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AI threatens to eat business software—and it could change the way we work

In recent weeks, a range of large “software-as-a-service” companies, including Salesforce, ServiceNow and Oracle, have seen their share prices tumble.

Even if you’ve never used these companies’ software tools, there’s a good chance your employer has. These tools manage key data about customers, employees, suppliers and products, supporting everything from payroll and purchasing to customer service.

Now new “agentic” artificial intelligence (AI) tools for business are expected to reduce reliance on traditional software for everyday work. These include Anthropic’s Cowork, OpenAI’s Frontier and open-source agent platforms such as OpenClaw.

Florida woman imprisoned for massive Microsoft license fraud scheme

A Florida woman was sentenced to 22 months in prison for running a massive years-long scheme to traffic thousands of stolen Microsoft Certificate of Authenticity (COA) labels.

52-year-old Heidi Richards (also known as Heidi Hastings, Heidi Shaffer, and Heidi Williams), who operated an e-commerce business called Trinity Software Distribution, was also ordered to pay a $50,000 fine.

COA labels are small stickers that authenticate software and carry unique product key codes used to activate products distributed on physical media, such as Microsoft’s Windows operating system and Office productivity suite.

Chemists thought phosphorus had shown all its cards—until it surprised them with a new move

A discovery by UCLA organic chemists may one day put catalytic converter thieves out of business. In new research, they’ve used abundant, inexpensive phosphorus as a catalyst in chemical reactions that usually require precious metals like platinum, one of the metals targeted in theft of the automotive components that convert chemicals in vehicle exhaust into less harmful forms.

This advance, however, will likely be more useful in the pharmaceutical industry and could one day help bring down the price of some drugs.

Securing the Cyber Supply Chain in an AI Era

Supply chain attacks are now a top cyber threat—SolarWinds and Colonial Pipeline showed how one weak link can cascade across entire sectors.

In my latest article, I examine how AI, 5G, IoT, and quantum computing are expanding both risks and defenses, and share practical steps: zero trust, SBOMs, supplier audits, public-private collaboration, and board-level ownership.

Cyber supply chain security is no longer optional—it’s essential for resilience, innovation, and national security.

Read the full piece: The Cybersecurity Challenges of the Supply Chain https://www.govconwire.com/articles/chuck-brooks-govcon-expe…hain-risks.

#cybersecurity #technology #supplychain

By Chuck Brooks, president of Brooks Consulting International and one of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Experts

Continue reading “Securing the Cyber Supply Chain in an AI Era” | >

Unfinished business: ending the HIV epidemic

SINCE the 1980s, researchers have worked tirelessly to develop effective treatments that can suppress the HIV virus to undetectable levels. As a result, by taking a single daily dose of an antiretroviral (ARV) medicine, people with HIV can now expect to live long and healthy lives – as well as prevent transmission to others.

The impact has been dramatic, with annual global AIDS-related deaths having fallen from 2.1 million at the peak in 2004 to 630,000 in 2024. The number of new acquisitions has plummeted too: an estimated 1.3 million people acquired the virus in 2024, marking a 60 per cent decline since the peak in 1995.

“We’re at a pivotal moment in the quest to end the HIV epidemic,” says Jean van Wyk, chief medical officer at ViiV Healthcare. This quest is to meet the UN’s 2030 goals that ViiV has been involved with since the 1980s as the pioneers of the first ARV medicine.

Video Conferencing, Web Conferencing, Webinars, Screen Sharing

Zoom is the leader in modern enterprise video communications, with an easy, reliable cloud platform for video and audio conferencing, chat, and webinars across mobile, desktop, and room systems. Zoom Rooms is the original software-based conference room solution used around the world in board, conference, huddle, and training rooms, as well as executive offices and classrooms. Founded in 2011, Zoom helps businesses and organizations bring their teams together in a frictionless environment to get more done. Zoom is a publicly traded company headquartered in San Jose, CA.

These Billionaires Plan To Bring Self-Driving Tech To Everything That Moves

Applied Intuition’s cofounders are building software that can drive everything from planes to tanks to automobiles. But to expand beyond its $800 million business selling tech for cars, they will have to take on Tesla, Google, Nvidia and a host of other startups jostling for pole position in the autonomy race.

What Growing Up On Mars Would Do to the Human Body

An enjoyable article exploring the science of reproduction in space. I appreciate the genuine curiosity and hopeful outlook here!

The annual SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, can be a bit overwhelming. What started as a fairly modest four-day music festival in 1987, drawing some 700 attendees, has become a ten-day extravaganza of panel presentations featuring celebrities and business leaders, film screenings, technology showcases, and—yes—music. These days hundreds of thousands of people converge on downtown Austin for “South By,” as it’s called by those in the know. When I was a graduate student at the University of Texas in the early 2000s, I always avoided the festival and its inevitable crowds, which was relatively easy to do since it tended to be held the same week as the university’s Spring Break.

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But when I received an invitation in 2023 to attend a SXSW panel presentation with the title “Sex in Space: Sex and Reproduction Beyond Earth,” I knew I had to go. After all, any plans to create a permanent settlement on Mars or elsewhere in space wouldn’t last long if we can’t have kids there.

PayPal discloses data breach that exposed user info for 6 months

PayPal is notifying customers of a data breach after a software error in a loan application exposed their sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, for nearly 6 months last year.

The incident affected the PayPal Working Capital (PPWC) loan app, which provides small businesses with quick access to financing.

PayPal discovered the breach on December 12, 2025, and determined that customers’ names, email addresses, phone numbers, business addresses, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth had been exposed since July 1, 2025.

Washington Hotel in Japan discloses ransomware infection incident

The Washington Hotel brand in Japan has announced that that its servers were compromised in a ransomware attack, exposing various business data.

The hospitality group has established an internal task force and engaged external cybersecurity experts to assess the impact of the intrusion, determine whether customer data was compromised, and coordinate recovery efforts.

Washington Hotel, a brand operating under Fujita Kanko Inc. (WHG Hotels), is a business-focused hospitality chain with 30 locations across Japan. WHG has 11,000 rooms over its properties and has nearly 5 million guests every year.

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