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How War in the Middle East Impacted the World’s Largest Mobile Phone Show

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On a Tuesday in the middle of Mobile World Congress 2026, three industry experts gathered for a panel to chat about smart glasses and extended reality tech. But a fourth member of the panel, who was based in Dubai, never made it to the conference. Two days before, the US and Israel launched airborne attacks on Iran, and flights had been grounded throughout the Middle East.

Even thousands of miles away in Barcelona, on the western edge of the Mediterranean Sea, MWC was affected by the conflict. While events and meetings at the world’s largest mobile tech conference proceeded as planned, albeit under the anxious awareness of larger geopolitical events, there were notable absences. 

Some booths stood empty, and some meetings scheduled between absent attendees weren’t held. Exhibitors walked the halls and saw a diminished presence from Middle Eastern companies.

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While the conflict was just beginning as MWC took place, it had already affected attendees and changed the experience. While distant from the fighting in the Middle East, the war’s impact was just as seriously felt in the middle of a conference about bringing humans together.

A booth on the show floor of MWC, with attendees and staff but no products to show off.

Xpanceo’s booth in Hall 6 at MWC 2026. The prototypes that were supposed to be flown in from Dubai didn’t arrive. 

David Lumb/CNET

The financial, emotional and mental cost of war on a tech conference

The fourth panelist on Tuesday’s panel was supposed to be Roman Axelrod, cofounder of Xpanceo, who would have likely discussed the smart contact lenses the company intended to show off in prototype form at MWC. But neither Axelrod nor the samples ever left Dubai, where the company is based. Conference attendees who walked by Xpanceo’s booth were greeted by employees who had flown in from elsewhere and apologized that they had only hastily made video demonstrations of the technology samples that were supposed to be on display.

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I had already planned to chat with Valentyn S. Volkov, co-founder and CTO of Xpanceo, who likewise didn’t make it to MWC. While the company was intentionally headquartered in Dubai as a reliable and predictable jurisdiction for business (as well as centrally located, with many business destinations within a 7-hour flight), the country falls within the airspace of the current conflict. As a result, businesses are losing money, especially funds spent on opportunities at MWC.

“We already kind of lost, I would say, a significant amount of resources — physical, mental, scientific resources — simply because we could not get everyone to Barcelona. We could not get our prototypes to Barcelona as planned,” Volkov told me.

Fortunately, Volkov was in good spirits when I chatted with him over Zoom via a laptop in Xpanceo’s booth. He was safe, noting that local authorities in Dubai were providing “logistic safeness.” 

Our chat quickly turned to the smart contact lenses that the company is working on, with plans to roll out functioning prototypes by the end of the year. As Volkov described their potential capabilities, they sounded like the next evolution of smart glasses, like the Google Specs that I saw at Google I/O last year, offering heads-up display information relayed from a nearby phone, and even potentially health data like glucose level readings taken from the lens’ contact with the eye’s tears.

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“Those beauties were supposed to be shown for the very first time [at MWC], and we put lots of effort and resources into that. It’s completely bad luck,” Volkov said.

Thanks to modern network technology, Volkov and I were still able to have this virtual conversation — and fortunately, the war had not affected him or the infrastructure where he was. But anyone can tell you the value of having an in-person exchange over one on small screens. What was lost through the wires because Volkov wasn’t there to demonstrate features and concepts of Xpanceo’s products through body language and demonstration?

It’s not hard to imagine scaling that up to all the business conversations and networking opportunities lost to those whose flights were canceled and lives locked down due to the conflict in the Middle East. Some of those meetings could likely be shifted to digital chats like mine, but MWC is a show about making new connections in person, seeing new devices and getting updated on the latest tech trends across the mobile and telecom industries. 

But I met some attendees who were suffering the opposite fate, having flown out early from countries now in restricted airspace. They made it to MWC, but it’s too early to tell when they can fly home.

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People sit on benches outside and on tables inside a pavilion separate from the hustle and bustle of the show floor.

Some attendees and exhibitors still used the GSMA Doha Pavilion, the social meeting space for Middle Eastern tech companies, to work and meet.

David Lumb/CNET

Stranded at MWC, return unknown

I sat down with Said Saidi, an exhibitor at the show, and chatted in between his calls home. I couldn’t imagine the strain he was under with family back in Dubai and no clear idea of when he’d be able to rejoin them. 

A resident of the United Arab Emirates for 19 years, Saidi was comforted to be able to chat with his family on the phone every few hours, who he said were safe. Aside from noise made by the defense system and drones coming from Iran, his reports from home said everyone is living peacefully and has no shortage of supplies, and they have so far had no major stress.

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Saidi explained that this was counter to misinformation being spread on social media that says people have been stuck in the UAE without accommodation. As he said, and reports have echoed, the government and hotels have provided stranded travelers with free stays.

Saidi caught an early flight out to Barcelona the previous Friday, but most other exhibitors from the Middle East usually fly out on Sunday, he said. By then, commercial flights from the area were largely grounded following the initial strikes by the US and Israel on Saturday morning. He said the impact of this region-wide air travel blackout was stark. After walking around the show floor twice, even all the way out to the startup area at the far end of the convention center, the presence of attendees from the Middle East is “near zero,” Saidi said. 

While he made it to MWC, many of the meetings Saidi was supposed to have with peers from other Middle Eastern companies had to be canceled or held online. It’s a loss all around.

“Usually, the main purpose of the exhibition is to show that we are present, we are there, and also to meet new leads and new business,” Saidi said. While executives may normally move in their own circles, at MWC, they can be met on the show floor by anyone. “The exhibition is always a good chance to meet people and do that first handshake and build on it,” Saidi said.

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A show floor with empty booths in a startup section.

In MWC 2026’s startup section,  seven companies had planned to attend MWC 2026 from the Palestinian Information Technology Association of Companies, but only two had representatives find flights to arrive at the show.

David Lumb/CNET

Waiting for the limbo to lift, but the impact remains

In three days of running around the MWC show floor, I tried to gauge the scope of these absences. None was more obvious than in the startup area, 4YFN, which was filled with company representatives from every corner of the Earth — except a strand representing the Palestinian Information Technology Association of Companies. Just two booths were manned out of what was supposed to be seven, with the rest of the startup representatives unable to fly to the show.

The representatives who were there politely declined to comment for this story and weren’t sure when they’d be able to fly back. 

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Saidi said the same. While he asserted that his company was taking care of him, and that he felt totally relaxed as long as his family was safe back in Dubai, he had no inkling of when he’d be able to return home.  

“I have zero expectations,” Saidi said. “At this point in time, we cannot predict anything.”

From within Dubai, during our conversation, Xpanceo’s Volkov had a more optimistic outlook, with significant hope that the situation would stabilize within a week. But if it is a prolonged issue, he said his company would be prepared for that, too. And work is continuing remotely in the meantime. 

The war is likely to have an impact on the mobile industry beyond MWC. Analysts have adjusted their previously dim projection on 2026’s expected phone sales to an even bleaker outlook, expecting a 13% drop over the year. Mostly, they blame the RAM shortage, which is plaguing the tech industry as AI data centers gobble up memory

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But when I chatted with International Data Corporation’s Jeronimo Francisco, he noted that the regional chaos of the war with Iran contributed to that drop, at least in terms of disrupting supply chains, increasing the cost of oil and forcing companies to find workarounds for wartime bottlenecks.

“If there was no memory crisis, instead of the market dropping 13% it would drop 5 in the worst-case scenario, something like that,” Francisco said. 

It was a poignant moment for the mobile industry. Even as the AI industry-caused RAM shortage is poised to increase phone prices in 2026, MWC was awash in company slogans embracing AI agents and other applications of generative AI. Satellite companies heralded the era of increasing connectivity beyond the range of traditional cell networks. Going to the show is an opportunity to catch wind of exciting trends awaiting phone owners in the months to come. 

But even when MWC feels like being in a bubble of wonky news and enthusiastic predictions, sometimes the bubble is popped by global events that significantly disrupt lives. At CNET, we have covered a lot of the coolest discoveries we made at the biggest phone show of the year — but even immersed in the deepest phone dives, it’s important to remember the human impact of conflicts that reach thousands of miles to a convention center in a Catalonian beach town. 

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Google upgrades Gemini for Workspace allowing it to pull data from multiple apps to create Docs, Sheets, Slides and more

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Lest you thought Microsoft would have all the fun introducing new AI features for white collar enterprise work this week with its Copilot Cowork announcement yesterday, Google is here to take back the spotlight.

The search giant and, increasingly, AI leader today announced a sweeping series of updates to its Gemini AI models embedded into Google Workspace — the productivity suite of cloud-based apps including Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, and more. They’re being made available both to individual consumers and enterprises, though you’ll need an AI Pro ($20 per month) or higher subscription plan for the former, and your enterprise will need to be enrolled in the “Gemini Alpha” program and have the features switched on by an administrator.

The biggest news: it’s now possible to have Gemini automatically create these file types from a single text prompt and fill them out with information gathered from other files and apps throughout you, the user’s Google Workspace, including emails, chats, files, and the open web via Google Search.

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By synthesizing information across these disparate apps and experiences, Gemini acts as an assistant capable of drafting, iterating, and perfecting complex, finished, professional-grade content in seconds, effectively ending the era of the manual “dig” for information.

The message is simple: the era of searching across multiple windows, tabs, files and folders for your information is over — Gemini will do it and put it all together for you in a nearly finished product, simply from a plain English (or language of your choosing) natural language text prompt!

And best of all for enterprise technical leaders — this feature is now provided first-party by Google themselves, short-cutting or eliminating large parts of the need to build their own orchestration system (if they don’t wish to pursue this route and have most of their data in these Google applications, albeit).

Prompt to document, spreadsheet, slide deck and more

The rollout spans the entire Workspace suite, with specific features tailored to the unique demands of each application:

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Google Docs: “Help me create”: The new “Help me create” experience allows users to generate fully formatted first drafts by simply describing their goal. Because Gemini can access Drive, Gmail, and Chat, a user can prompt: “Draft a newsletter using the meeting minutes from my January HOA meeting and the list of upcoming events”. The result is a contextualized document that includes smart chips and structured formatting, rather than a generic template.

Google Sheets gets a 9x speed boost: The most striking efficiency claim in this release involves “Fill with Gemini”. A 95-participant study conducted by Google found that using Gemini to auto-populate tables with categorized or summarized data was 9x faster than manual entry for 100-cell tasks. Users can now describe a goal—like optimizing a weekly schedule to maximize profit while balancing staff skills—and Gemini handles the multi-step construction from start to finish.

Google Slides gets narrative-first design: Slides is receiving updates that allow Gemini to act as a design collaborator. It can now turn rough brainstorm sketches into editable diagrams and generate slide layouts that balance visual weight and hierarchy while matching the theme of an existing deck. Google also teased an upcoming feature that will generate an entire presentation from a single prompt based on a reference document.

Google Drive: The Knowledge Base: Perhaps the most fundamental shift is in Google Drive, which is moving from “passive storage” to an “active knowledge base” that compiles data from multiple files and file types stored there and allows Gemini to access it and move it around as needed in creating and editing projects.

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  • AI Overviews: Similar to Google Search, Drive will now provide a summarized answer with citations at the top of search results, removing the need to open multiple files to find a specific detail.

  • Ask Gemini in Drive: This allows for complex, cross-file queries, such as comparing multiple catering proposals or synthesizing months of research on a specific topic.

  • Projects: Users can now save curated lists of sources as “projects” to share with others, maintaining built-in security and compliance controls.

Not just Gemini — numerous Google AI models power this experience

While the user interface of the new Workspace updates is designed for simplicity, the backend architecture relies on a specialized ensemble of Google’s most advanced AI models.

These features are not powered by a single general-purpose engine but rather a suite of task-specific models developed by Google DeepMind and Google Research.

  • Gemini 3 Flash & Deep Think: The core text generation, summarization, and reasoning capabilities—such as “Help me create” in Docs and “AI Overviews” in Drive—are driven by the Gemini 3 family. Specifically, Gemini 3 Flash is utilized for high-speed summarization, while Gemini 3 Deep Think handles more complex reasoning tasks involving science, research, and engineering.

  • Google Research OR-Tools: To solve the “advanced optimization problems” in Sheets, such as complex employee scheduling or budget maximization, Google integrates its OR-Tools (Operations Research tools) alongside DeepMind’s logic models.

  • Nano Banana 2 (Gemini 3 Flash Image): The professional layouts and editable diagrams found in Slides are generated by Nano Banana 2, a state-of-the-art multi-image-to-image model. This model handles everything from text-to-image generation to complex style transfers, ensuring that new slides match a company’s existing brand aesthetics.

  • Veo & Lyria 3: For multimedia integration, Google utilizes Veo for high-fidelity video generation and Lyria 3 for professional-grade music and vocal arrangements, both of which include SynthID watermarking for AI identification.

Licensing and availability

Google is positioning these features as premium additions to its ecosystem. The new Gemini capabilities are rolling out in beta starting today.

Feature Set

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Target Audience

Availability

Google AI Ultra & Pro

Individual power users

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English (Global for Docs, Sheets, Slides)

Gemini Alpha

Business/Enterprise customers

English (Global for Docs, Sheets, Slides)

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Google Drive Updates

U.S. Customers (Initial)

English (U.S. Only for now)

The Gemini Alpha program is a pre-release initiative that allows Google Workspace administrators to grant users early access to experimental AI features before they are made generally available.

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To participate, your organization must have a supported subscription — such as Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise, or Education tiers — along with Google AI Pro or Ultra add-ons.

Participation is managed entirely by your Google Workspace administrator, as the program is turned off by default. An admin can manually enable accessvia the Google Admin console by navigating to Menu > Generative AI > Gemini for Workspace and selecting the Alpha features panel. Once enabled, eligible users can begin reimagining their content creation journeys using these next-generation tools.

For business users, Google emphasizes that these features are built with “enterprise-grade data protections,” ensuring that sensitive company data used to ground Gemini’s responses remains confidential and is not used to train global models

Community and leadership reactions

The announcement was met with immediate traction on social media, spearheaded by CEO Sundar Pichai. In a post on X, Pichai highlighted the practical, time-saving nature of the updates:

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“New Gemini updates to make @GoogleWorkspace more personal, helpful and collaborative… no more digging through folders.”

The reaction from the broader tech community has focused heavily on the “9x faster” claim for Sheets, a metric that resonates with data analysts and project managers who spend a significant portion of their week on manual data entry.

Yulie Kwon Kim, VP of Product for Workspace, framed the release as a fundamental reimagining of content creation, stating that Gemini is no longer just a “tool” but a “partner that works alongside you throughout the creative process”.

As these features move from beta to general availability in the coming months, the true test will be how effectively Gemini handles the nuance of complex, real-world data without human intervention. For now, Google has signaled its intent: the era of starting with a blank page is officially over.

AI is the latest escalation in the cloud contest — and enterprise technical leaders should take note

For CTOs, CIOs, and product managers, the deep integration of Gemini into Google Workspace is not merely a suite of new features; it is a fundamental shift toward an “agentic” operating model.

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This announcement arrives just 24 hours after Microsoft unveiled “Copilot Cowork,” a cloud-based AI agentic tool designed to compl

ete work on a user’s behalf across the entire Microsoft 365 suite. Both tech giants are now converging on a singular vision: the AI assistant as an execution layer that can navigate multiple files, formats, and data sources to independently plan and deliver finished workplace materials.

By transforming static storage into an active knowledge base, these platforms are providing technical leaders with a framework to reduce the “digital debt” of searching through siloed applications, effectively reimagining white-collar work as a series of delegated outcomes rather than manual tasks.

The scale of this transformation is underpinned by Google’s massive and rapidly expanding footprint. As of early 2026, Google Workspace has surpassed 3 billion monthly active users globally. Within this ecosystem, the paid enterprise segment is seeing explosive growth, with approximately 11 million paying business customers—up from 8 million just one year prior.

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More specifically, over 8 million paid Gemini Enterprise seats have already been deployed across more than 2,800 companies. While Microsoft leverages a multi-model architecture incorporating Anthropic’s Claude models for its “Cowork” features, Google is doubling down on its own integrated stack of Gemini 3 and DeepMind logic to provide a seamless, context-aware environment for its vast user base.

From an interpretive standpoint, this “Gemini-fication” of work represents the democratization of advanced analytics. When a manager can use natural language to solve complex optimization problems in Sheets or generate entire presentations from a single prompt, the traditional boundaries of professional roles begin to blur.

While early studies suggest these agentic tools can lead to productivity gains of 15% to 35%, the real value for technical leaders lies in headcount leverage—the ability to maintain high output with leaner teams.

As AI assistants evolve into autonomous agents that navigate enterprise data to “do the work for you,” the role of the knowledge worker is shifting from “creator” to “orchestrator,” requiring a strategic pivot in how enterprises hire and measure human talent in an AI-first economy.

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Windows 11 KB5079473 & KB5078883 cumulative updates released

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Windows 11

Microsoft has released Windows 11 KB5079473 and KB5078883 cumulative updates for versions 25H2/24H2 and 23H2 to fix security vulnerabilities, bugs, and add new features.

Today’s updates are mandatory as they contain the March 2026 Patch Tuesday security patches for vulnerabilities discovered in previous months.

You can install today’s update by going to Start Settings > Windows Update and clicking on ‘Check for Updates.’

March Update
March 2026 Update for Windows 11

You can also manually download and install the update from the Microsoft Update Catalog.

This is the third ‘Patch Tuesday’ release in 2026, and it’s based on 24H2, which means 25H2 gets the same update. There are no exclusive or special changes. You’ll get the same fixes across the two versions of Windows 11.

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What’s new in the March 2026 Patch Tuesday update

After installing today’s security updates, Windows 11 25H2 (KB5079473) will have its build number changed to 26200.8037 25H2 and 26100.8037 (24H2), and 23H2 (KB5078883 ) will be changed to 22631.6783.

Microsoft says this update includes additional high-confidence device targeting data, increasing coverage of devices eligible to automatically receive new Secure Boot certificates. This means more devices should get a Secure Boot update, but the installation is automatically handled by Microsoft.

In addition, a bug has been fixed that improves File Explorer search reliability when searching across multiple drives or “This PC”.

Microsoft says this update also improves how Windows Defender Application Control (WDAC) handles COM objects, allowing listing policies.

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Here’s the full list of fixes and improvements:

  • [Emoji] New! The Emoji 16.0 release introduces a small thoughtfully curated set of new emojis, one from each major category. Each emoji carries timeless symbolism and practical versatility. These new emojis now appear in the emoji panel.

  •  [Backup & Restore] New! The first sign-in restore experience is now part of Windows Backup for Organizations, bringing this restore capability to more device types. This experience restores user settings and Microsoft Store apps automatically at first sign-in on Microsoft Entra hybrid joined devices, Cloud PCs, and multi‑user environments. This capability helps create a consistent setup process during device refreshes, upgrades, or migrations.

  • [Quick Machine Recovery] New! Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) now turns on automatically for Windows Professional devices that are not domain‑joined and not enrolled in enterprise endpoint management. These devices receive the same recovery features available to Windows Home users. For domain‑joined or enterprise managed devices, QMR stays off unless it is enabled by the organization.

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  •  [Taskbar & System Tray]


    • New!  A built‑in network speed test is now available from the taskbar. You can open it from the Wi‑Fi or Cellular Quick Settings, or by right-clicking the network icon in the system tray. The speed test opens in the default browser and measures Ethernet, Wi‑Fi, and cellular connections. This feature helps check network performance and troubleshoot issues.

    • Improved: When the taskbar is set to uncombined and you have an app open with multiple windows, they no longer all move as a set to the overflow area when there is not enough space on the taskbar. Only the windows that don’t fit move to the overflow menu. This change prevents the overflow menu from appearing with large unused space.

  • [Accounts] New! The account menu on the Start menu now includes a new option that directs you to the benefits page, making it easier to explore and manage your Microsoft account benefits.

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  • [Camera Settings] New! You can control pan and tilt for supported cameras in the Settings app. The controls appear under Settings > Bluetooth & devices Cameras, in the “Basic settings” section for your selected camera.

  • [Built-in Sysmon] New! Windows now brings System Monitor (Sysmon) functionality natively to Windows. Sysmon helps you capture system events for threat detection, and you can use custom configuration files to filter the events you want to monitor. Windows writes captured events to Windows Event Log, which allows security tools and other applications to use them.


    Built‑in Sysmon is off by default. You must enable it before you can use it.


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    Option 1: Settings


    1. Go to Settings > System Optional features > More Windows features, then select Sysmon.

    Option 2: PowerShell or Command Prompt


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    1. Run the following command: Dism /Online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:Sysmon

    2. After the feature installs, complete the setup by running: sysmon -i

    Note: If you already installed Sysmon from the Sysinternals, uninstall it before enabling the built‑in version.


    Learn more about Sysmon functionality.

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  •  [Widgets] New! Widget Settings now open as a full‑page experience in the Widgets app instead of opening in a dialog. 

  • [Desktop Background] New! You can set WebP (.webp) images as your desktop background from Settings > Personalization Background, or by right‑clicking the image in File Explorer.

  • [Search on Taskbar]


    • New! Group headers now show the number of results, so you can quickly see when more results are available. Select a group header to see all results for that group and hide results from other groups.

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    • New! You can preview search results by hovering over a result and selecting Preview to see the content without opening it.

    • Improved: Updated the icon for the Search process in Task Manager so it now shows a magnifying glass.

  • [Storage Settings] Improvements for Storage Settings include:


  • [Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT)] New! This update adds support for Remote Server Administration Tools (RSAT) on Windows 11 Arm64 devices. IT administrators can now install and use tools such as Active Directory Domain Services and Lightweight Directory Services Tools, Active Directory Certificate Services Tools, Server Manager, Group Policy Management Tools, DNS Server Tools, and DHCP Server Tools. These tools are available as optional features and can be installed through Settings > System > Optional Features or from Control Panel > Programs > Turn Windows features on or off.

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  • [Windows Update Settings] Improved: Responsiveness of the Windows Update settings page.

  • [Login and lock screens] Improved: Sign‑in screen reliability.

  • [Nearby Sharing] Improved: Reliability when sending larger files with Nearby Sharing.

  • [Projecting] Improved: Reliability of displaying the project menu after pressing Windows logo key + P.

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  • [Printing] Improved: Performance of the Windows printing service (spoolsv.exe) to help printing run more smoothly and reduce slowdowns during high‑volume printing.

  • [File Explorer] 


    • Improved: You can now open a new File Explorer window more reliably. Holding the Shift key and selecting the File Explorer icon on the taskbar, or using the middle mouse button, now opens a new instance of File Explorer instead of the current one.

    • Improved: File Explorer now includes an Extract all option on the command bar when you browse non‑ZIP archive folders.

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    • Improved: Reliability of displaying devices on the Network page in File Explorer.

  • [Display] 


    • Improved: This update improves reliability when your PC wakes from sleep.

    • Improved: Display-related performance improvements to help reduce the time for a PC to resume from sleep, especially when the system is under heavy load and in other scenarios.

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  • [Other] Improved: This update improves visual consistency across Windows, including the taskbar when auto‑hide is on, credential fields in the Windows Security dialog, and the print dialog.

Microsoft is not aware of new issues with this month’s Patch Tuesday.

Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.

Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.

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Meta rolls out new features for scam protection

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Meta announced new features today aimed at cracking down on scams perpetrated via its platforms. First, Meta is launching AI tools for identifying impersonator of brands and celebrities, as well as for detecting deceptive links, which should help it to quickly take down frauds. Second, it is adding new alerts to caution against interacting with a potentially fraudulent account. Facebook will roll out alerts for suspicious friend requests, WhatsApp is getting warnings for device linking requests, and Messenger will also issue warnings if an account seems suspect.

Finally, Meta is also continuing to expand its processes for advertiser verification. The company said it aims to have verified advertisers account for 90 percent of its ads revenue by the end of the year, up from the current share of 70 percent. Last year, Meta estimated that marketing for scams and banned products could have been responsible for 10 percent of its 2024 revenue.

The social media company has been ramping up its actions against scams, particularly those known as celeb bait. Last month, it sued three entities from Brazil and China that were behind scams that leveraged images and deepfakes of popular people to promote dubious products and investment schemes. Meta said today that over the course of 2025, it removed 159 million scam ads as well as 10.9 million Facebook and Instagram accounts tied to criminal scam centers.

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Microsoft March 2026 Patch Tuesday fixes 2 zero-days, 79 flaws

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Tag

CVE ID

CVE Title

Severity


.NET

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CVE-2026-26131

.NET Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


.NET

CVE-2026-26127

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.NET Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important


Active Directory Domain Services

CVE-2026-25177

Active Directory Domain Services Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


ASP.NET Core

CVE-2026-26130

ASP.NET Core Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important


Azure Arc

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CVE-2026-26141

Hybrid Worker Extension (Arc-enabled Windows VMs) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Azure Compute Gallery

CVE-2026-23651

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Microsoft ACI Confidential Containers Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Critical


Azure Compute Gallery

CVE-2026-26124

Microsoft ACI Confidential Containers Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Critical


Azure Compute Gallery

CVE-2026-26122

Microsoft ACI Confidential Containers Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Critical


Azure Entra ID

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CVE-2026-26148

Microsoft Azure AD SSH Login extension for Linux Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Azure IoT Explorer

CVE-2026-26121

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Azure IOT Explorer Spoofing Vulnerability

Important


Azure IoT Explorer

CVE-2026-23662

Azure IoT Explorer Information Disclosure Vulnerability

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Important


Azure IoT Explorer

CVE-2026-23661

Azure IoT Explorer Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important


Azure IoT Explorer

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CVE-2026-23664

Azure IoT Explorer Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important


Azure Linux Virtual Machines

CVE-2026-23665

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Linux Azure Diagnostic extension (LAD) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Azure MCP Server

CVE-2026-26118

Azure MCP Server Tools Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Azure Portal Windows Admin Center

CVE-2026-23660

Windows Admin Center in Azure Portal Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Azure Windows Virtual Machine Agent

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CVE-2026-26117

Arc Enabled Servers – Azure Connected Machine Agent Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Broadcast DVR

CVE-2026-23667

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Broadcast DVR Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Connected Devices Platform Service (Cdpsvc)

CVE-2026-24292

Windows Connected Devices Platform Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


GitHub Repo: zero-shot-scfoundation

CVE-2026-23654

GitHub: Zero Shot SCFoundation Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Mariner

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CVE-2026-23235

f2fs: fix out-of-bounds access in sysfs attribute read/write

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-23234

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f2fs: fix to avoid UAF in f2fs_write_end_io()

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-3713

pnggroup libpng pnm2png pnm2png.c do_pnm2png heap-based overflow

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Moderate


Mariner

CVE-2026-23237

platform/x86: classmate-laptop: Add missing NULL pointer checks

Moderate


Mariner

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CVE-2026-26017

CoreDNS ACL Bypass

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-26018

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CoreDNS Loop Detection Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-2297

SourcelessFileLoader does not use io.open_code()

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Moderate


Mariner

CVE-2026-0038

In multiple functions of mem_protect.c, there is a possible way to execute arbitrary code due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

Important


Mariner

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CVE-2026-27601

Underscore.js has unlimited recursion in _.flatten and _.isEqual, potential for DoS attack

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-23236

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fbdev: smscufx: properly copy ioctl memory to kernelspace

Moderate


Mariner

CVE-2026-23865

An integer overflow in the tt_var_load_item_variation_store function of the Freetype library in versions 2.13.2 and 2.13.3 may allow for an out of bounds read operation when parsing HVAR/VVAR/MVAR tables in OpenType variable fonts. This issue is fixed in version 2.14.2.

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Moderate


Mariner

CVE-2025-71238

scsi: qla2xxx: Fix bsg_done() causing double free

Moderate


Mariner

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CVE-2026-3338

PKCS7_verify Signature Validation Bypass in AWS-LC

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-23231

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netfilter: nf_tables: fix use-after-free in nf_tables_addchain()

Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-3381

Compress::Raw::Zlib versions through 2.219 for Perl use potentially insecure versions of zlib

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Critical


Mariner

CVE-2026-0031

In multiple functions of mem_protect.c, there is a possible out of bounds write due to an integer overflow. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

Important


Mariner

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CVE-2026-23238

romfs: check sb_set_blocksize() return value

Moderate


Mariner

CVE-2026-3494

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MariaDB Server Audit Plugin Comment Handling Bypass

Moderate


Mariner

CVE-2026-3336

PKCS7_verify Certificate Chain Validation Bypass in AWS-LC

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Important


Mariner

CVE-2026-0032

In multiple functions of mem_protect.c, there is a possible out-of-bounds write due to a logic error in the code. This could lead to local escalation of privilege with no additional execution privileges needed. User interaction is not needed for exploitation.

Important


Microsoft Authenticator

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CVE-2026-26123

Microsoft Authenticator Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Brokering File System

CVE-2026-25167

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Microsoft Brokering File System Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Devices Pricing Program

CVE-2026-21536

Microsoft Devices Pricing Program Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

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Critical


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3544

Chromium: CVE-2026-3544 Heap buffer overflow in WebCodecs

Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

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CVE-2026-3540

Chromium: CVE-2026-3540 Inappropriate implementation in WebAudio

Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3536

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Chromium: CVE-2026-3536 Integer overflow in ANGLE

Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3538

Chromium: CVE-2026-3538 Integer overflow in Skia

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Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3545

Chromium: CVE-2026-3545 Insufficient data validation in Navigation

Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

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CVE-2026-3541

Chromium: CVE-2026-3541 Inappropriate implementation in CSS

Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3543

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Chromium: CVE-2026-3543 Inappropriate implementation in V8

Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3539

Chromium: CVE-2026-3539 Object lifecycle issue in DevTools

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Unknown


Microsoft Edge (Chromium-based)

CVE-2026-3542

Chromium: CVE-2026-3542 Inappropriate implementation in WebAssembly

Unknown


Microsoft Graphics Component

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CVE-2026-25169

Windows Graphics Component Denial of Service Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Graphics Component

CVE-2026-25180

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Windows Graphics Component Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Graphics Component

CVE-2026-25168

Windows Graphics Component Denial of Service Vulnerability

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Important


Microsoft Graphics Component

CVE-2026-23668

Windows Graphics Component Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Office

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CVE-2026-26110

Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical


Microsoft Office

CVE-2026-26113

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Microsoft Office Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Critical


Microsoft Office

CVE-2026-26134

Microsoft Office Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Microsoft Office Excel

CVE-2026-26144

Microsoft Excel Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Critical


Microsoft Office Excel

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CVE-2026-26109

Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Office Excel

CVE-2026-26108

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Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Office Excel

CVE-2026-26107

Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

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Important


Microsoft Office Excel

CVE-2026-26112

Microsoft Excel Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Office SharePoint

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CVE-2026-26105

Microsoft SharePoint Server Spoofing Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Office SharePoint

CVE-2026-26114

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Microsoft SharePoint Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Microsoft Office SharePoint

CVE-2026-26106

Microsoft SharePoint Server Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

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Important


Microsoft Semantic Kernel Python SDK

CVE-2026-26030

GitHub: CVE-2026-26030 Microsoft Semantic Kernel InMemoryVectorStore filter functionality vulnerable

Important


Payment Orchestrator Service

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CVE-2026-26125

Payment Orchestrator Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Critical


Push Message Routing Service

CVE-2026-24282

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Push message Routing Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Role: Windows Hyper-V

CVE-2026-25170

Windows Hyper-V Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


SQL Server

CVE-2026-21262

SQL Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


SQL Server

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CVE-2026-26116

SQL Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


SQL Server

CVE-2026-26115

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SQL Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


System Center Operations Manager

CVE-2026-20967

System Center Operations Manager (SCOM) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Accessibility Infrastructure (ATBroker.exe)

CVE-2026-25186

Windows Accessibility Infrastructure (ATBroker.exe) Information Disclosure Vulnerability

Important


Windows Accessibility Infrastructure (ATBroker.exe)

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CVE-2026-24291

Windows Accessibility Infrastructure (ATBroker.exe) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock

CVE-2026-25179

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Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock

CVE-2026-24293

Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock

CVE-2026-25176

Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock

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CVE-2026-25178

Windows Ancillary Function Driver for WinSock Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows App Installer

CVE-2026-23656

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Windows App Installer Spoofing Vulnerability

Important


Windows Authentication Methods

CVE-2026-25171

Windows Authentication Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Bluetooth RFCOM Protocol Driver

CVE-2026-23671

Windows Bluetooth RFCOM Protocol Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Device Association Service

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CVE-2026-24296

Windows Device Association Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Device Association Service

CVE-2026-24295

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Windows Device Association Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows DWM Core Library

CVE-2026-25189

Windows DWM Core Library Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Extensible File Allocation

CVE-2026-25174

Windows Extensible File Allocation Table Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows File Server

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CVE-2026-24283

Multiple UNC Provider Kernel Driver Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows GDI

CVE-2026-25190

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GDI Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Windows GDI+

CVE-2026-25181

GDI+ Information Disclosure Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Kerberos

CVE-2026-24297

Windows Kerberos Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important


Windows Kernel

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CVE-2026-26132

Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Kernel

CVE-2026-24289

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Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Kernel

CVE-2026-24287

Windows Kernel Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows MapUrlToZone

CVE-2026-23674

MapUrlToZone Security Feature Bypass Vulnerability

Important


Windows Mobile Broadband

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CVE-2026-24288

Windows Mobile Broadband Driver Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Windows NTFS

CVE-2026-25175

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Windows NTFS Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Performance Counters

CVE-2026-25165

Performance Counters for Windows Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Print Spooler Components

CVE-2026-23669

Windows Print Spooler Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Windows Projected File System

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CVE-2026-24290

Windows Projected File System Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Resilient File System (ReFS)

CVE-2026-23673

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Windows Resilient File System (ReFS) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS)

CVE-2026-26111

Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS)

CVE-2026-25173

Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS)

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CVE-2026-25172

Windows Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Windows Shell Link Processing

CVE-2026-25185

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Windows Shell Link Processing Spoofing Vulnerability

Important


Windows SMB Server

CVE-2026-26128

Windows SMB Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows SMB Server

CVE-2026-24294

Windows SMB Server Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows System Image Manager

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CVE-2026-25166

Windows System Image Manager Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) Remote Code Execution Vulnerability

Important


Windows Telephony Service

CVE-2026-25188

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Windows Telephony Service Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Windows Universal Disk Format File System Driver (UDFS)

CVE-2026-23672

Windows Universal Disk Format File System Driver (UDFS) Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

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Important


Windows Win32K

CVE-2026-24285

Win32k Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


Winlogon

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CVE-2026-25187

Winlogon Elevation of Privilege Vulnerability

Important


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Tech worker confidence falls faster than any other industry, survey finds

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Glassdoor’s Employee Confidence Index surveys US workers to discover how many feel positive about their companies’ six-month outlooks.
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New ‘Zombie ZIP’ technique lets malware slip past security tools

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New 'Zombie ZIP' technique lets malware slip past security tools

A new technique dubbed “Zombie ZIP” helps conceal payloads in compressed files specially created to avoid detection from security solutions such as antivirus and endpoint detection and response (EDR) products.

Trying to extract the files with standard utilities like WinRAR or 7-Zip results in errors or corrupted data. The technique works by manipulating ZIP headers to trick parsing engines into treating compressed data as uncompressed.

Instead of flagging the archive as potentially dangerous, security tools trust the header and scan the file as if it were a copy of the original in a ZIP container.

The “Zombie ZIP” technique was devised by Bombadil Systems security researcher Chris Aziz, who found that it works against 50 of the 51 AV engines on VirusTotal.

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“AV engines trust the ZIP Method field. When Method=0 (STORED), they scan the data as raw uncompressed bytes. But the data is actually DEFLATE compressed – so the scanner sees compressed noise and finds no signatures,” the researcher explains.

A threat actor can create a loader that ignores the header and treats the archive for what it is: data compressed using the standard Deflate algorithm used in modern ZIP files.

The researcher has published a proof-of-concept (PoC) on GitHub, sharing sample archives and additional details on how the method works.

To cause popular extraction tools (e.g., 7-Zip, unzip, WinRAR) to generate an error, the researcher says that the CRC value that ensures data integrity has to be set to the uncompressed payload’s checksum.

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“However, a purpose-built loader that ignores the declared method and decompresses as DEFLATE recovers the payload perfectly,” Aziz says.

Yesterday, the CERT Coordination Center (CERT/CC) published a bulletin to warn about “Zombie ZIP” and raise awareness of the risks posed by malformed archive files.

While a malformed header may trick security solutions, the agency says that some extraction tools are still able to correctly decompress the ZIP archive.

The CVE-2026-0866 identifier has been assigned for the security issue, which the agency says is similar to a vulnerability disclosed more than two decades ago, CVE-2004-0935, affecting an early version of the ESET antivirus product.

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CERT/CC proposes that security tool vendors must validate compression method fields against actual data, add mechanisms to detect inconsistencies in archive structure, and implement more aggressive archive inspection modes.

Users should treat archive files with caution, especially those from unknown contacts, and delete them immediately if their attempts to decompress them end with an “unsupported method” error.

Malware is getting smarter. The Red Report 2026 reveals how new threats use math to detect sandboxes and hide in plain sight.

Download our analysis of 1.1 million malicious samples to uncover the top 10 techniques and see if your security stack is blinded.

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Viral platform for AI agents only Moltbook acquired by Meta

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Moltbook, the platform designed for AI agents only, has been snapped up by social media giant Meta for an undisclosed sum.

Moltbook has been drawing both affection and disquiet in equal measure since the human-free platform where AI agents can ‘talk’ to each other launched back in January. Now social media giant and Facebook owner Meta has decided to add it to its stable of AI purchases, having picked up Manus back in January for a cool $2bn. Financial details have not been disclosed for this latest deal.

The news comes just weeks after Open AI poached the man behind the technology used by Moltbook – OpenClaw.  OpenAI said at the time it was hiring OpenClaw founder Peter Steinberger to develop the “next generation of personal agents”. In a post on X announcing the addition, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said that personal agents will fast become one of the company’s core offerings.

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OpenClaw, formerly known as Clawd (a pun that drew legal letters from Anthropic) is an open source project that lets users create personal AI agents, and quickly went viral on launchin November last year. It was also called ‘MoltBot’ for a time, before Steinberger landed on its final name.

Then Moltbook launched in January, using OpenClaw technology. Moltbook is a Reddit-style social media network where only AI agents could post, and humans could “observe”. The results could be, as one might imagine, concurrently entertaining and disturbing.

The site quickly went viral with AI agents, including many from OpenClaw, creating a new religion called ‘Crustafarianism’, among other things. Moltbook founders Matt Schlicht and Ben Parr will now join Meta’s Superintelligence Labs (MSL), the unit run by former Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang. Meta paid a whopping $14.3bn for Scale AI back in June 2025, as it vies to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Google in the battle for AI consumers.

The Meta acquisition was originally broken by Ina Fried at Axios, to whom Meta confirmed: “The Moltbook team joining MSL opens up new ways for AI agents to work for people and businesses.” Siliconrepublic.com has reached out to Meta for comment.

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Amazon wins a temporary injunction against Perplexity’s Comet browser

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Amazon has secured a temporary win in its fight with Perplexity over the use of AI shopping bots. Bloomberg reported that a San Francisco federal court has determined that Perplexity must stop using its Comet web browser’s AI agent to make purchases for users on Amazon’s marketplace. The AI company will have a week to appeal the decision, otherwise it has been ordered to stop accessing any password-protected areas of Amazon’s systems and destroy its copies of Amazon’s data while the two companies continue to argue their cases.

“Amazon has provided strong evidence that Perplexity, through its Comet browser, accesses with the Amazon user’s permission but without authorization by Amazon, the user’s password-protected account,” District Judge Maxine Chesney wrote in placing the temporary block.

“The preliminary injunction will prevent Perplexity’s unauthorized access to the Amazon store and is an important step in maintaining a trusted shopping experience for Amazon customers,” an Amazon spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Amazon sent a cease-and-desist letter to Perplexity over the AI company’s shopping bots in November. According to Amazon, use of the Comet agent to make purchases is a violation of its terms of service. “Perplexity will continue to fight for the right of internet users to choose whatever AI they want,” a representative from Perplexity said of this week’s decision.

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Save big on these Botslab dash cams during Spring Deal Days

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Dash cams have become one of the most sensible additions you can make to a car, and Botslab has spent the past few years building a range that punches well above its weight on resolution, sensors and software.

Spring Deal Days has brought three of the brand’s strongest models down to their lowest prices yet, covering everything from a compact dual-camera setup to a full four-channel system that watches every angle simultaneously.

BOTSLAB G300H Plus 4K Dual Dash Cam

The G300H Plus is the entry point here, but the STARVIS 2 sensor it runs on is anything but entry-level, delivering double the low-light sensitivity and colour accuracy of the standard STARVIS chip found in most cameras at this price. That means you’ll get better footage from wet nights and unlit roads from most cameras around the £80 mark.

Built-in GPS logs your speed, route, and location into every clip, the 5GHz Wi-Fi transfers footage to the Botslab app in seconds. There’s also voice commands, which let you snap a photo or start recording without lifting your hands from the wheel.

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And now, thanks to the Spring Deal Days, you can pick the G300H up for just £89.98 – down from £119.99.

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Save 25% on Botslab’s 4K Dual DashcamSave 25% on Botslab’s 4K Dual Dashcam

The BOTSLAB G300H Plus 4K Dual Dash Cam is now jst £89.98 during Amazon’s Spring Deal Days

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BOTSLAB 4K Front and 2K Rear Dual Dash Cam

This model steps things up by pairing a 4K front camera with a dedicated 2K rear unit, so you get sharp coverage of what is happening both in front and behind the car, with a six-layer F1.5 aperture lens that pulls in enough light to capture license plates clearly at 15 metres.

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It’s also the only camera in this roundup with a full ADAS suite, adding lane departure warnings, forward collision alerts, close-following reminders, and a two-hour fatigue prompt that nudges you to pull over and rest.

The super capacitor design also means it handles extreme temperatures in both the winter and summer.

The camera is currently down to £89.98 in the sale, down from £129.99.

Save £50 on the BOTSLAB 4K Front and 2K Rear Dual Dash CamSave £50 on the BOTSLAB 4K Front and 2K Rear Dual Dash Cam

Save £50 on the BOTSLAB 4K Front and 2K Rear Dual Dash Cam

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BOTSLAB G980H 3K Four-Channel Dash Cam

The G980H is the most comprehensive of the three dash cams, running four 3k cameras simultaneously to cover 560 degrees.

Its Sentry parking mode goes further than most – triggering the moment someone edges close to the car rather than waiting for an impact. It also pre-records and stores eight seconds of footage before a G-sensor event fires, giving you the full picture of any incident rather than just the aftermath.

And with wa 128GB card included, you can get the camera up and running without any additional costs.

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The G980H is available for £179.99, down from £219.99.

Botslab’s 4 channel Dash Cam is now under £200Botslab’s 4 channel Dash Cam is now under £200

Save 18% on a BOTSLAB G980H 3K Four-Channel Dash Cam during Amazon’s Spring Deal Days

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All three cameras are discounted until March 16, so you’ll need to be quick to pick one up in the sale.

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Record number of women founders raising funds, but deal size is down

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The report shows that women in Ireland, raising funds, have outshined their European peers.

TechIreland, the all-island portal that showcases start-ups and the Irish innovation landscape, has released the Female Founder Funding Review 2026, which tracks investment into women-founded startups throughout 2025. 

The report shows that last year, 82 Irish start-ups being led by women raised a total of €131m, which was recorded as the highest number of women-led start-ups funded in any given year. For comparison in 2025 there were 36 organisations that raised between €0.1m and €0.3m but only eight in 2024. 11 companies raised €18.7m. 

Despite this positive figure however, the average deal size was shown to have significantly declined. In 2024, the average raise was €3.9m, dropping to €2.3m in 2025, with the report suggesting that this is as a result of an increase in the volume of deals being made.  

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The median figure also dropped to just €100k last year, compared to €1.5m in 2024, indicating that the divide between the smaller group of large rounds and the large number of very small rounds is widening. The report does say however, that even in this landscape Irish female founders are outshining their European peers in the raising of early-stage funding. 

“While the Dealroom startup ecosystems portal shows a decline in the number of early-stage rounds for women founded start-ups, the trend in Ireland represents a nearly two-fold increase in the number of rounds raised by women founded start-ups last year. Thanks to the heavy lifting by Enterprise Ireland through their focused support for women entrepreneurs.”

TechIreland’s research suggested that angel networks, for example HBAN and AwakenAngels, as well as early-stage accelerator programmes such as Fierce and NextWave, alongside flagship supports such as Enterprise Ireland’s PSSF and HPSU, play a critical role in building a strong platform for women founders.

The report also highlights a key sectoral influence. Funding into the life sciences and healthcare sectors made up almost 70pc of the total funds raised. This was mirrored in wider Europe where health remains a top sector among female founders. 

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The enterprise software sector also performed well, growing from €10.7m raised by 10 start-ups in 2024, to €30.7m raised by 22 companies in 2025. Other sectors experiencing growth included the agri/food space, consumer and e-commerce, while cleantech and fintech continue to decline.  

Funding was also disproportionate regionally. Similar to previous years, companies in  Dublin dominated the overall figures. More than 90pc of all funding into start-ups established by women took place at Dublin locations. The report attributed this to the fact that ProVerum, which accounted for nearly half of all funding raised, is a company based in Dublin. 

Commenting on the findings of the report, the chair of TechIreland, Brian Caulfield said, “2025 was an interesting year for female founders from a fundraising perspective. On the face of it, the numbers held up pretty well. 

“While it’s encouraging to see so many female founded companies raising capital, it’s a concern that the market has bifurcated, a very small number of companies raising large rounds, and a very large number of companies raising very small rounds, largely led by Enterprise Ireland. The mid-market of seed and Series A raises is being hollowed out.”

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Sarah Walker, who oversees startups and entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland said, “The headline TechIreland figure, 82 companies raising in 2025, is almost double last year and the highest level of activity since 2017 which is cause for celebration. 

“While the increased number of women led and co-founded companies raising is encouraging, TechIreland reports total funding levels of €131m in 2025, down from €145m in 2024, reflecting a challenging funding environment.”

Lorraine Curham, the founder of Fierce added, “For Ireland, the next challenge is what comes after that first cheque. In more mature ecosystems, founders are supported not just by programmes, but by strong networks, investor relationships and ecosystem layers that help companies move from early traction into follow-on capital and scale. Ireland has the pipeline. What it needs next is the infrastructure layer to scale it.”

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

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