Elastic MES Platforms Shift Focus to Adaptive Manufacturing Architecture
MES platforms are moving to elastic, modular architectures, breaking the monolithic deployment model. Rockwell Automation’s elastic MES framework combines modular components, hybrid edge‑to‑cloud infrastructure, and industry‑specific templates, letting manufacturers add capabilities incrementally. The global MES market is projected to triple to $56.65 billion by 2034, with modular solutions promising faster ROI and OEE gains of up to 12 % as they scale. This shift forces ERP vendors to provide granular, bidirectional APIs and adapt to hybrid governance requirements.

Everyone Uses Open Source, but Patching Still Moves Too Slowly
Enterprise security teams now rely on open source for core infrastructure, development pipelines, and production applications, yet patching cycles remain sluggish. TuxCare’s 2026 Open Source Landscape Report shows that 60% of recent incidents involved known vulnerabilities that were not patched...
Critical Infrastructure Calls for Ericsson Transport
I just got off a call with a critical infrastructure organisation and it reminded me of a recent discussion with Hemant Malik, Head of Product Line Transport, Ericsson Networks, so I thought it timely to share this again - feel...

Risky Business #825 -- Palo Alto Networks Blames It on the Boogie
In this episode, Patrick Gray, Adam Boileau, and James Wilson dissect a week of cybersecurity headlines, from Palo Alto Networks’ decision to avoid publicly attributing a Chinese‑linked hacking campaign to geopolitical concerns, to the rise of data‑only extortion as ransomware...

Excited to Lead Panel at Zoho Day 2026
On the ground for @Zoho Day 2026 in Austin. Looking forward to the discussions, leading a customer panel and interviews with Zoho execs. There is a lot to unpack. #CIO @sandraklo #ZohoDay26
Plan Ahead to Avoid Vendor Lock‑In Barriers
Vendor lock-in makes switching harder later. Businesses and software evolve differently, creating a gap over time. Plan for future digital transformations. #VendorLockIn #DigitalTransformation #BusinessStrategy https://t.co/SEjhkOsbRr

Singapore & Its 4 Major Telcos Fend Off Chinese Hackers
Singapore’s Cyber Security Agency and the nation’s four major telcos (M1, Simba Telecom, Singtel, StarHub) launched the "Cyber Guardian" operation, expelling the China‑linked threat actor UNC3886 after an 11‑month campaign. The attackers breached critical network segments but did not steal...
NTT Data to Establish Innovation Ecosystem with Melbourne Uni
NTT Data and the University of Melbourne have signed a memorandum of understanding to create an innovation ecosystem that blends the university’s research strengths with NTT Data’s global technical expertise. The partnership will focus on three pillars: cultivating digital talent,...
Cognizant: Failure for AI to Pass the Pilot Stage Rarely a Tech Issue
Australian firms are pouring money into AI, yet many projects stall in pilot mode, not because of the technology but due to weak experience design, unclear ownership, and poor integration into customer journeys. Cognizant’s AI‑native agency, Cognizant Moment, was launched...

Execution, Power, and Public Trust: Rich Miller on 2026’s Data Center Reality and Why He Built Data Center Richness
Rich Miller, founder of Data Center Frontier, warns that 2026 will be the execution year for AI‑driven data‑center projects, separating viable builds from hype. Power availability, especially grid constraints, emerges as the primary gating factor, pushing developers toward on‑site generation....
CompTIA Launches SecAI+ Certification
CompTIA unveiled SecAI+, its first Expansion Series certification, aimed at securing AI systems and leveraging AI tools within cybersecurity operations. The credential builds on foundational certifications such as Security+, CySA+ and PenTest+, requiring three to four years of IT experience...

How to Transform Your SOC Through XDR and MDR
In a recent Palo Alto Networks webcast, experts highlighted that modern attackers compress breach timelines to under an hour, overwhelming traditional SOC processes. They argued that XDR platforms like Cortex XDR solve the data‑silo problem by unifying telemetry across endpoints,...

Dicker Data Broadens Telco and UC Portfolio
Dicker Data has expanded its telco business unit to include a broader unified communications (UC) portfolio, targeting both Microsoft Teams Calling and multi‑vendor voice solutions. The new offering adds Switch Connect, Symbio, GoTo and IPscape, while InTele delivers end‑user training...
KDDI Selects Oracle Cloud Scale Charging and Billing for Telecom Billing Modernization
Japanese telecom KDDI selects Oracle Cloud Scale Charging and Billing to replace its legacy billing system. The cloud‑native platform on OCI will handle real‑time charging for mobile, broadband and digital services, aiming to cut costs and boost agility. KDDI expects...

AI Eats The World, And Most Of Its Flash Storage
The AI boom has turned flash storage into a bottleneck, with demand far outpacing the limited capacity of fabs operated by Samsung, Kioxia, Micron, Solidigm and others. Prices for flash drives have jumped 50‑70% since 2023 as hyperscalers and AI...

Microsoft Brings Two Data Halls Online in São Paulo, Brazil
Microsoft has brought two new data halls online in São Paulo, marking the first operational facilities under its $2.7 bn AI and cloud commitment to Brazil through 2027. The launch was announced at the Microsoft AI Tour by country president Priscyla Laham,...
Boards Pivot to Recovery as Breach Assumption Grows
As more companies “assume breach,” I am seeing a shift from prevention to recovery. Boards are starting to ask different questions.
Unfocused AI Experiments Waste Time, Trust, and Money
RT Chaotic AI experiments feel exciting, but they're quietly burning time, trust, and budget. Without focus, governance, and integration into real workflows, "innovation" becomes noise, not value. #AI #CIO #DigitalTransformation @Star_CIO https://t.co/VtuS5rQ0ZG

The 2026 Security 100
AI has become the baseline for security vendors in 2026, with advanced generative AI and agentic features now considered essential rather than differentiators. Leaders like MicroAge note that clients increasingly expect AI‑enhanced upgrades across their security stacks. As large language...

AI Adoption High, Measurable Value Still Rare
88% of organizations use AI, but only 5% see measurable value. 📉 The era of "playing with ChatGPT" is over. Boards want results, not experiments. Is your 2026 agenda a strategy or just a wishlist? Watch: https://t.co/dJs86sTyRD #CXOtalk #CIO #AI #DigitalTransformation https://t.co/FgDryZSMhb

State and Local Governments Can Avoid Costly Mistakes in Application Modernization
State and local governments are accelerating application modernization without fully assessing security and interdependencies, leading some to halt cloud migrations. CDW’s chief architect Greg Peters warns that legacy mainframes and tightly coupled applications require coordinated upgrades across multiple systems. To...

Quest Trusted Data Management Platform Makes It Easier for Organizations to Create Reusable Data Products
Quest Software unveiled the Trusted Data Management Platform, a unified suite that combines data modeling, cataloging, governance, quality, and a marketplace to deliver AI‑ready data across enterprises. The solution promises up to 54% faster data‑product delivery, up to 40% cost...
IT Teams Prioritize Scalable, User‑Friendly, Manageable Infrastructure
IT teams prioritize scalability and ease of use for technology, aiming to simplify stacks and build a manageable, growing infrastructure. Their focus is on technical efficiency. #ITManagement #TechStrategy https://t.co/UHwoWoB1Q6
Leading Digital Innovation
MIT Center for Information Systems Research reports that digital innovation succeeds when organizations deploy three complementary leader types—initiative, shared‑resource, and portfolio leaders—rather than relying on a single heroic executive or centralized unit. The briefing explains how each role contributes to...

North Star Organizational Transformation
The article outlines a North Star‑driven digital transformation framework, beginning with a concise, inspirational mission statement that positions the company as customer‑first, data‑powered, and agile. It defines four strategic pillars—Customer Experience, Data & Insights, Agile Platforms, and People & Culture—and...
Future Success: Reward Choosing the Right Problems
RT "In the last generation, we rewarded people who knew how to solve problems. In the next generation, we'll have to reward people for knowing what problems to solve." #AI #TalentDevelopment #FutureOfWork #CHRO #CIO @Star_CIO https://t.co/RMed8Fg4kv

Palo Alto Networks To Acquire ‘Agentic Endpoint’ Security Startup Koi
Palo Alto Networks announced it will acquire AI‑agent security startup Koi, a move aimed at strengthening visibility and protection for AI‑driven workloads on endpoint devices. While the purchase price was not disclosed, a prior report suggested a $400 million valuation. Koi’s...

API Threats Grow in Scale as AI Expands the Blast Radius
API vulnerabilities accounted for 17% of the 60,000+ flaws disclosed in 2025, and 43% of exploited weaknesses were API‑related, underscoring a growing attack surface. Wallarm’s report highlights a dramatic 270% rise in Model Context Protocol (MCP) flaws between Q2 and...
SMEs Must Expect Cyber Attacks, NCSC Warns
SMEs Wrong to Assume They Won’t Be Hit by Cyber-Attacks: NCSC Boss War - Infosecurity Magazine https://t.co/DjHx7581nV

When DORA Goes From Afterthought to Commercial Imperative
In mid‑2025, DORA has shifted from a peripheral concern to a commercial imperative for European firms. Companies now see DORA clauses in supplier questionnaires and contract negotiations, with non‑compliance jeopardising deals. The toughest obstacles are supplier oversight, costly threat‑led penetration...
Side-Channel Attacks Against LLMs
Recent research uncovers multiple side‑channel attacks that exploit timing, packet‑size, and speculative decoding characteristics of large language model (LLM) services. By monitoring encrypted network traffic, attackers can infer conversation topics with over 90 % precision, fingerprint specific prompts with up to...
IT Execs Seek to Tame Application Sprawl Without Stifling Innovation Through Shared Governance
In a healthsystemCIO webinar, senior IT leaders from RWJBarnabas Health, Ardent Health Services, and the University of Maryland Medical System discussed how to manage the flood of application requests while fostering innovation. They emphasized establishing a single, standardized intake point,...

Sovereignty-First ITSM: How Geopolitical Risk Is Reshaping Service Management in 2026
In 2026 enterprises are treating data location as a strategic risk rather than a compliance checkbox, prompting a shift toward sovereignty‑first IT service management (ITSM). Traditional cloud‑based ITSM platforms that store data in foreign jurisdictions expose organizations to sudden geopolitical...
Cloud On Demand & StorVault Announce Partnership to Strengthen Local Data Protection
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...

3 Threat Groups Started Targeting ICS/OT in 2025: Dragos
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: Nearly Two-Thirds of Breaches Now Start with Identity Abuse
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 Boosts Deal Protection, Profitability With Launch Of New Partner Program
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...

The Myth of ‘Always On’: Confronting Data Center SPOFs
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...
Cloud Cloning: A New Approach to Infrastructure Portability
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 Wants to Demolish Your Storage Silos
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 Launches Danish Sovereign Data and AI Solution as Alternative to US Hyperscalers
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...

IOCO Goes Desert Storming with Saudi Arabia Cloud Expansion
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...

Singapore’s AI ROI Reality: High Spend, Hard Returns
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 Cybersecurity Cost Equation
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...

How to Choose a Password Manager for Your Business
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 Shares a Practical Model for Scaling AI, Automation, and CRM Change
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,...

CVE-2026-1357: WordPress Plugin RCE Exposes Sites to Full Takeover
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...

How SSO Simplifies Identity Management for Deskless and Frontline Workforces
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....
Industrial AI Shifting as Enterprises Turn Analytics Into Autonomous Action
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 V8 Brings AI Integration to the Linux Malware Analysis Toolkit
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...