Know What's Happening in CIO Pulse
Know What's Happening in CIO Pulse
Cloud On Demand and South African backup specialist StorVault have announced a partnership that combines scalable cloud delivery with locally‑grounded, immutable data protection. The joint offering targets ransomware, hardware failures and endpoint vulnerabilities that threaten hybrid workforces, while delivering point‑in‑time recovery for Microsoft 365 and server environments. By billing in South African Rand on a pay‑as‑you‑use basis, the solution shields customers from foreign‑exchange swings and hidden ingress or egress fees. The collaboration arrives as the average breach cost in South Africa tops R44.2 million and downtime can cost up to R7,000 per minute.
Dragos’ 2026 Year in Review OT/ICS report adds three new adversaries—Sylvanite, Azurite and Pyroxene—targeting industrial control systems in 2025. Sylvanite acts as a rapid‑exploitation broker, weaponising n‑day flaws within 48 hours and handing access to the Voltzite group across power, oil,...
Unit 42’s annual incident‑response report reveals identity abuse now initiates roughly two‑thirds of network intrusions, with social engineering responsible for one‑third of the 750 incidents examined. Compromised credentials, brute‑force attacks and permissive identity policies further fuel the trend, while identity‑related...
Proofpoint announced an updated Partner Network that tightens deal registration protection, introduces backend rebates for new customer wins, and adds growth‑target incentives and renewal bonuses. The program is designed to drive consolidation on Proofpoint’s email, data security, and AI‑powered threat...
Recent incidents—a 2021 Texas freeze and a 2021 OVH fire in Strasbourg—highlight hidden single points of failure in data centers. The freeze delayed fuel deliveries, exposing over‑reliance on on‑site fuel, while the fire demonstrated how passive cooling designs can unintentionally...
FluidCloud’s new Cloud Cloning service tackles the chronic shortcomings of existing cloud‑migration tools by taking a comprehensive snapshot of a source public‑cloud environment and automatically translating it into an equivalent target cloud configuration. The approach captures more than 60% of...
Pure Storage’s Cloud service extends its Purity operating environment to AWS and Azure, delivering a single‑pane‑of‑glass storage layer that feels identical to on‑prem FlashArray. By abstracting the underlying cloud hardware, the platform offers native APIs, replication, and security while adding...
Trifork has introduced a Danish sovereign data and AI solution aimed at public authorities and critical infrastructure, offering an alternative to US hyperscalers. The offering bundles four integrated components—Netic data centers, Corax Data platform, Corax AI platform, and Trifork Group...
Johannesburg‑listed iOCO is expanding its cloud practice in Saudi Arabia through a partnership with Amazon Web Services. The move targets Saudi government agencies and enterprises as the kingdom pushes its Vision 2030 digital modernization agenda. iOCO will invest in local delivery...
AI hype in Singapore masks modest financial returns. Enterprises spend an average S$18.9 million per AI initiative in 2025, yet only 23% achieve the projected ROI. A PwC global CEO survey shows just 12% of CEOs see both cost cuts and...
India’s enterprises are boosting cybersecurity spend as multi‑cloud, API‑led ecosystems expand, yet Security Operations Centre (SOC) capacity lags behind. The average data‑breach cost has climbed to ₹22 crore (≈US$2.6 million), highlighting the financial stakes. Tool proliferation generates more alerts, but analyst throughput...
Choosing a password manager is now a strategic security decision, not just a convenience tool. While consumer‑focused apps handle basic storage, enterprise‑grade solutions add centralized provisioning, role‑based access, and detailed audit trails. Decision‑makers must evaluate encryption models, zero‑knowledge architecture, MFA...
AXIS Consulting unveiled a five‑component operating model to help mid‑market and enterprise firms scale AI, automation, and CRM initiatives beyond isolated pilots. The framework aligns use‑case selection, data governance, process‑first design, embedded change management, and continuous measurement to create repeatable,...
A critical remote code execution flaw, CVE‑2026‑1357, has been discovered in the WPvivid Backup & Migration WordPress plugin, affecting over 900,000 active sites. The vulnerability lets unauthenticated attackers upload and run arbitrary PHP files via the plugin’s backup‑receive endpoint, granting...
Frontline and deskless workers comprise roughly 80% of the global labor force, yet traditional identity systems struggle with shared devices, shift changes, and high turnover. Single Sign‑On (SSO) consolidates credentials, cutting password‑reset tickets and speeding up access at shift handovers....
IFS posted 23% annual recurring revenue growth and a 114% net retention rate for FY 2025, indicating industrial AI is moving from pilot projects to large‑scale operational use. The company’s new IFS Nexus Black and Agent Studio platforms let enterprises...
REMnux released version 8, rebuilt on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, and introduces a new Cast‑based installer that handles fresh deployments, upgrades, and container installs. The highlight is the REMnux MCP server, which implements the Model Context Protocol to connect AI agents with the...
Red Teaming, also known as adversary simulation, pits authorized security experts against an organization’s defenses to expose real‑world attack gaps. By mimicking the full cyber kill chain—from OSINT‑driven reconnaissance to covert data exfiltration—teams reveal weaknesses that traditional scans miss. The...
Australian IT distributor Synnex has opened a $150 million, AI‑enabled logistics centre in Melbourne, marking a shift from traditional distribution to a platform‑focused model. The new facility incorporates advanced automation, improving speed, safety and scalability while supporting a broader suite of...
ITC Infotech opened its Asia‑Pacific headquarters and digital‑AI hub in Melbourne, the fourth such centre globally. The hub targets sectors including consumer‑packaged goods, retail, manufacturing, banking and especially agriculture, aligning with Victoria’s $20 billion agri‑economy. ITC plans to hire about 150...
Credential stuffing attacks are surging as attackers exploit reused passwords harvested from past breaches. The technique is cheap, highly automated, and blends into normal traffic, making detection difficult. Small‑to‑mid‑size businesses, SaaS platforms, and customer‑facing portals are prime targets because they...
V2 AI announced three senior executive hires—Hannah Williams as Managing Director, Peter Burns as Partner, and Michael Ewald as Director. Williams joins from Amazon LEO after a decade in IT, Burns arrives from Google with nearly 30 years of experience,...
Digitas Australia announced Miriam Healy as its new chief technology officer. Healy, who joins from a previous engineering director role, brings more than 25 years of experience delivering large‑scale digital products for household brands. In her CTO role she will...
If Active Directory is down, can you even log in to start restoring backups? A lot of recovery plans assume core services are intact but that's not always a safe bet.
OneKloudX has partnered with Epicor to add the cloud‑based Kinetic and Prophet 21 ERP platforms to its service portfolio, targeting manufacturers and distributors in Australia and New Zealand. The consultancy will deploy these solutions using its FlexSafe implementation methodology and provide on‑site...
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) was introduced as a universal interface that lets AI agents tap into enterprise data and services. In practice, the protocol has become a lightning rod for privacy breaches: a rogue MCP server harvested WhatsApp chats...
Apple announced that Rosetta 2, the translation layer for Intel‑only apps, will be phased out after macOS 27 and disappear by macOS 28. The upcoming macOS 26.4 beta adds on‑screen warnings for apps still relying on Rosetta, signaling the end of support. This marks...
In this follow-on clip, I unpack why physical AI (and world models) is the next major leap. It introduces an entirely new kind of workforce: intelligent devices and humanoids working alongside people. The move from pilot to production won’t be...
The Comprehensive AI Management Framework Landscape is a vendor‑neutral reference that maps six distinct categories of AI governance, strategy, risk, operating, and maturity frameworks. It helps leaders match specific management decisions to the appropriate framework, avoiding overlap and friction. By...
Vertiv reported a record Q4 2025, with net sales rising 23% to $2.88 billion and organic growth of 19%. Orders exploded 252% year‑over‑year, pushing the backlog to $15 billion and a 2.9× book‑to‑bill ratio. The company unveiled high‑density prefabricated cooling platforms, modular...
Oracle NetSuite unveiled NetSuite Next at SuiteConnect Dubai, positioning AI as the operational core of its cloud ERP for the UAE market. The platform introduces Ask Oracle, a natural‑language assistant that delivers context‑aware insights across the entire data set, and...
A new social‑engineering campaign uses a fake Cloudflare‑style CAPTCHA to trick Windows users into pasting a malicious PowerShell command. The clipboard‑to‑run technique launches the fileless StealC malware, which injects reflective shellcode into svchost.exe and exfiltrates browser credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, Outlook...
Enterprise resource planning (ERP) remains a cornerstone for integrated business processes, but high licensing fees, lengthy implementations, and costly customizations limit its appeal for small and mid‑sized firms. Larger enterprises also struggle to adapt rigid ERP modules to regional or...
Andrew Baker has been promoted from chief technology officer to chief information officer at Capitec, succeeding Wim de Bruyn who led the role since 2014. Baker joins the CIO post after four years driving Capitec’s migration to Amazon Web Services and...
Dell VP David Noy announced that discrete storage architectures outperform disaggregated designs for large‑scale AI workloads, reversing Dell’s earlier promotion of disaggregation. He cites PowerScale’s integrated controller‑drive chassis as delivering lower rack space, fewer switches, and reduced power consumption. The...
Virtual IT Group has appointed Maurice McCarthy, a former Optus customer‑success director, as its new chief executive officer, succeeding founder Christian Pacheco. McCarthy brings 25 years of telecom leadership and will focus on client outcomes, service reliability, and responsible AI integration. Pacheco transitions...
Policloud, a French AI‑focused cloud startup, announced a plan to deploy up to 1,000 sovereign micro‑data centers by 2030, delivering more than 250,000 GPUs. The company has already installed eight sites across France, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the United...
Oracle announced a decisive new approach to MySQL, installing fresh engineering leadership and unveiling a public development roadmap. The vendor pledged to shift key commercial‑only features, such as vector functions for AI workloads, into the open‑source Community Edition. Greater transparency,...
Howard Rubin, founder of The Technology Economists, warns that rising IT budgets are being eroded by inflation that outpaces spending, with average budget growth of 3.1% versus 6.9% inflation. His research shows that even sectors like banking see real IT...
IT integrator Ailanto announced a sovereign cloud service for Swiss organizations built on Cubbit’s DS3 Composer software‑defined object storage. The offering launches with 1 PB of capacity hosted in Swiss‑based data centres and will expand later in 2026. It provides S3‑compatible,...
BCX chief executive Jonas Bogoshi will retire after seven years, with long‑time Telkom veteran Hasnain Motlekar stepping in as acting CEO on 1 March 2026. The transition comes as BCX reports a 5.9% year‑to‑date revenue decline and a 9.3% drop in the...
Thinking a lot about AI security vs traditional security. Do we actually need a separate AI policy, or should this live inside the security and governance structures we already have? To answer this we need to consider how AI and...
SAP integrating with Microsoft tools blunts any perceived strategic advantage D365 has. User adoption becomes easier when tied to products people already use. #PowerBI #SAP https://t.co/rkRNfWeI6s
Passwork has launched version 7.4, adding centralized restrictive settings for User vaults. Administrators can now block adding users, sending passwords, creating links, and shortcuts across all personal vaults. The controls apply automatically to existing and new vaults, tightening data‑leak defenses and...
Resilience today means being future ready. Can your infrastructure pivot as rates change, markets shift, or new competitors emerge? https://t.co/jCrVklXEuZ
⏳ Data stolen today will be cracked tomorrow. Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) isn't a "next year" problem—it’s a multi-year migration that starts now. I’m looking for "Crypto Agility" on the floor at #RSAC2026. Are you ready for the Q-Day countdown? https://t.co/6PIC4o7OmO #QuantumSecurity...
Microsoft has launched a public‑preview Security Dashboard for AI, consolidating posture and real‑time risk signals from Microsoft Defender, Entra, and Purview into a single interface. The tool inventories AI assets—including models, agents, and third‑party applications—and surfaces AI‑related security risks in...
If 2025 was the year of "launch an AI pilot," 2026 must be the year of "launch AI agents safely at scale." This 10 point checklist is built for that shift. #AI #CIO #DigitalTransformation https://t.co/1tg10UmJNv
Release readiness now includes humans: training frontline teams, updating runbooks, and defining when agents must escalate, not improvise. #ChangeManagement #AI #CIO https://t.co/1tg10UmJNv
The real fear is not replacement. It’s ownership of knowledge. AI systems are capturing workflows, decisions and expertise that once lived inside employees’ heads. The strategic question is no longer who loses a job, but who controls the institutional intelligence being built....
