Apple called the early demand “nothing short of extraordinary.”

ConnectWise has shut down customer access to its Cloud Backup service (formerly SkyKick Cloud Backup) after hackers accessed application identities and compromised Microsoft 365 tenants.

Reports of the malicious activity began emerging on Friday, with administrators observing unauthorized access to client data in Microsoft 365 tenants due to a potential “SkyKick/CW breach.”

Later on the same day, managed cybersecurity and threat detection platform Huntress confirmed the worries, saying that it had identified at least 162 compromised tenants in its environment.

In a post today, Microsoft also confirmed malicious activity involving ConnectWise’s Cloud Backup service, saying it identified unauthorized authentication attempts from an IP address on October 15.

ConnectWise’s cloud backup solutions provide backup and recovery services that help managed service providers (MSPs) and IT teams protect and restore customer data, such as emails and files, in cloud environments including Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.

For Microsoft 365 backups, the service relies on permissions granted through Microsoft Entra ID. An application identity known as a “service principal” represents the software in a customer’s tenant and enables it to access resources according to the permissions granted.

Microsoft 365 tenant breaches

In a security advisory, ConnectWise said that it “recently identified unauthorized access to application identities within the ConnectWise Cloud Backup environment” and shut down application access for its partners and clients.

“We have no indicators to date that Cloud Backup partner backup data has been compromised. The existing cloud backup archive is not impacted by this service interruption and will be accessible once services are restored,” ConnectWise says.

However, the company has launched an investigation and is engaged in remediation efforts.

Based on reports from Microsoft, Huntress, and administrators, the malicious activity started at least on October 15 from a single IP address: 144.172.64[.]128.

One user on Reddit said that they received a notification from the Microsoft Privileged Identity Management (PIM) service on October 15 alerting of a SkyKick service principal assigning itself the role of Exchange Administrator, despite not using the app in years.

Nevertheless, some of the reported IDs for the offensive SkyKick match those provided by Huntress, Microsoft, and Todyl – a cybersecurity platform primarily for MSPs and IT professionals.

According to Todyl researchers, the attacker authenticated directly to Microsoft 365 as the backup application using its secret, gaining the permissions customers had already granted it.

The sign-in requests were performed by an automated script, and since they did not involve a user login, protections such as multi-factor authentication (MFA) were ineffective.

“Because the application already held broad, previously granted permissions in each tenant, those sign-ins gave the attacker the technical ability to read and write mail and attachments, OneDrive and SharePoint files, and Teams chats,” Todyl said.

In the analyzed intrusions on nine tenants, Todyl researchers identified only sign-in activity and did not find evidence that the threat actor “created accounts, added permissions, changed passwords, or established persistence in any tenant through the backup app.”

Reconnaissance and persistence attempts

However, Huntress saw on nearly 50 tenants it monitors that service principals for “ConnectWise’s Cloud Management apps (Exchange Online, Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Graph) assigned themselves directory roles, mostly Exchange Administrator.”

In one tenant, Huntress researchers also observed that the attacker established persistence, the operation taking around five minutes.

During the activity, Cloud Management – MS Teams (24205314-2b89-4e07-a2a4-579e898a5640) granted itself a Global Administrator role and added credentials to an MSP management tool and to Huntress’s own application.

Microsoft also observed persistence activity via a backdoor after successful service principal authentication, followed by “Microsoft Graph API reconnaissance and attempts to add additional credentials.”

It should be noted that all three cybersecurity companies tracked the malicious company to the same 144.172.64[.]128 IP address.

Microsoft Threat Intelligence characterized the incident as an active supply-chain attack, assessing that the attacker likely abused existing permissions, including Directory.ReadWrite.All.

Indicators and tenant checks

Huntress identified the legitimate Cloud Backup application ID 506e08f9-6e9a-4da4-942b-a099a03644ae used in the attacks. Its investigation also linked the attacker IP address to scripted sign-in attempts on October 13 and 14, with the user agent curl/7.88.1.

Based on current evidence, there are at least three user agents linked to the malicious Cloud Backup service activity: python-urllib/3.12, python-requests/2.31, python-requests/2.34.2.​

ConnectWise recommends that administrators check the service principal sign-ins in Entra, filter by the Cloud Backup application ID, and examine unexpected source addresses.

Microsoft also recommends reviewing application credential changes, OAuth grants, and related Graph activity.

Huntress advises administrators to disable the implicated ConnectWise applications, as well as check application credentials for unauthorized additions and review other Cloud Management integrations.

The company notes that older tenants may list Cloud Management apps under ‘SkyKick Cloud Manager’.

The company provides an extended list of application IDs for administrators to look for:

• ConnectWise Cloud Backup (506e08f9-6e9a-4da4-942b-a099a03644ae)
• ​ConnectWise Cloud Management (2399d300-6fca-4e6a-a686-399fefe75b83)
• ​ConnectWise Cloud Management – MS Teams (24205314-2b89-4e07-a2a4-579e898a5640)
• ​ConnectWise Cloud Management – Exchange Online (b78f6a77-d4e5-46fb-87e5-d1648bd02519)
• ​ConnectWise Cloud Management – MS Graph (0de14c77-b9b0-4137-9360-34878a929827)
• ​ConnectWise Cloud Management – Partner Center (412dcf96-176d-4b3a-a1b0-4981ad66971e)
• ​ConnectWise Cloud Management – SharePoint Online (b2b55f5b-7758-4719-8d8f-88ae172e6bdb)

The vendor’s shutdown does not remove credentials already planted in customer tenants. Huntress says that admins should review secrets and certificates across all applications for unauthorized additions since October 13 and removing those entries.

Todyl warns that disabling an application stops new tokens from being issued, but existing tokens remain valid until they expire, and revoking user sessions does not end application-based access.

ConnectWise announced the backup service interruption at 05:01 UTC on October 17 but did not provide a timeline for restoring the connection.

The company did not report any evidence that stored backups were compromised and said existing archives would be accessible when reservices are restored.

At the time of publishing the victim count and the extent of data theft remains unclear, as well as the method the attacker used to obtain vendor credentials.

Overall prevention scores can hide what happens after initial access. Once attackers are using valid credentials, prevention drops sharply.

The Blue Report 2026 measures defenses technique by technique across 338 million simulations run in customer production environments.

Get the report

The OPPO Find X10 series is set to launch in India on October 22, 2026, with two models in the lineup. While the retail box labels recently revealed their listed MRPs, a new leak has now suggested the actual launch prices. Details of the launch offers have also surfaced ahead of the announcement.

OPPO Find X10 Series Launch Offers in India

A promotional image shared by the tipster has revealed several launch offers for the OPPO Find X10 series in India. Buyers purchasing the phones before October 28 can get a free OPPO power bank and Enco Air 5 Pro earbuds. They can also avail up to 15% instant cashback and an exchange bonus of up to Rs 8,000. Buyers can also get a three-month Google AI Pro subscription and up to 70% assured buyback. OPPO is also offering a 180-day hardware defect replacement benefit.

Consumers who buy ahead of November 11 will also be eligible for a discount of up to Rs 1,000 on the OPPO Enco X4. All the above-mentioned deals are due on different dates and are subject to various terms and conditions. The OPPO Find X10 Series is scheduled to launch in India on October 22, 2026, following its global launch on October 21. However, OPPO has not yet confirmed the leaked prices and offers.

Expected Prices in India

According to the leak, the Find X10 will cost Rs 1,29,999 for the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage model. The Find X10 Pro Max could cost Rs 1,59,999 or Rs 1,89,999 for the 12GB RAM and 512GB storage variant. Pricing for the Find X10 Pro Max is uncertain because the leak cites two different prices. Before that, the tipster Abhishek Yadav (@yabhishekhd) has tweeted pictures of the box labels of the phones on the platform of X. The box label mentions the MRP of the Find X10 at Rs 1,79,999 and the Find X10 Pro Max at Rs 2,39,999. However, these printed MRPs may differ from the actual selling prices.

A previous listing on the Bank of Electronics website suggested that the Find X10 Pro Max is expected to cost about Rs 1,28,990. This was for a model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage capacity. The leak suggests a significant price increase compared to its predecessor. For instance, the OPPO Find X9 launched in India at Rs 74,999, while the Find X9 Pro launched at Rs 1,09,999. At these prices, OPPO can compete with high-end smartphones like the iPhone 18 Pro lineup and Google Pixel 11 Pro series. However, OPPO has not officially confirmed the leaked prices yet.

Thank You Bus Driver

Developer: Double Fine Productions
Publisher: Double Fine Action Labs
Platforms: Steam (Windows; Steam Deck Verified), Epic Games Store, Itch.io, GOG, Humble Store, Game Jolt
Price: $5

Just a couple of months after departing Xbox, Double Fine has a new game out. Thank You Bus Driver is the first project from Double Fine Action Labs, the studio’s label for smaller, experimental games.

In this chaotic riff on Crazy Taxi, you play as a bus driver who yearns for gratitude from unruly passengers. During your journey, your employer will add more rules for you to enforce, such as making sure passengers don’t fall asleep or clip their toenails during a ride. You can try to keep them in line with a slap (which reminds me of the delightful Thank Goodness You’re Here) or kick them off the bus. All the while, you’ll be trying to reach your next stop before the time runs out.

This looks like a fun way to spend a few hours. I can’t wait to see what else the newly-independent Double Fine is cooking up.

Valor Mortis

Developer: One More Level
Publishers: Lyrical Games, One More Level
Platforms: Steam (Windows), Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5
Price: $40. Available on Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass. The $60 deluxe edition includes an expansion that’s set to arrive next year

I really like the Ghostrunner series so I was intrigued when I learned One More Level was moving on to something totally different. Valor Mortis is a first-person Soulslike in which you take on the role of a British soldier who signed up to fight for Napoleon. William was believed to be dead after a battle, but is roused by a corrupted Napoleon (played by Vincent Cassel, of all people). A plague has transformed the other survivors into grotesque enemies, but at least you have supernatural powers at your disposal, along with firearms and melee weapons.

The usual elements of a Soulslike are here. You’ll collect catalysts (don’t call them souls) from vanquished enemies and spend these on upgrades at checkpoints. Build modifiers are out there in the world for you to find. The developers took some inspiration from Metroidvania games as well, since some new abilities can open up paths and shortcuts.

PS5 and PlayStation Portal owners who’d like to give Valor Mortis a go may want to note that there’s a 1.5-hour trial available on PS Plus Premium.

Ratatan

Developers: TVT Co. Ltd., Ratata Arts
Publisher: Game Source Entertainment
Platforms: Steam (Windows; leaving early access), Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2
Price : $35

I’ve been keeping my eye on this spiritual successor to Patapon from series creator Hiroyuki Kotani for a while. It’s a rhythm action game and, because it’s 2026, of course it’s a roguelite as well.

On each run, you take charge of a group of minions and use rhythm-based commands to tell them what to do. You can launch attacks, reposition your charges to avoid incoming fire and shield them from damage.

I’ve played a few runs and, even though the framerate is a bit choppy on my PS5, I’ve enjoyed trying to get to grips with how it all works. The action is more fluid than in traditional turn-based games, but you do have to wait for the music to loop around before you can take any meaningful action. Having to manage that as well as my own character’s positioning while accounting for incoming enemy attacks is a lot to juggle. I can’t really tell how much impact my elemental attack upgrades are having either.

The artwork is really pretty, though! I’m planning to stick with it a while longer to see if I can figure out how to make more progress.

Colorbound

Developer: Panpipe Studio
Publisher: Whitethorn Games
Platforms: Steam (Windows), Epic Games Store, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch, Switch 2
Price: Usually $15, with a 10 percent discount on Steam until October 26

I like the art style of Colorbound too. This is a platformer in which you use color to reshape the world and solve puzzles. Using a lighter color might make a platform float, and a darker one could make it drop down to where you are.

Panpipe Studio drew from its Chilean culture and heritage for this game, in which you play as Anku, a boy who sets out to reunite his late grandfather’s band one last time for a proper sendoff. It looks lovely, and I’m very tempted to pick it up.

Enshrouded

Developer/publisher: Keen Games
Platforms: Steam (Windows; leaving early access), PS5. Coming to Xbox Series X/S in spring 2027
Price: Usually $40, with a 10 percent discount until October 29 (PS Plus required for PS5 discount)

Keen Games gave its co-op survival action RPG Enshrouded a massive update as it brought the game out of early access on Steam. The game also made its debut on PS5 this week. The full map (including a fresh biome) is now open to explore, the story is fully fleshed out — at least for now — and there are higher maximum levels for players and their gear. Keen also overhauled the rendering system as well as the early stages of the game, while adding 14 new enemy types and nine more types of spells.

Perhaps the most interesting update is the new logic system. This creation suite, which is called Sparkworks, lets players craft their own adventures, dungeons and interactive bases that they can share with the community. It sure seems like there’s a ton for new and returning players to dig into.

Pixel Washer

Developer: Valadria
Publisher: Acclaim
Platform: Steam (Windows; early access). Coming to Switch 2 in 2027
Price: Usually $13, with a 15 percent discount until October 22

It’s still odd to think of Acclaim as an indie publisher, but there’s lots about our current reality that doesn’t make much sense so I can roll with it. This week, it brought a powerwashing sim (not that one) into the world.

Pixel Washer straps a powerwasher to a piggy. There are no prizes for guessing that your mission is to blast away gunk and grime to make a range of environments look pristine, upgrading your gear as you go.

One of my favorite things about this is that Acclaim looked to the past for the launch trailer. Its narrator is Tim Kitzrow, the voice of NBA Jam (boy, do I hope Acclaim can revive that series).

Penguin Colony

Developer: Origame Digital
Publisher: Fellow Traveller
Platforms: Steam (Windows; Steam Deck Verified), GOG, Humble Store. Coming to Switch and PS5 in 2027
Price: Usually $15, with a 10 percent discount until October 30

It’s horror season, so of course we have to highlight a scary game or two. I really love the concept of Penguin Colony. For its follow up to Umurangi Generation, Origame Digital asked, “what if we adapted H.P. Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness from the perspective of penguins?”

These birds are just living their lives in the Antarctic in the 1930s when Nazis and Kaitiaki show up in search of an ancient being. I’ll leave it to you to determine which group wants to harness the being’s destructive power and which would like to make sure it rests for another century. You can swap between different penguins and follow these humans (I’m sure everything will go well for them!) or explore the oddities of this pocket of the world. It’ll take multiple playthroughs to discover everything, and I’m intrigued to find out what horrors lie within.

Tenebris Somnia

Developers: Andrés Borghi, Saibot Studios
Publisher: New Blood Interactive
Platforms: Steam (Windows; Steam Deck Verified), Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Switch
Price: $25

I don’t think I will ever correctly spell Tenebris Somnia without having to look it up, but this is an interesting game for plenty of other reasons. It’s a retro-inspired, pixel-art survival horror game with live-action cutscenes. It’s directed by Andrés Borghi, who previously made the gothic fighting game The Black Heart and has worked as a visual effects artist on movies such as When Evil Lurks.

The cutscenes are at the heart of Tenebris Somnia, as they’re said to hold the game’s secrets. The visuals of those and the gameplay are pulling me in. I wish I had enough time to play all of these neat-looking games!

Hubert

Developer/publisher: Brocap Studio
Platforms: Steam (Windows; demo available). Coming to PS5 later in October
Price: Usually $20, with a 10 percent discount until October 28

Let’s wrap things up for this week with a shepherding adventure, because I will always include a dog game if I can. As Hubert, you’ll herd sheep through harsh weather and tough terrain with the help of a human. This pup will also need to fend off wolves to keep the flock safe.

It’s said to be a short game, lasting about three to four hours. While it’s not officially Steam Deck Verified, the developers say Hubert is optimized for Valve’s handheld device. I look forward to discovering “poop points” for Hubert on my Deck at some point.

Photo credit: Polymarket
Visitors walking the floor of the 2026 China International Industry Fair in Beijing came face to face with a machine that stands four meters tall and weighs 1.2 tons. Neo1 from NeodraDynamics Robotics Technology does not look like the smaller electric humanoids that have spent years practicing in labs. Its frame uses a hydraulic-electric hybrid drive, with 39 of its 41 active joints powered by miniature digital hydraulic linear actuators the company built itself. Each of those actuators weighs roughly one kilogram yet produces continuous thrust measured in tons. The remaining two joints, both rotational points in the forearms, rely on electric drives.

The combination allows a dual-arm robot to carry a payload of 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds) while retaining repeat positioning accuracy of ±0.005 millimeters. So far, the data have come from the corporation itself; nevertheless, we have some qualms about this, as no independent verification has been found in public sources. Essentially, the design is intended for jobs where purely electric robots have struggled to keep up, such as moving heavy gear under shock loads, in grimy or irradiated environments, or in extreme temperatures and pressures that standard motors and seals cannot handle. Their founder, Yang Tao, has described the concept as a method for robots to go beyond the limitations of human physical capabilities, rather than simply duplicating their dimensions, allowing them to take on activities that people are simply not capable of performing.

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The company lists some potential applications, including heavy component assembly and port cargo handling, fuel transfer and equipment maintenance in areas with radiation-resistant hydraulic modules, subsea work under water pressures that would crush ordinary robots, underground mining, and disaster cleanup. All of them are classified as 4D tasks, which are professions that are dangerous, dirty, demanding, and unappealing to do.

The company, which was founded by Tsinghua University alumni, creates both the digital hydraulic components and the entire platform from scratch. They demonstrated the machine at the recent fair in collaboration with JD Industrial, who are exploring some prototype projects through their supply chain, though we are still waiting for a public price, delivery timeline, and real-world endurance data.

When the robot appeared at the World Robot Conference in Beijing and the October fair in the same city, it was clear they were looking for feedback from industry professionals, but it’s worth noting that the payload, thrust, and precision figures that everyone is so excited about are still just manufacturer claims for the time being. Hydraulic systems have long proven capable of delivering huge force in a relatively small space, but they also pose significant issues in terms of fluid management, heat, sealing, and control.

The Neo1 concept is to combine such actuators with electric precision on the specified joints, in order to maintain both strength and precise placement capabilities simultaneously. Whether or not this hybrid strategy will stand up over time will be determined by real-world test results, which have yet to be made public.

Adding more RAM can make your laptop more responsive when it runs short of memory during the work you do. Before buying an upgrade, check whether that shortage actually accompanies the slowdown and whether your exact laptop supports more memory.

What more RAM actually changes

Switching between a browser, a spreadsheet and an editing app asks your laptop to keep several sets of working data readily accessible. Random access memory (RAM) provides that temporary space; your storage drive keeps applications and saved files. Keeping active data in RAM provides faster access than retrieving it from storage. A solid-state drive (SSD) is flash-based storage, not extra RAM.

Windows also uses a page file, a storage-backed file that helps manage memory. It can move less frequently used modified data out of physical RAM, freeing space for other work. Transferring blocks of memory data between RAM and storage is part of a process called paging. If your task repeatedly needs data that has been moved to storage, retrieving it adds delay. More capacity helps when it lets that workload remain in RAM.

Capacity is only one memory property. Gigabytes describe how much data fits; transfer rate describes how quickly memory transfers data. Dual-channel operation uses two memory channels to increase available memory bandwidth, the amount of data the connection can carry over time. An upgrade that changes both capacity and channel configuration therefore changes more than the gigabyte total.

This distinction matters for graphics too. Integrated Intel graphics, built into the processor, use system memory. Memory configuration can matter to that workload, but adding capacity does not establish a particular gaming improvement. Doubling RAM is not a promise of doubling speed.

Why RAM isn’t always the cause of a slow laptop

A laptop can feel slow even when its active workload fits comfortably in memory. The central processing unit (CPU) performs computations; the graphics processing unit (GPU) handles graphics work. Extra memory capacity does not make either processor inherently faster.

Storage is another separate constraint. More RAM provides space for active work, while an SSD upgrade changes storage performance.

Other causes include low free storage, background applications and outdated software. The symptom tells you where to investigate, but it does not identify the cause by itself. Slow application switching and a slow internet download are different problems.

If ordinary applications respond normally but the connection slows when a virtual private network (VPN) is enabled, investigate VPN slowdown before buying memory.

What application requirements tell you about RAM capacity

An application’s published RAM requirements offer a starting point, not a measurement of the memory your whole workload needs.

For example, Adobe lists 8 GB minimum and 16 GB or more recommended for Photoshop version 27.x and later, checked on 14 October 2026. Those figures apply to Photoshop, not every application.

The recommended figure is the more useful planning reference for Photoshop, but project size and other open applications still affect the memory you need. A published recommendation does not override memory pressure observed during your own work or predict a particular speed gain.

The capacity your laptop supports is a separate limit. Some upgrades require replacing existing modules rather than adding one.

RAM upgrade compatibility: what your model supports

A demonstrated need for more memory does not mean the laptop accepts an upgrade. Some designs have soldered memory, while others combine soldered memory with a replaceable module. Fully soldered memory offers no ordinary module-upgrade path.

A compatible purchase has several requirements:

• Supported layout: replaceable modules, usable slots and an arrangement the manufacturer supports.
• Correct module type: a small-outline dual in-line memory module (SO-DIMM) where the laptop specifies one.
• Correct generation and specifications: the required Double Data Rate (DDR) memory generation, supported transfer rate and other model-specific requirements.
• Supported capacity: both the total and the permitted module configuration.

For a concrete example, the documented Dell Inspiron 15 3520 DDR4 family supports two SO-DIMM slots and up to 16 GB. Dell lists both one 16 GB module and two 8 GB modules, with the latter identified as dual-channel. The total capacity is the same, but the arrangement differs. Those specifications apply to that documented family, not every Inspiron.

Finding compatible RAM for your laptop starts with its exact model and configuration. The manufacturer’s specifications and service manual control the purchase; an operating-system slot report alone is not enough. The service instructions also determine whether installation is suitable for you or belongs with a technician.

Spend on the bottleneck you can verify

For a supported upgrade, compare the full local cost: compatible memory, any required replacement of existing modules, installation and applicable service terms. Regional versions and parts availability can change that total, so compare quotes for the same configuration rather than the cheapest advertised stick.

A compatible RAM upgrade is worth considering when your normal workload repeatedly runs into memory pressure. When those observations are absent or inconsistent, get the slowdown diagnosed before spending on parts.