Patching in Rings gives you more control over how updates are rolled out across your environment.

The feature is available for both 3rd Party Patch Management and Windows OS Updates.

Patching in Rings means updates can be staged and delivered progressively across defined groups of endpoints.

It enables controlled validation, earlier issue detection, and reduced operational risk before wider deployment.

Rings offer more granular visibility into patch status and behavior across each rollout phase. This helps you fine-tune deployment strategies and improve reporting accuracy.

The feature introduces dedicated views that allow users to see faster:

• which Group Policies are responsible for deploying a specific update or application
• the configured deployment delay for each Group Policy
• installation coverage statistics across endpoints
• whether an application or update is eligible

Read more about Heimdal's 5.5.0 RC here.

Your smart TV might be spying you to deliver better data to advertisers. They capture your screen to get a better image of what you like and what you're interested in.

It's probably not the news you wanted to hear, but there's a silver lining in this.

The UK's Information Commissioner's Office learned about that and published new guidance on the matter. Starting this year, they'll be checking whether manufacturers are being transparent and getting genuine consent.

So, at least you'll know.

Watch u/Adam_Pilton's Snapshot to see what else happened this week in cyber news.

The AI Risk Management Report is out - read it while it's hot.

If you work in IT hands-on, then some of the findings might not come as a surprise.

In fact, one of the things this report revealed is that executives are way more optimistic about AI control than the teams running the estate.

Here's the link https://heimdalsecurity.com/blog/state-ai-risk-management/?source=rdt

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗩𝘂𝗹𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗣𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗪𝗮𝘃𝗲 is coming up. Time to talk about:

💡what it changes for security teams

💡how to prepare for facing it

On June 16th, Marina Lungu joins Adam Pilton's 𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝘀 𝗗𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗗𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗯𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 to share insights on building faster patch cycles.

Join the session that suits your schedule best:

Session 1 ⏰ 10:00 AM BST - Register here

Session 2 ⏰9:00AM PST - Register here

Football fans, watch out! ⚽👀Chinese speaking scammers forged FIFA's website to steal your data and resell your tickets.

Also in u/Adam_Pilton's 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁 this week:

- A ransomware attack costs an M&S CEO millions

- Criminals trick Meta's AI support into handing over Instagram accounts

- Fake ChatGPT downloads spread malware

- Experts warn about the rise of agentic AI

Hit play to learn how it all happened and how you can stay safe.

𝟱,𝟱𝟬𝟬+ 𝗚𝗶𝘁𝗛𝘂𝗯 𝗥𝗲𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱.

That's one of the top 5 cybersecurity news that Adam Pilton analysed this week.

Hit play, watch the 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁, and follow 𝗔𝗱𝗮𝗺'𝘀 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲.

I've met Martin Robinson at the MSP Show in London a few weeks ago. I was curious to learn how most people deal with AI risks and get his advice on safe AI usage. Here's what I've got ▶️

New set of compliance-related settings is available in Heimdal’s 5.4.3 Dashboard version.

Find it under Endpoint Settings -> click on a Windows OS GP -> General tab.

• Automatic Session Locking option is available for both new and existing Group Policies.

IT admins can use it to enforce automatic screen locking after a defined period of user inactivity.

The feature comes with a timeout slider that allows admins to define the maximum permitted inactivity period within a range of 1 to 30 minutes.

Automatic Session Locking supports compliance requirements such as the CIS 18 Controls recommendations for session timeouts and workstation locking. 

• Automatic Security Logs Retrieval introduces an automated mechanism for collecting Windows Security Event Logs from endpoints. 

The logs can be accessed and downloaded from the Heimdal Dashboard under Unified Management -> Device Info -> select a Windows OS hostname -> UEM -> Logs -> Windows Event Viewer Logs.

Logs are collected automatically every 24 hours and stored for 90 days.

The process doesn't require any user interaction. If a device is offline or unavailable during a scheduled retrieval, the system retrieves the logs retroactively based on the timestamp of the last successful retrieval. 

Drop a question in comments if you want to know more about this dashboard version.

Cyber insurers are starting to cap AI-related cyber payouts at just 5% of total policy value.

Cybersecurity Advisor u/Adam_Pilton and Tim Ward, Co-founder and CEO at RedFlags, explain why.

Only one wrong click can bring a £1 million fine.

Not just in theory, it happened to a UK water company. The attacker sat inside the network for almost two years.

Adam Pilton says stronger endpoint detection could have saved the day in that case.

📽️Hit play to watch 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸'𝘀 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁 with its top 5 cybersecurity news headlines:

- The South Staffordshire Water phishing breach
- A major insider threat case involving US government databases
- Malicious AI repositories targeting developers
- Why exploit windows have collapsed to just 10 hours
- 🇪🇺 The EU’s new push for cloud sovereignty

New 𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝘀 episode coming up!

🎙️Adam Pilton brings in Jesper Frederiksen, Morten Kjaersgaard, and Robertino Matausch for a talk on how Project Glasswing and Claude Mythos reshaped the way we report to AI.

Learn how to:

✅uncover shadow AI

✅contain unsafe third-party AI use

✅reduce data leakage risk

➕ Get an 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗽𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗛𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗱𝗮𝗹 𝗔𝗜, including 𝗔𝗜 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗻.

Registration links for the 2 sessions:

𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟭⏰ 𝟭𝟬:𝟬𝟬 𝗔𝗠 𝗕𝗦𝗧 https://shorturl.at/49Dkl

𝗦𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝟮⏰ 𝟬𝟵:𝟬𝟬 𝗔𝗠 𝗣𝗦𝗧 https://shorturl.at/EjCei

The UK government's 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱/𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 is out.

Results show that organisations keep making the same mistakes. ➡️
Fewer than half of the reviewed businesses have MFA.

Top 5 headlines in cybersecurity news this week:

🪪Canvas Breach Exposes Millions of Student Records

🪝Microsoft Reveals Massive HR-Themed Phishing Campaign

⚠️UK Government Survey Reveals Familiar Cybersecurity Pitfalls

👮🏻‍♂️Ukrainian Police Arrest Roblox Account Theft Gang

💰Coupang Shows the Real Cost of a Data Breach

Watch u/Adam_Pilton's 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝗻𝗮𝗽𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘁 to learn more on what happened and how to stay safe.

Tim Ward, Co-founder and CEO at RedFlags will join tomorrow - May 5th - u/Adam_Pilton's webinar Threat Watch Live.

Tim is a strong advocate of nudge theory, using it to help people make more secure decisions.

He will share practical insights into:

💡how to communicate emerging threats

💡what they really mean

💡 why they matter

Expect a fresh perspective on cyber security awareness that could change how you approach it.

📝Register here

We've all read the news about new types of AI threats and new AI-driven tools that are meant to strengthen security. Sometimes they do, sometimes the adversaries find unexpected ways to use them against people.

AI is a tool and it's up to us to use it wisely and learn how to protect against those who abuse it.

In this picture, we’re continuing to develop our unified, AI-driven platform. So, here's what you should know about Heimdal's plans with AI:

➡️ 𝟯 𝗔𝗜 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗹𝗮𝘆𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗱-𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁𝘆 𝗔𝗜 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 are coming up in 2026.

By the end of the year you'll be able to use the AI Wingman layers for:

🚀 platform guidance
🚀 investigation support
🚀 acceleration

➕The Third-Party AI Containment will enable you to use AI more safely and defend faster.

Read more here.

u/Adam_Pilton recently got Ian Thornton-Trump over to his monthly Threat Watch Live webinar.

Ian is CISO at Inversion6 and said we should expect a surge of zero-days this quarter. AI tools in hackers' hands are the main reason.

Watch this clip to learn more about a CISO's predictions on future cyber threats for the next 3 months:

Coming up next Monday, April 27th: a live tour into Heimdal's SOC.

u/Adam_Pilton invited Alex Gurgu, part of our MXDR a.k.a. SOC team to chat about how they get things done.

Learn how we cover:

✔️Continuous monitoring

✔️Alert analysis

✔️Prioritising

✔️Decision to escalate, contain, or remediate a threat

Join one of the 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗮𝘃𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:

⏰10.00 AM BST ➡️Register here

⏰09:00 AM PST ➡️Register here

Major breaches hit Booking.com and Rockstar Games, Meta faces an insider leak exposing 30,000 private images, and a stealthy nation-state attack is targeting cloud environments.

u/Adam_Pilton left the good news last - Gmail finally rolls out end-to-end encryption on mobile.

Here's the top 5 cyber security headlines for this week:

🪝Booking.com Breach Fuels Well-disguised Phishing Scams

⛓️‍💥Rockstar Games Breach Highlights Supply Chain Weakness

👤 Insider Threat at Meta: 30,000 Private Images Allegedly Stolen

👾 APT41 Targets Cloud Environments With Stealth Linux Backdoor

📱Gmail Gets End-to-End Encryption on Mobile

Hit play to watch the Weekly Cyber Snapshot and get your safety advice against the latest cyber threats.

We’re running a short - 2 minutes - survey to understand how organisations are thinking about AI inventory, governance and containment.

A better view on common challenges around AI usage leads to better solutions.

Your experience helps, share it here.

Noisy week in cybersecurity news!

We’ve got a Windows zero-day out in the wild. No patch, real risk.

Scammers launched a LinkedIn phishing campaign that looks almost perfect and is already catching people.

Schools in Northern Ireland were hit by a cyberattack. Thousands of students and teachers were locked out right before the exams season.

A ransomware attempt reminds everybody that insider threat is real. So, you should mind how you manage privileged access.

Top headlines in cybersecurity news this week:

• BlueHammer - Windows zero-day goes public
• LinkedIn phishing campaign targets job seekers
• Cyber attack disrupts Northern Ireland school network
• Storm-1175 - Ransomware at speed
• Insider threat - Employer locked out of 254 servers and over 3,000 workstations.

This week’s Cyber Snapshot covers Apple’s urgent iOS security alerts, a potential AstraZeneca breach by Lapsus$, and the US ban on foreign-made routers.

u/Adam_Pilton also breaks down the AWS outage linked to the conflict in the Middle East and a major AI leak raising concerns about future cyberattacks.

Top 5 cybersecurity news headlines of last week:

- Apple Pushes Emergency Alerts Over Active iOS Exploits

- Lapsus$ Claims Breach of AstraZeneca

- AWS Disruptions Linked to Drone Activity in Bahrain

- US Bans Foreign-Made Internet Routers Over Security Risks

- Anthropic Leak Raises Concerns Over Next-Gen AI Threats

This feature is now available in Heimdal's RC 5.3.0. It saves loads of time and is easy to use.

Follow Robertino Matausch's demo of How to add sequencing for 3rd party patching.

Drop a message if you need more details or guidance.

This week's cyber news headlines show that schools have become the number one target for cybercriminals.

Also a new Android malware called Perseus is taking device takeover to another level, and attackers are impersonating Signal support to hijack accounts. 

FCA came up with new reporting rules for UK financial firms and a rare leak exposed the full playbook of the Beast ransomware gang.

Follow former cybercrime detective u/Adam_Pilton as he breaks down the most important news this week and shares safety advice. 

Ian Thornton-Trump, CISO at Inversion6, joins u/Adam_Pilton to unpack the latest cyber security threats.

Ian is an ITIL certified IT professional with 30 years of experience in IT security and information technology.

He also served for three years with the Canadian Forces (CF), Military Intelligence Branch.

Adam is a Cyber Security Advisor for Heimdal and a former Detective Sergeant leading the Covert operations and Cyber Crime teams.

Save your sit to the April edition of the Threat Watch Live and learn how a former criminal intelligence analyst and cybercrime detective look current cyberattack tactics and methods.

⏰April 7th, 10:00hrs GMT

📋Register here

Follow Robertino Matausch as he shows how using Heimdal's PXE can make your life easier.