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Author: Nicholas Salem

As the CEO of BMIT, a leading managed IT services company, Nick Salem is responsible for providing strategic leadership and direction to the organization. With over 15 years of experience in the IT industry, Nick has a strong track record of driving business growth and improving operational efficiency through the use of technology. https://nicholassalem.com

Microsoft 365 Copilot’s Usage-Based Billing Default: What Boston Businesses Should Know

Small business employee reviewing Microsoft 365 billing settings on a laptop in an office

Starting November 2, 2026, every new Microsoft 365 Copilot Business license purchased through a Cloud Solution Provider comes with Copilot usage-based billing turned on automatically, according to Microsoft’s own Partner Center announcement. That means once your team uses Copilot Cowork, the Work IQ API, or apps built on Cowork beyond what’s included in your plan, […]

Massachusetts Small Business Cybersecurity Grant: What Boston Companies Need to Know

IT security analyst monitoring cybersecurity alerts on a dashboard

Massachusetts is now paying for part of your cybersecurity monitoring bill. The Cyber Resilient Massachusetts grant program reimburses up to one-third of the cost of Managed Detection and Response (MDR) services for up to three years, and small businesses across the state, Boston included, can apply now. If the price tag has kept you from […]

What the Boston Scientific Cyberattack Teaches Local Businesses About Business Continuity

IT professionals reviewing a business continuity and disaster recovery plan on a laptop

Boston Scientific, the Marlborough-based medical device maker, needed roughly two weeks to fully restore manufacturing, order fulfillment and shipping after a cyberattack on August 25, 2026, even with a full internal security team and outside incident response firms on the job. If a company that size needed that long, a 20-person accounting firm or a […]

September 2026 Patch Tuesday: What Boston Businesses Need to Patch Now

IT technician applying security patches to a business server in an office setting

Microsoft’s September 2026 Patch Tuesday fixed close to 970 vulnerabilities, the largest single release of the year, and two of them were already being exploited before the fix shipped. If your business runs Windows machines that haven’t updated since early September, treat this month’s patch as urgent rather than routine. Microsoft patched roughly 966 to […]

Windows 11 24H2 End of Support: What Boston Businesses Need to Do Before October 13

IT technician updating a Windows 11 laptop in a small business office

Windows 11 24H2 end of support arrives on October 13, 2026, according to Microsoft’s own release health page. Home and Pro edition PCs, which cover most small business laptops and desktops, will no longer get security patches, bug fixes, or technical support after that date. If your office runs Windows 11 Pro, and most do, […]

Microsoft 365 Passkeys Are Now the Default: What Boston Businesses Need to Know

Person signing in to a laptop using a passkey instead of a text message code

Microsoft 365 passkeys became the default sign-in method on September 1, 2026, when Microsoft Entra ID (the identity system behind Microsoft 365 sign-in) began automatically enrolling users who rely on text or phone-call codes into a passkey registration prompt. If your business hasn’t touched its multi-factor authentication settings, some of your staff are probably seeing […]

Gunra Ransomware: What Boston Businesses Need to Know

IT professional reviewing a ransomware security alert on a laptop in a server room

Gunra ransomware is a fast-growing extortion operation that federal agencies warned about on August 10, 2026, and it gets into networks through unpatched VPN and firewall appliances, not through some exotic new hack. If your business runs an internet-facing Fortinet device, an old VPN box, or any remote-access gear that hasn’t been patched in a […]

Citrix NetScaler Vulnerability: What Boston Businesses Should Do Now

IT technician checking network security on a server rack, representing a VPN gateway patch update

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) confirmed on August 26, 2026 that attackers are actively exploiting a Citrix NetScaler vulnerability in the ADC and Gateway appliances many Boston-area businesses rely on for VPN and remote access. If your company runs NetScaler as a Gateway or authentication server, patching this week is not optional. CISA […]

Prompt Injection Attacks Are the New Email Threat Boston Businesses Need to Watch

Illustration of an email inbox with a security shield representing prompt injection protection in Microsoft 365

Prompt injection attacks are a new kind of email threat that targets the AI reading your inbox instead of the person reading it. In August 2026, Microsoft rolled out prompt injection protection in Defender for Office 365 specifically because attackers found ways to hide instructions inside ordinary-looking emails that trick Microsoft 365 Copilot into leaking […]

Windows 10 End of Support: How Boston Businesses Should Handle the ESU Price Hike

An older laptop running Windows on a Boston small business office desk

Windows 10 stopped receiving free security updates on October 14, 2025, and Microsoft is not walking that back. Businesses that still run it can buy Extended Security Updates (ESU) to keep getting patches, but the price doubles every year and the program caps out after three years. If your office still has Windows 10 machines, […]