ETCON Insights: November 2026

Hi there,

The story I'd most like you to read this month comes from the parliamentary inquiry into cyber security for small and medium businesses. An ACS witness told the committee that we should stop calling it cyber security and start treating it as safety: protecting people, systems and data. I think that's right. Another witness said small businesses are overwhelmed by information and need practical tools, and the ACS says there's no consistent way to assess providers. So ask your IT provider plain questions about backups, admin access and what happens on a Friday night.

Closer to home for many of you, Microsoft has reportedly offered voluntary exits to 60,000 staff, linking the restructure to AI growth and data centre spending. About 3,000 Australian staff are excluded. It's a reminder that AI is reshaping how even the largest technology firms work, so the sensible response for a smaller business is to pick a few practical uses and put people in charge of them, rather than chase every headline.

In other news, Binance reportedly lost nearly $9 billion after attackers first compromised an engineer's laptop, a reminder that one ordinary device can be the way in. Residents in Melbourne are pushing back on a proposed $1.47 billion data centre. A survey of 1,500 Australians found about three-quarters had a bad recruitment experience. And one columnist asks whether AI will behave more like oil, or more like news. I've also written a practical guide this month on small business cyber security, linked below.

Until next month,

Stefan Etsebeth
Director, ETCON Services
info@etcon.com.au

PS: If a colleague would find this useful, please forward it, or book a discovery call to talk through your own setup.