Like many businesses, we've found 2025 to have been a busy year so far. One of the less obvious facets of our business is licensing of essential services. As more of our clients embrace cloud services, we’ve seen a steady rise in the number—and importance—of service subscriptions.
Keeping everything renewed is critical to avoiding disruptions, so we’re delighted to welcome Becky Considine to the team to lead this essential part of our operations. Becky has a strong record of keeping business operations moving efficiently - just what’s needed to keep things ticking over behind the scenes. So, a warm welcome to the Flex IT team, Becky.
Recent News
Redcar cyber-attack 'cost council £10.4m'
The Redcar & Cleveland council which has been under pressure to reveal the cost of the incident, gave the figure in a budget update report.
The local authority has been in discussions with the government over covering the cost of the attack.
It said it had made "improvements" to its cyber-defences "with further upgrades planned".
Online appointment bookings, planning documents, social care advice and council housing complaints systems were among services knocked offline and experts from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) were drafted in to help restore them.
Check it out here.
Charity shops emerge as unexpected victims of UK’s retail crime surge. However, facial recognition is helping.
A violent attack on a charity shop owner has exposed how rising retail crime is affecting community-based stores that rely on volunteers to support vital causes.
Tone Jarvis-Mack, founder of The Fertility Foundation, was physically assaulted in his shop which raises money to fund IVF grants for individuals and couples who cannot afford treatment.
In response, his shop in Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, has become the first in the charity sector to install facial recognition system designed specifically for retailers.
The technology alerts trained staff to the presence of known repeat offenders before a crime occurs, enabling early, non-confrontational intervention. Mr Jarvis Mack’s charity shop is one of the first examples of a non-profit retail space using biometric technology as a crime prevention measure.
You can find out more here.
M&S are still suffering but the Co-Op survived
Co-op narrowly averted being locked out of its computer systems during the cyber attack that saw customer data stolen and store shelves left bare, the hackers who claim responsibility have told the BBC.
They yanked their own plug: How Co-op averted an even worse cyber attack.
M&S has stated that online disruption from the cyber attack will continue through June and into July. The retailer is working to restore its systems and ramp up online operations gradually. While some services like contactless payments and loyalty cards have been restored, online ordering is still paused.
M&S Cyber incident update is here.
Solving one of the internets trickiest problems
A Sam Altman-backed company has an ambitious plan to distinguish humans from artificial bots. It involves an Orb.
The Orb maps the unique patterns of a user’s iris in order to “verify” their humanity.
Now that AI systems can understand images, it’s no longer just humans who can pick out the photos of school buses on traditional CAPTCHA systems. And cracking down on bots is crucial as fake accounts have become more prominent everywhere from ticket sales websites to dating apps. What’s more, armies of bots can be used to spread harassment or disinformation campaigns on social media, and AI scams are already proving costly for victimized families and companies.
Find out more here.
Sam Altman is an American technology entrepreneur and investor best known as the CEO of Open AI
If in doubt ask! That's what we are here for.
The 'Big Switch-Off' - it's still a thing!
We've reported this previously, however, it's worth a reminder.
The date has been pushed back because providers needed more time to prepare but it is happening and our advice is - Ask us if your not sure about what to do and make sure you have a digital service in place by the end of this year.
The message from OfCom is -
The Big Switch Off, the decommissioning of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) and ISDN services, is scheduled for January 31, 2027. This means that traditional landlines will no longer be available and businesses should migrate to digital services like Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) by then. It's important to note that while the deadline is January 31, 2027, businesses are encouraged to transition to digital services by the end of December 2025 to avoid potential disruptions.
Check out these links:-
In the Spotlight
NOT Springwatch
While most of you were enjoying the sights and sounds of the many migratory birds shown on Springwatch at the Longshaw Estate in the Peak District the team at Flex were dealing with a different type of migration.
Migrating a user’s email and data from Google Workspace to Microsoft 365.
Because the process was carefully planned with everyone being fully informed everything went very smoothly. There are a lot of different aspects that needed to be ready for the migration itself including, The M365 Tenancy, Computer Upgrades, DNS Records Prepared, MS Azure made ready, as well, as Detailed Planning and Fallback Provisions.
The result – Seamless!
Read the client story here. PS – it’s a Moorland Curlew.
Cyber Essentials Renewal
At Flex IT, we’ve worked hard to secure our IT infrastructure and to make sure were on top form. As a result we are audited annually and that’s just been completed so we continue to be Cyber Essentials Plus Certified.
Our clients trust us with unprecedented access to their systems and Cyber Essentials reassures them that strong security measures are in place. In addition, it means we qualify for certain Government contracts which require Cyber Essentials certification, expanding the range of projects we can take on.
https://www.flex.co.uk/it-solutions/it-security/overview-cyber-security
If there’s a hot topic that you’d like us to cover, we’re open to suggestions, please give us a call: 0333 101 7300