one in three US residents reporting victimisation and average losses of $1,500. Threats now range from fake job offers and text messages to AI-generated deepfakes, increasing the pressure on tools that can act in real time across channels.

McAfee’s Scam Detector uses advanced AI to analyse text, email, and video, blocking dangerous links and flagging deepfakes before they cause harm. It is included with core McAfee plans and available on PC, mobile, and web, positioning it as a default layer for everyday protection.

Adoption has been rapid, with the product crossing one million users in its first months, according to the company. Judges praised its proactive protection and emphasis on accuracy and trust, citing its potential to restore user confidence as AI-enabled deception becomes more sophisticated.

McAfee frames the award as validation of its responsible, consumer-first AI strategy. The company says it will expand Scam Detector’s capabilities while partnering with the wider ecosystem to keep users a step ahead of emerging threats, both online and offline.

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Microsoft finds 71% of UK workers use unapproved AI tools on the job

A new Microsoft survey has revealed that nearly three in four employees in the UK use AI tools at work without company approval.

A practice, referred to as ‘shadow AI’, that involves workers relying on unapproved systems such as ChatGPT to complete routine tasks. Microsoft warned that unauthorised AI use could expose businesses to data leaks, non-compliance risks, and cyber attacks.

The survey, carried out by Censuswide, questioned over 2,000 employees across different sectors. Seventy-one per cent admitted to using AI tools outside official policies, often because they were already familiar with them in their personal lives.

Many reported using such tools to respond to emails, prepare presentations, and perform financial or administrative tasks, saving almost eight hours of work each week.

Microsoft said only enterprise-grade AI systems can provide the privacy and security organisations require. Darren Hardman, Microsoft’s UK and Ireland chief executive, urged companies to ensure workplace AI tools are designed for professional use rather than consumer convenience.

He emphasised that secure integration can allow firms to benefit from AI’s productivity gains while protecting sensitive data.

The study estimated that AI technology saves 12.1 billion working hours annually across the UK, equivalent to about £208 billion in employee time. Workers reported using the time gained through AI to improve work-life balance, learn new skills, and focus on higher-value projects.

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Teen content on Instagram now guided by PG-13 standards

Instagram is aligning its Teen Accounts with PG-13 movie standards, aiming to ensure that users under 18 only see age-appropriate material. Teens will automatically be placed in a 13+ setting and will need parental permission to change it.

Parents who want tighter supervision can activate a new ‘Limited Content’ mode that filters out even more material and restricts comments and AI interactions.

The company reviewed its policies to match familiar parental guidelines, further limiting exposure to content with strong language, risky stunts, or references to substances. Teens will also be blocked from following accounts that share inappropriate content or contain suggestive names and bios.

Searches for sensitive terms such as ‘gore’ or ‘alcohol’ will no longer return results, and the same restrictions will extend to Explore, Reels, and AI chat experiences.

Instagram worked with thousands of parents worldwide to shape these policies, collecting more than three million content ratings to refine its protections. Surveys show strong parental support, with most saying the PG-13 system makes it easier to understand what their teens are likely to see online.

The updates begin rolling out in the US, UK, Australia, and Canada and will expand globally by the end of the year.

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Researchers expose weak satellite security with cheap equipment

Scientists in the US have shown how easy it is to intercept private messages and military information from satellites using equipment costing less than €500.

Researchers from the University of California, San Diego and the University of Maryland scanned internet traffic from 39 geostationary satellites and 411 transponders over seven months.

They discovered unencrypted data, including phone numbers, text messages, and browsing history from networks such as T-Mobile, TelMex, and AT&T, as well as sensitive military communications from the US and Mexico.

The researchers used everyday tools such as TV satellite dishes to collect and decode the signals, proving that anyone with a basic setup and a clear view of the sky could potentially access unprotected data.

They said there is a ‘clear mismatch’ between how satellite users assume their data is secured and how it is handled in reality. Despite the industry’s standard practice of encrypting communications, many transmissions were left exposed.

Companies often avoid stronger encryption because it increases costs and reduces bandwidth efficiency. The researchers noted that firms such as Panasonic could lose up to 30 per cent in revenue if all data were encrypted.

While intercepting satellite data still requires technical skill and precise equipment alignment, the study highlights how affordable tools can reveal serious weaknesses in global satellite security.

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New YouTube tools provide trusted health advice for teens

YouTube is introducing a new shelf of mental health and wellbeing content designed specifically for teenagers. The feature will provide age-appropriate, evidence-based videos covering topics such as depression, anxiety, ADHD, and eating disorders.

Content is created in collaboration with trusted organisations and creators, including Black Dog Institute, ReachOut Australia, and Dr Syl, to ensure it is both reliable and engaging.

The initiative will initially launch in Australia, with plans to expand to the US, the UK, and Canada. Videos are tailored to teens’ developmental stage, offering practical advice, coping strategies, and medically-informed guidance.

By providing credible information on a familiar platform, YouTube hopes to improve mental health literacy and reduce stigma among young users.

YouTube has implemented teen-specific safeguards for recommendations, content visibility, and advertising eligibility, making it easier for adolescents to explore their interests safely.

The company emphasises that the platform is committed to helping teens access trustworthy resources, while supporting their wellbeing in a digital environment increasingly filled with misinformation.

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