Microsoft 365 has become central to how businesses operate. Employees use it to communicate, collaborate, store sensitive information, and access critical business applications. That makes identity security a priority—and a compromised account can quickly become an entry point to a much larger security incident. Microsoft Conditional Access helps address this risk by evaluating the context[…] Read
A Buyer’s Guide for Regulated SMBs Bundled cybersecurity services combine executive security leadership (vCISO), 24/7 managed detection and response (MDR), and ongoing compliance support under one accountable partner. The guide below gives you the questions to ask, the deliverables to require, and the red flags to watch for. Skip to the 10-deliverable checklist if you’re[…] Read
Blocking ChatGPT gives a business a clear action to point to. It does not, by itself, answer a more important question: how are employees using AI to get their work done? An employee facing a deadline still needs to draft an email, summarize a document, or organize research. If the organization has restricted one tool[…] Read
Not every sign-in deserves the same level of scrutiny. For example, an employee signing in from a managed laptop they’ve used every day for months is very different from someone attempting to access sensitive company data from an unfamiliar device in another country. Yet a traditional username-and-password model can treat both scenarios the same way.[…] Read
During onboarding of a new manufacturing client, 7 Layer Solutions’ Managed Security Operations Center detected the signs of a sophisticated cyber intrusion already in progress and stopped a ransomware attack before it could reach production systems. The Challenge Like many manufacturers, the client had standard IT infrastructure and security tools in place but relied on[…] Read
Shadow AI: the security risk your business can’t see The use of AI in the workplace has increased dramatically and not always through a company-approved rollout! Shadow AI refers to the use of AI tools or assistants at work without the knowledge, approval or oversight of an organisation’s IT or security team. It might be[…] Read
If an employee wants to use a new AI tool, who approves it? If the tool produces an inaccurate client communication, who reviews it? And if confidential information is shared accidentally, who needs to know? For small and midsize businesses, these questions highlight an important part of AI adoption: clear responsibility. An organization may have[…] Read
Quick answer: A simple checklist doesn’t work for CMMC because you’re not actually graded on the 110 controls themselves. You’re graded on the 320 specific assessment objectives underneath those controls, and each one has to be genuinely met, documented, and provable, not just checked off in general terms. On top of that, CMMC layers additional[…] Read
Published by Austin Justice, Justice IT Consulting LLC
If you supply parts, assemblies, or engineering services to prime manufacturers in automotive, aerospace, or heavy industry, your cyber security posture is no longer just an internal IT task. It is a commercial priority. Across the West Midlands, manufacturers supplying major primes such as Jaguar Land Rover or defence contractors under MoD DEFCON 658 are[…] Read
Published by Stuart Adams, Cyber Essentials Advisor, Technical Drive
AI adoption is creating new ways for organisational data to be accessed, shared and moved. Microsoft 365 Copilot is only part of the picture. Employees are using public AI tools, personal accounts, AI-enabled plug-ins and increasingly AI agents that can interact with business systems and data. For IT and security teams, this creates practical questions.[…] Read
