What's happening at Lumen MSP
Company updates and the IT news that matters to UK businesses — fresh posts every other day.
IT News Microsoft Builds a Bouncer for Teams Meetings — and It's a Wake-Up Call for Your Licence
Microsoft is blocking uninvited bots from Teams meetings. Here's why it matters — and why your existing licence may already have what you need.
IT News Cyber Essentials just got stricter: MFA is now mandatory on every cloud service
The April 2026 Cyber Essentials update is now in force — and it's an auto-fail if multi-factor authentication isn't switched on across all your cloud services. Here's what UK businesses need to do.
Company News Lumen IT Solutions is now Lumen MSP
We've refreshed our brand to reflect who we've become — a true Managed Service Provider focused on proactive, all-inclusive IT.
IT News The PSTN switch-off is coming — here's what UK businesses need to know
The traditional phone network is being retired by early 2027. If your business still relies on analogue or ISDN lines, now is the time to plan your move to VoIP.
IT News Microsoft commits billions more to AI infrastructure
Record investment in data centres and AI signals just how central these tools are becoming to everyday business software.
IT News Multi-cloud and resilience: lessons from a year of outages
After repeated high-profile outages, more businesses are reducing their reliance on any single provider.
IT News Cyberattack hits the EU's Europa platform
A strike on high-profile cloud infrastructure is the latest reminder that the cloud needs securing too.
IT News Securing AI: the new risks every business should know in 2026
As AI gets woven into daily work, it brings fresh security considerations. A little awareness goes a long way.
IT News AI agents in the workplace: hype versus help for SMEs
2026's big buzzword is 'agentic AI'. Here's how to separate genuine productivity from marketing noise.
IT News 2025 in review: a record year for cyber breaches
From high-street ransomware to global outages, 2025 was relentless. Here's what it means for 2026.
IT News The Cloudflare outage that stalled parts of the web
A major infrastructure incident took popular services offline — a reminder of how concentrated the internet has become.
IT News Windows 10 reaches end of life today
As of 14 October 2025, Windows 10 no longer receives free security updates. Here's what to do if you're still on it.
IT News Cyber Essentials renewal season: don't let your badge lapse
Certification is annual for a reason — threats and your IT both change. Here's how to stay protected and certified.
IT News August's breach wave: even the biggest names get hit
A run of breaches affecting major global brands showed that strong security is about response as much as prevention.
IT News Telecoms breaches and the supply-chain risk
Attacks on major telecoms providers in 2025 underlined how a supplier's breach can become your problem.
IT News Microsoft Teams Phone: time to ditch the desk phone?
If your team already lives in Teams, turning it into your business phone system can cut cost, hardware and complexity — but it isn't the right fit for everyone.
IT News TikTok fined €530m over data transfers — why it matters to you
A landmark GDPR penalty is a reminder that where your data goes, and who can access it, is a legal responsibility.
IT News Ransomware hits the UK high street: M&S, Co-op and Harrods
A wave of attacks on household-name retailers disrupted operations and exposed customer data — and showed no one is too big to target.
IT News Backups aren't enough — test your disaster recovery
A backup you've never restored from is a hope, not a plan. Regular testing is what turns it into resilience.
IT News Windows 10 ends in October — your 2025 upgrade plan
Free support stops on 14 October 2025. If you haven't started planning, now is the time.
IT News DeepSeek shakes up the AI market
A capable, low-cost model from China rattled the industry — and hinted that powerful AI is getting cheaper for everyone.
IT News A year of AI: what 2024 taught us
From GPT-4o to Copilot and Apple Intelligence, AI went mainstream. Here's what it means going into 2025.
IT News Multi-factor authentication: still your single best defence
If you do one thing to improve security this year, switch on MFA everywhere. It blocks the vast majority of account-takeover attacks — at little or no cost.
IT News Cloud cost control: getting real value from your subscriptions
Cloud spend has a habit of creeping up. A regular review keeps it lean and aligned to what you actually use.
IT News OpenAI's o1: AI that 'thinks' before it answers
A new class of reasoning models tackles harder problems — pointing to where business AI is heading.
IT News Phishing in the age of AI: your team is the front line
AI is making scam emails more convincing than ever. Awareness training is no longer optional.
IT News The CrowdStrike outage: how one update grounded the world
A faulty security update took down millions of Windows machines globally — a stark lesson in resilience.
IT News Apple Intelligence: AI comes to the iPhone
Apple's move bakes AI into devices millions already use — and puts on-device privacy front and centre.
IT News OpenAI unveils GPT-4o: faster, cheaper, multimodal
The new model handles text, voice and images in real time — and makes capable AI dramatically more affordable.
IT News The PSTN switch-off: the timeline shifts, but the clock still ticks
Migration plans were adjusted in 2024 after concerns about vulnerable users — but analogue lines are still going away.
IT News Europe passes the AI Act, the world's first major AI law
The EU's landmark legislation introduces risk-based rules for AI — and sets a global benchmark.
IT News Microsoft Copilot opens up to small businesses
Microsoft removed the seat minimum for Copilot in Microsoft 365, putting genuine AI assistance inside the apps your team already uses — if your data foundations are ready for it.
IT News New year, new ransomware: getting backup and recovery right
Ransomware remains the number-one threat to UK SMEs. The difference between disaster and inconvenience is a backup and recovery plan you've actually tested.
IT News Google launches Gemini, escalating the AI race
Google's most capable AI model arrives, intensifying competition that's good news for business users.
IT News Bletchley Park: the world starts to grapple with AI safety
The UK hosted the first global AI Safety Summit, putting AI risk and governance firmly on the agenda.
IT News Windows 10's end is on the horizon — start planning now
Microsoft will end free support for Windows 10 in October 2025. Two years sounds like plenty — until it isn't.
IT News Cyber Essentials: the security baseline every UK business should have
The government-backed scheme covers the five fundamentals that stop the vast majority of common cyber attacks — and increasingly it's a condition of winning work.
IT News AI arrives at work: what ChatGPT Enterprise means for SMEs
OpenAI's business-grade AI signals that generative AI is moving from novelty to workplace tool.
IT News The MOVEit breach: why supply-chain security matters
A single vulnerability in a popular file-transfer tool exposed hundreds of organisations — a lesson in third-party risk.
Company News A new chapter begins: Lumen IT Solutions is founded
Founded on 21 June 2023 in Swindon, Lumen brings 25 years of combined IT expertise to UK businesses.