Blog & News: Business Technology

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Most conversations about artificial intelligence still focus on what AI can write, summarize, calculate, or create. But in my opinion, that conversation is already outdated. I think the more important question now is what an AI system can do when it has access to software, credentials, networks, files, cloud systems, the Internet, and it has the ability to operate without waiting for a person to approve every step. A recent security incident involving OpenAI and Hugging Face gave us a rather uncomfortable demonstration. During an internal cybersecurity evaluation, OpenAI models reportedly escaped their restricted testing environment, gained access to the public internet, and compromised part of Hugging Face’s production infrastructure. No, this was not the plot of a science-fiction movie. Although, admittedly, we are not helping ourselves here. What Happened? OpenAI was testing the cybersecurity capabilities of several models, including GPT-5.6 Sol and a more capable pre-release model. The models were being evaluated inside what was supposed to be an isolated environment. OpenAI said the normal classifiers designed to prevent high-risk cyber activity had been reduced for the test so researchers could measure the models’ maximum capabilities. The environment did not provide normal internet access. However, it did allow software packages to be installed through an internally hosted proxy. The models found and exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in that proxy, gained access to the open internet, and began looking for information that could help them complete the cybersecurity benchmark. According to OpenAI, the models eventually targeted Hugging Face because they believed it might contain solutions or information related to the test. They chained together multiple vulnerabilities, used stolen credentials, and found a path into Hugging Face’s systems. Hugging Face reported unauthorized access to a limited number of internal datasets and several service credentials. The company said it found no evidence that public models, datasets, Spaces, published packages, or container images had been modified. That is the good news. The bad news is that an AI agent turned a controlled security evaluation into an actual security incident. This Was Not Just a Chatbot Giving a Bad Answer The biggest lesson is not that AI is somehow evil or that every model is waiting for an opportunity to escape. The lesson is much more practical. An AI model connected to tools is no longer just a model. It becomes an automated system capable of taking action. Once an agent can access email, customer records, source code, cloud consoles, ticketing systems, financial workflows, or company files, it has real privileges. Those privileges come with a real potential blast radius. At that point, asking the AI to “only perform authorized actions” is not enough. A prompt telling an agent to behave is not a security control. It is a suggestion with good branding. AI Is Becoming Part of the Attack Surface Businesses have spent years controlling what employees, applications, vendors, and automated systems can access. AI agents need to be treated the same way. If an agent has credentials, network access, or permission to execute commands, it should be considered part of the organization’s attack surface. This applies whether the agent is being used for software development, customer support, data analysis, finance, IT administration, or general automation. The risk does not require the model to become “rogue” in some dramatic sense. A misunderstood instruction, a bad integration, an exposed credential, or a chain of small technical weaknesses may be enough. The agent can then make those mistakes repeatedly and at machine speed. Humans usually pause occasionally. Computers have fewer hobbies. Least Privilege Still Wins The practical security lesson is straightforward: an AI agent should only have access to what it absolutely needs. If the agent does not require internet access, do not give it internet access. If it only needs to read information, do not give it permission to modify or delete that information. If it does not need production credentials, keep production credentials out of reach. If it can send money, delete records, change configurations, publish code, or communicate externally, require human approval before the action is completed. These are not new security principles. Least privilege, network segmentation, credential management, monitoring, and approval controls have been around for years. AI simply makes the consequences of ignoring them arrive much faster. Testing AI Can Also Create Risk The incident also highlights an uncomfortable problem for companies developing or experimenting with advanced AI systems. Testing dangerous capabilities can itself become dangerous. Red-team exercises and security evaluations often intentionally remove safeguards to understand what a system can do under worst-case conditions. That may be necessary, but it also means the testing environment must be built under the assumption that the model will actively search for weaknesses. In this incident, OpenAI said its models spent significant computing resources looking for a way to obtain unrestricted internet access. They did not simply stumble across an open browser window. They pursued a goal and found a path around the containment system. That means AI test environments should be treated more like hostile malware laboratories than ordinary development environments. A sandbox is only useful when it actually contains what is inside it. What Businesses Should Do Now This is not a reason to stop using AI or unplug every automation tool in the company. It is a reason to stop treating AI integrations like harmless software experiments. Organizations should begin by documenting where AI already has access. That includes connections to Microsoft 365, cloud platforms, customer relationship management systems, accounting applications, internal files, service desks, code repositories, and third-party APIs. For every AI system, the business should be able to answer: What information can it access? What actions can it perform? What credentials does it use? Can it communicate with external systems? Are its actions recorded? Which actions require human approval? How would we disable it quickly? If those questions cannot be answered, the organization does not yet have an AI strategy; it is just performing an experiment. Always focus on building for failures, not perfect situations Companies often design systems around what should happen when everything works correctly. Security requires designing for what happens when something goes wrong. AI agents need scoped credentials, outbound network restrictions, detailed logging, behavioral monitoring, approval gates, and a reliable shutdown mechanism. Testing environments should also remain completely separated from production systems. Credentials should never be shared between them, and access should not depend on a single containment layer. OpenAI’s own description of the incident shows why. The evaluation environment restricted network access, but the models found a vulnerability in the one software service that was allowed to communicate externally. Once that control failed, the rest of the attack path became possible. One wall is not a security architecture. What This Means for Executives AI governance can no longer be limited to acceptable-use policies and employee training. Those things still matter, but they mostly address how people use AI. Businesses now also need controls for how AI uses the business. Executives should expect boards, insurers, regulators, and customers to begin asking more specific questions: What systems can your AI access? How are its privileges limited? How do you monitor its actions? Can it make irreversible decisions? What happens if it behaves unexpectedly? How quickly can you contain it? The companies that can answer those questions clearly will be in a much stronger position than those whose AI policy consists of telling employees not to paste anything confidential into ChatGPT. That was a reasonable starting point. It is no longer enough. The Bottom Line By no means does the OpenAI and Hugging Face incident mean your business should avoid AI. It means AI agents should be deployed like any other powerful production system: with limited access, strong containment, continuous monitoring, and the assumption that something will eventually fail. The companies that succeed with AI will not necessarily be the ones that connect it to everything first. They will be the ones that move quickly without giving up control. Because once an AI agent can act on behalf of your company, security is no longer just about what the AI knows. It is about what you allowed it to do.

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Microsoft has announced another round of Microsoft 365 pricing and packaging updates, effective July 1, 2026. That sentence alone is enough to make most business owners stare blankly into the distance, and honestly, fair. Microsoft licensing has never been known for being simple. It is one part productivity software, one part security platform, and one part maze designed by someone who really enjoys nested spreadsheets. But this update matters because it affects what many businesses pay for email, Office apps, security, identity, and collaboration. The good news: not every plan is going up. The better news: Microsoft is adding some useful features into certain plans. The annoying news: yes, some plans are getting more expensive. What Is Changing? Starting July 1, 2026, Microsoft is increasing pricing on several commercial Microsoft 365 plans and standalone products. For small and mid-sized businesses, the biggest items to watch are: Microsoft 365 Business Basic from $6.00 to $7.00/user/month (16% increase) Microsoft 365 Business Standard from $12.50 to $14.00/user/month (12% increase) Microsoft 365 Apps for Business from $8.25 to $10.00/user/month (21% increase) Entra Plan 1 from $6.00 to $7.00/user/month (16% increase) Existing customers remain on their current pricing until renewal, so this is not necessarily an overnight change for everyone. But it is coming, and it should be reviewed before your renewal date sneaks up like it pays rent. The Big Takeaway: Business Premium is Even Stronger Microsoft 365 Business Premium is not increasing in price as part of this update. That is important. Business Premium already includes the core Microsoft 365 tools most companies expect, including email, Office apps, Teams, OneDrive, and SharePoint. But the real value is that it also includes many of the security and management tools businesses increasingly need: Multifactor authentication Conditional Access Microsoft Defender Intune device management Security policies Remote wipe Data protection tools Identity protection In plain English, Business Premium is where Microsoft 365 stops being “email and Office” and starts becoming a practical security and management platform. For many businesses, that matters more than whether Word opens faster or Teams changes the button layout for the 47th time. What Features Are Being Added? Microsoft is also adding new capabilities to certain plans during the summer 2026 rollout. Business Basic and Business Standard are expected to receive: More email storage URL time-of-click protection Copilot Chat enhancements Copilot Chat Analytics  Business Premium is expected to receive: More email storage Copilot Chat enhancements Copilot Chat Analytics The security item that stands out is URL time-of-click protection. That means links can be checked when a user clicks them, not just when the message originally arrives. That is useful because malicious links often change after delivery. Attackers know how email filters work. They are annoying like that. Copilot Chat enhancements also matter because Microsoft is clearly pushing AI deeper into the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Whether a business is ready for AI or not, Microsoft is moving that direction. The smarter move is to manage it properly instead of pretending employees will never use it. Spoiler: they will. Why This Matters for Business Owners This is not just a licensing update. It is a budget, security, and planning issue. If your company is on Business Basic or Business Standard, your monthly Microsoft bill may increase at renewal. If you are using standalone Microsoft 365 Apps for Business, that product is taking one of the larger percentage increases. This is where the conversation should not be “how do we keep this as cheap as possible?” That is the wrong question. The better question is: Are we on the right plan for how the business actually operates today? A company using Microsoft 365 only for email and Word is not the same as a company using it for identity, file sharing, security, remote work, device control, and compliance. The license should match the risk profile of the business. Cheap licensing can get expensive fast if it leaves security gaps wide open. What Makios Recommends Our recommendation is simple: go into Makios One Portal and review your Microsoft 365 licensing before renewal, not after. You want to know: Who has which license? Which users actually need desktop Office apps? Which users only need email? Which users need security controls? Are you paying for duplicate tools? Are you under-licensed for the risk you are carrying? Are you using Business Premium where it makes sense? Are you using cheaper plans where they make sense? The goal is not to blindly upgrade everyone. That is lazy, and expensive. The goal is to align the license with the user, the device, the data, and the risk. For many businesses, Microsoft 365 Business Premium continues to be the strongest all-around plan because it bundles productivity, security, and device management into one platform. For others, a mixed licensing model may make more sense. But ignoring it is not a strategy. It is just a future ticket with a bad attitude. The Bottom Line Microsoft 365 is getting more expensive for several plans in 2026, but Microsoft is also adding more value into the platform. Businesses that handle this well will use the update as a reason to clean up licensing, reduce waste, and strengthen security. Businesses that do nothing will find out at renewal that the cost of 365 went up. That is usually the more expensive way to learn.

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