Four things worth knowing from the week, and one worth doing something about.
A lawyer let ChatGPT write his brief, and the court fined him
The New Mexico Supreme Court has held a defence lawyer in contempt after he filed an appeal brief quoting testimony from witnesses who never existed. He had fed the trial transcript into ChatGPT and filed what came back without checking it. He was fined US$5,000 and barred from that court while a disciplinary investigation runs.
Scam callers are posing as IT and asking staff to set up a passkey
Microsoft says extortion groups have been phoning and texting staff while posing as their own company's help desk, saying a passkey or sign-in setting needs updating urgently. The link leads to a convincing copy of the Microsoft sign-in page, which hands over the password and the live session at once. The attacker then registers their own MFA method to keep access, and works through SharePoint, OneDrive and Exchange.
September's Excel update quietly breaks paste
Microsoft has confirmed that September's security update for Excel, KB5002914, can make pasting fail silently: the copied cells stay selected, nothing lands, and there is no error message. It affects the one-off, boxed versions of Office, 2016 through to 2024, not the Excel that comes with a Microsoft 365 subscription. Microsoft has it listed as a known issue and is still investigating.
iOS 27 has landed, minus two features
Apple released iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 to everyone on Monday, and has confirmed on its own product pages that two features shown during the beta are not in it: suggestions in Messages, and the Passwords app fixing a compromised password for you. Both are now due in a future update, with no date given.
Someone left. Deleting their account is step seven of seven.
Microsoft publishes its own process for removing a former employee, and it runs to seven steps. Deleting the account is the last of them. The six before it cover blocking sign-in, saving the contents of the mailbox, wiping the phone, redirecting the email to whoever is picking up the work, and handing over the OneDrive files.
The order matters because of the clock. Once the account is deleted, Microsoft keeps the mailbox and the OneDrive content for 30 days and then removes it permanently. Take only the licence away and the mail, contacts and calendar go on that same 30 day clock, although the OneDrive files stay reachable.
AI for Small Business: A Practical Guide for Australian Owners
Our guide to where AI actually earns its keep in a small business: pick one repetitive task and hand that over, rather than adopting it as a general capability. It covers the three uses that pay off fastest, how to choose your first one, and how to do it without exposing business data.
Three ways to stay informed
Take the ones you want, leave the ones you don't. Free resources for your SMB.
- The IT Essentials Digest (monthly) A single business focus, four of our best articles, condensed into a four-minute read: the key insight from each, what you might be missing, and how to apply it to your own business.
- InTech News (every second Wednesday) This one. Five things worth two minutes of your time. Something interesting, something on security, Microsoft, Apple, and one practical thing a Melbourne business owner can act on.
- Blog posts (as they go up, around two a month) An email whenever we publish. Longer pieces, one subject at a time, written for owners rather than IT departments.
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Something here you want to talk through? Email helpdesk@1300intech.com.au or call 1300 468 324.
