Cobalt Briefing

Updated 14 September 2026

Business IT & comms, decoded daily

The news that actually affects how you run a business in the South West — the phone switch-off, cyber threats, Microsoft 365, connectivity and AI. No jargon, no scaremongering, just the useful version with a clear “so what.”

Lead storyMicrosoft & Cloud

Microsoft shipped 974 security fixes at once. Two were already being used against people.

September's Patch Tuesday is the biggest Microsoft has ever released. For a business with a handful of PCs and a server in the corner, the job is not getting through all 974. It is knowing which ones matter this week.

14 September 20265 min read

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Weekly Roundup · Week of 7 to 13 September 2026

The week in business IT & comms

This week: Microsoft ships the largest Patch Tuesday on record, the NCSC puts a number on how many staff use AI their employer never approved, Ofcom lowers the bar for taking the price cap off copper lines, and a Devon wireless kit maker calls in the administrators.

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The newsroom

Browse every story by topic

Filter the newsroom to what matters to you — the switch-off, your security, your connection, Microsoft 365 or AI.

Microsoft & Cloud

Microsoft shipped 974 security fixes at once. Two were already being used against people.

14 September 20265 min read

AI for Business

Seven in ten UK staff are using AI tools their employer never approved

The NCSC has written up shadow AI, and the useful part is what it does not recommend. You will not block your way out of this one. The firms that have approved an AI tool have a related problem, and it comes down to permissions.

14 September 20265 min read

The Switch-Off

Ofcom has lowered the bar for taking the price cap off copper lines

Openreach no longer has to reach every premises in an exchange area with full fibre before copper prices come off charge control. Ninety percent will do, from April 2029. Here is what that changes for a business still running on copper.

14 September 20264 min read

Microsoft & Cloud

Microsoft starts blocking mail from out-of-date Exchange servers this week

From the second week of September, an Exchange 2016 or 2019 server that has not been patched to the October 2025 update gets throttled and then blocked when it sends mail into Exchange Online. If you still have a server on site, this is a job for this week.

Business IT & comms, decoded daily

Microsoft shipped 974 security fixes at once. Two were already being used against people.

The week in business IT & comms

Browse every story by topic

Microsoft shipped 974 security fixes at once. Two were already being used against people.

Seven in ten UK staff are using AI tools their employer never approved

Ofcom has lowered the bar for taking the price cap off copper lines

Microsoft starts blocking mail from out-of-date Exchange servers this week

A phishing kit that walks victims through their own MFA prompt survived the takedown

Your IT provider will get 24 hours to report a breach, and a duty to tell you about it

Free Wi-Fi sign-ups are customer data, as three UK airports found out this week

A fake voicemail campaign got past Microsoft's spam scoring three times out of four

New rules for running fibre into buildings start on 1 September, and some installs have already slipped

Consumers get a fallback when the old phone network switches off. Business lines do not.

The newest phishing pages screen out personal email addresses. They only want the work login.

The NCSC has written down what to check before you let an AI agent near your systems

The ICO has just written up what happens when nobody owns the patching

Your connectivity supplier and your IT supplier are becoming the same company

One exposed key at a software supplier put its entire customer database in the wrong hands

Small firms are quietly going backwards on the cyber basics

Microsoft 365 business prices rose on 1 July, and the CMA is now looking at Copilot

Stop Sell hits all 1,572 Openreach exchanges on 20 August. Here is what it blocks.

US authorities have ordered a rush patch on a Fortinet security product. The lesson is one every business already knows.

The broadband regulator is investigating five fibre providers over their finances. Worth knowing who you are signing with.

Stolen logins have overtaken software flaws as the top way into a ransomware attack. Turn on MFA.

A new cyber law will regulate IT providers for the first time. If you outsource your IT, this is about you too.

Microsoft just shipped its biggest ever batch of security fixes, and two are already being used in attacks.

The government has added cyber attacks and major IT outages to its national risk register. The lesson scales down to small firms.

The UK has warned that Russian hackers are hunting for routers with weak passwords. The fix is basic hygiene.

Windows is turning off an old security setting this month. If a login or a background job breaks, this is why.

A flaw in a common website builder is under active attack. If your site runs Joomla, update it now.

Phone and text scams now drive more than a quarter of UK fraud losses. The fix is a habit, not a gadget.

Ofcom just fined Virgin Media £28m for making it hard to leave. Know your own switching rights.

A ransomware attack was just run start to finish by an AI. The lesson is an old one.

Another Citrix remote-access flaw is out. Patching your gateway can't wait.

A SharePoint server flaw is under active attack. If you run it on your own kit, patch now.

The Microsoft 365 Copilot app is installing itself on business PCs. You can turn that off.

Copper line prices rose again on 1 July. Staying put now has a real cost.

The Jaguar Land Rover hack was Russian. The lesson still lands on smaller firms.

Microsoft 365 prices rise on 1 July — what's going up and what isn't

The switch-off won't be a 'big bang' — but the deadline still stands

612,000 UK businesses were breached last year — most attacks start the same way

Ofcom is reviewing the price of full fibre and leased lines — change is due in October

Most UK firms now use AI — the gap is between using it and getting value from it

New UK data rules are now live — every business needs a complaints process

The phone switch-off enters its final stretch — and staying put now costs more

Cyber Essentials just got harder to pass — here's what changed

Microsoft 365 prices change on 1 July — what to check before they do

AI voice scams are aimed at your finance team — one rule stops the costly ones

Full fibre now reaches most of the UK — and copper is being wound down

AI crossed the halfway line in UK business — where a smaller firm should start

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