After all, pictures are only worth a thousand words.

Spotify on Wednesday launched Reserved by Spotify, turning the concert ticketing concept it unveiled last month into a live product. The feature automatically holds up to two concert tickets for Premium subscribers based on their listening habits, making Spotify the first audio streaming platform to offer dedicated pre-sale ticket access.

The first artist to participate is indie-pop singer Role Model, according to Music Business Worldwide. Eligible fans will receive notifications with a roughly 24-hour purchase window opening on 23 June.

How it works

Reserved analyses a subscriber’s streaming data, including how often they listen to an artist, how long they have followed them, and whether their behaviour appears organic rather than bot-driven. There will reportedly be more superfans than available seats for any given tour, so not everyone who qualifies will receive an offer.

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The tickets come from a dedicated inventory that is not carved from any other presale pool. Spotify is positioning this as an alternative to the bot-infested public sale process that has frustrated concertgoers for years.

Location also matters. Spotify checks that a user is near a show before extending an offer, filtering out fans who are unlikely to attend.

The Live Nation deal

Reserved runs on a multi-year exclusive partnership with Live Nation, with all ticket transactions processed through Ticketmaster. Spotify is reportedly paying tens of millions of dollars for the exclusivity, outbidding Apple and Amazon, according to Bloomberg.

The exclusivity means Reserved only covers shows promoted by Live Nation, not all concerts. Spotify itself collects no fees on ticket sales, betting instead that tying concert access to Premium subscriptions will reduce subscriber churn.

The bot problem

Ticketing fraud remains a multibillion-dollar problem for the music industry. Bots routinely snap up tickets within seconds of a public sale, funnelling them to resale platforms at inflated prices.

Spotify says it monitors for bot activity and artificial listening patterns, and will not reward users who inflate their play counts through passive or automated streams. The company has not disclosed the specific thresholds or algorithms it uses to distinguish genuine fans from gamers of the system.

Spotify has previous form in policing its platform for fraudulent activity, having removed hundreds of thousands of AI-generated songs over suspicious listening patterns. Reserved applies a similar detection philosophy to ticketing, treating organic fandom as a credential that unlocks real-world access.

What it means for artists

For artists, Reserved offers a way to ensure their most engaged fans get into the room rather than scalpers. Spotify’s relationship with musicians has been contentious, particularly over royalty payments, but a feature that directs concert revenue toward performers could shift the dynamic.

The feature is US-only at launch, with no confirmed timeline for international expansion. Whether Reserved can meaningfully dent the secondary ticketing market will depend on how many artists and tours opt in, and whether Live Nation’s competitors build their own streaming-linked presales in response.

At first glance, it feels like a genuine challenger to the likes of Oura, RingConn and Samsung. The ring itself looks good, feels lightweight on the finger and comes with a charging case, which is a welcome upgrade over the previous Circular model. Battery life is solid too, lasting around six days during my testing.

But unfortunately, the day-to-day experience doesn’t live up to that impressive spec sheet.

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The biggest issue is the software. Smart rings don’t have screens, which means the app is incredibly important. That’s where the Circular Ring 2 struggles the most.

Liberty Bank, a 201-year-old mutual bank headquartered in Middletown, Connecticut, announced the launch of an AI Center of Excellence alongside a strategic partnership with Flare AI. The centre will serve as the hub for AI strategy, governance, and execution across the bank’s personal, commercial, and digital operations.

The partnership is structured around outcomes rather than software licences, according to David Hadd, Liberty Bank’s head of Business Transformation. “Flare’s role is to design, build, and help deploy AI systems on Liberty Bank’s behalf, compressing what has historically been a multi-year technology buildout into weeks, with the security, compliance, and governance controls regulated institutions require,” Hadd said.

Liberty Bank has over $9 billion in assets, 51 retail banking offices across Connecticut and Massachusetts, and more than 900 employees. It is the oldest and among the largest mutual banks in the United States. The bank says the initial focus will be on deploying secure AI systems to enhance productivity and customer experience, automating complex core processes, and building reusable AI capabilities.

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“For a bank our size, the challenge has never been ambition. It has been the time it takes to translate strategy into execution,” said David Glidden, President and CEO of Liberty Bank. The bank expects the AI Centre of Excellence to drive measurable impact across customer experience, operational efficiency, and growth. Large banks have warned that scaling AI in production is more expensive and error-prone than pilot programmes suggest, making governance and quality control critical from the start.

Flare AI CEO Scott Killoh said the company takes a different approach from platform vendors. “Most banks have been sold AI platforms and left to figure out the rest,” Killoh said. “We partner with institutions to deliver working AI systems that are secure, compliant, and tailored to their business.” Flare AI’s new President and Chief Strategy Officer, David Mitchell, previously spent six years as an executive at Liberty Bank, giving the partnership an unusual level of institutional familiarity.

The announcement reflects a broader shift in how regulated industries are adopting AI, moving from experimental chatbots toward structured, governed deployments with audit trails and compliance guardrails built in. For community banks competing against institutions with far larger technology budgets, the speed of deployment matters as much as the technology itself.

Xreal has officially unveiled its new Aura smart glasses. While they certainly won’t be cheap, they’ll still cost considerably less than Snap’s recently announced Specs.

The Aura runs Android XR, Google’s operating system for mixed reality devices, giving users access to a growing ecosystem of apps right out of the box.

Xreal hasn’t revealed exact pricing yet. However, the company says the Aura will launch for under $1,500 before tax when it arrives later this year. That’s a notable contrast to Snap’s Specs, which rely on proprietary software and are currently up for pre-order at $2,195.

The glasses feature an Optical See-Through (OST) display with a 70-degree field of view. They are powered by dual Sony Micro-OLED panels with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,200 per eye and a 120Hz refresh rate. Since the displays are transparent, users can still see their surroundings, though electrochromic dimming is included for moments when greater immersion is needed.

Microsoft says it has detected new self-propagating malware that spreads through USB drives in search of cryptocurrency credentials, which it then sends to attacker-controlled servers.

The company named the worm Crypto Clipper because it monitors the contents of device clipboards for patterns consistent with wallet addresses or seed phrases. When found, the malware also takes five screenshots over a 10-second period. Both the credentials and the screenshots are then sent to the attacker through Tor, a network protocol that provides anonymous routing by sending traffic through redundant nodes so logs can’t capture both the sending and receiving IP addresses. Crypto Clipper establishes the Tor connection by using a SOCKS5 proxy, a network protocol that sends traffic through a proxy server, which then forwards it to its final destination.

A lightweight backdoor

“The execution of this clipper is notable because it does not depend on a traditional installer or exposed IP-based C2 infrastructure,” Microsoft said Thursday. “Instead, it deploys a portable Tor client, routes traffic through a local SOCKS5 proxy, and blends data theft with remote code execution, turning a financially motivated stealer into a lightweight backdoor.”

Microsoft said it observed Crypto Clipper spreading through .lnk file on a USB drive. These files store executable code. When an infected USB drive is plugged into a device, the code checks whether it is already installed on the machine. If it isn’t, the malware downloads it through the Tor proxy. To better conceal evidence of the worm, the malware scans the infected USB drive and names the .lnk files with similar names.

Written by Andy Kerr, Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing at Acronis.

Many organizations assume Microsoft 365 automatically provides built-in protection for their business data. It doesn’t, and Microsoft doesn’t claim that it does.

Microsoft 365 operates under a shared responsibility model: Microsoft ensures service availability and infrastructure security, but data protection, including backup and recovery, remains the customer’s responsibility.

That gap becomes critical in real-world scenarios involving ransomware, accidental deletion, insider threats or compliance failures. A third-party solution is essential for data protection. Organizations need dedicated backup, security and recovery capabilities to effectively safeguard Microsoft 365 data.

Need some evidence? Here are five key reasons why Microsoft 365 backup alone isn’t enough for business data protection.

1. Microsoft 365 does not protect against ransomware and malicious data loss

By design, Microsoft 365 does not fully protect against ransomware and malicious data loss, particularly when encrypted or deleted files are synced across accounts. While versioning and recycle bins provide limited recovery, they are not designed to ensure clean, reliable restoration after sophisticated attacks.

To address this gap, organizations need solutions that provide immutable storage, AI-based ransomware detection and clean recovery points to ensure safe data restoration.

Ransomware attacks increasingly target cloud environments, not just endpoints. When files in OneDrive or SharePoint are encrypted, those changes are often synchronized instantly across users and devices. Native version history may help in simple cases, but attackers frequently corrupt multiple versions, or attacks remain undetected long enough to render recovery points unusable.

Additionally, Microsoft’s tools are not about to effectively identify ransomware. They do not know which versions of files are safe and which are compromised. That creates uncertainty during recovery and can significantly delay restoration.

A third-party cybersecurity solution  can address that issue by combining backup with active protection. Features such as immutable storage in Acronis Cyber Platform, for instance, prevent attackers from tampering with backup data while AI-based detection identifies suspicious encryption patterns. As a result, organizations can roll back to clean, verified recovery points without having to make dangerous guesses as to which data is safe.

2. Native Microsoft 365 retention policies are not enough for compliance

Microsoft 365 retention policies are not sufficient for many compliance requirements, especially for organizations that need long-term flexible data retention. Retention settings are often limited in granularity and may not meet industry-specific or legal data preservation standards, A third-party solution can provide customizable, compliance-ready backup capabilities.

Compliance requirements vary widely across industries. Healthcare, finance and legal sectors often require years or even decades of data retention along with strict auditability. Microsoft’s retention policies are primarily designed for basic governance, not comprehensive backup.

Limitations include rigid retention structures, lack of independent storage and challenges in demonstrating compliance during audits. Retention policies also do not equal backups since they are not designed for full data restoration scenarios.

Organizations need a third-party option that provides independent long-term storage with flexible retention policies that can be tailored to regulatory requirements. That way, organizations can maintain complete control over their data lifecycle, while ensuring compliance and without sacrificing recoverability.

3. Granular recovery in Microsoft 365 is limited and inefficient

Microsoft 365 is not designed to natively enable efficient andgranular data recovery. As a result, quickly restoring specific files, emails or user data is difficult. Recovery processes can be time-consuming and often lack precision, which increases downtime and operational overhead.

A third-party offering such as Acronis Cyber Platform addresses that challenge by enabling fast granular recovery across Exchange, SharePoint, Teams and OneDrive from a centralized platform.

In practice, organizations rarely need to restore entire environments. They need specific emails, folders or user accounts.

Microsoft’s native tools often require complex workflows or full-site restores to retrieve small pieces of data. That inefficiency leads to longer recovery times and increased IT workload, particularly in large environments with multiple users and services.

A third party solution can simplify this process with centralized management and highly granular recovery options. IT teams can quickly locate and restore individual items, whether it is a single email, a Teams conversation or a SharePoint document, without disrupting the broader environment.

4. Phishing and insider threats expose data beyond Microsoft safeguards

With Microsoft 365, Microsoft does not intend or claim to fully protect against data loss caused by phishing attacks or insider threats. Even when threats are detected, organizations may still need to manually recover compromised or deleted data, which can delay response times.

The right third-party solution, such as Acronis Cyber Platform, combines backup and cybersecurity capabilities so organizations can recover clean data quickly after incidents involving compromised accounts or malicious actions.

Phishing remains one of the most common entry points for attackers. Once an account is compromised, attackers can delete files, exfiltrate data or manipulate content, all within legitimate user sessions.

Similarly, insider threats, whether malicious or accidental, can result in significant data loss. Microsoft 365 performs some limited threat prevention, but recovery after an incident is often manual and fragmented.

A third-party platform that combines cybersecurity with backup enables organizations not only to detect threats but also to recover quickly from their impact. Clean data restoration becomes part of the incident response process.

5. Microsoft 365 backup is not designed for cost-efficient scaling

Microsoft 365 backup is not designed to be cost-efficient at scale, particularly for growing organizations or managed service providers (MSPs) managing multiple tenants. Native options can become expensive and lack the flexibility needed to manage storage and retention efficiently across environments.

A third party such as Acronis Cyber Platform for MSPs offers a scalable per-seat pricing model with predictable costs, making it easier for businesses and MSPs to manage Microsoft 365 backup at scale.

As organizations grow, so does their data footprint. Managing backups across multiple users, departments or tenants can quickly become complex and costly with native tools. Microsoft’s pricing and storage structures are not optimized for large-scale backup strategies, especially for managed service providers who need multi-tenant visibility and control.

A third party can address that issue with a scalable architecture and predictable pricing. A per-seat model simplifies cost management while centralized administration enables efficient backup across multiple environments.

You are responsible for your Microsoft 365 data

Microsoft 365 is a powerful productivity platform, but it is not designed or intended to be a complete data protection solution. The limitations of native Microsoft 365 data protection are significant.

Organizations need secure and flexible third-party backup solutions to ensure their data remains protected and recoverable under any circumstances.

Solutions like Acronis Cyber Platform provide that missing layer in Microsoft 365 data security and protection, combining backup, cybersecurity and recovery into a single platform designed for a threat landscape that continues to prove a dangerous challenge to organizations.

About the writer

Andy Kerr is a cyber resilience and data protection expert with more than a decade of experience helping businesses navigate the evolving world of cybersecurity, backup, and disaster recovery. As Senior Manager, Solutions Marketing at Acronis, he works closely with MSPs and IT leaders across Europe to turn complex cyber protection challenges into practical, business-focused strategies. Known for making technical topics accessible and engaging, Andy regularly speaks on cyber resilience, SaaS protection, ransomware defence, and the future of managed services.

 

Sponsored and written by Acronis.