Friday, 23 October 2026Global tech news & guides — what changed, and what it means for you.
AuTechWire

Microsoft

ARTEX: The AI Pentesting Tool Used in the ConnectWise Hack

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Illustration: a dark server room with a lattice of glowing network nodes, one cluster highlighted in red as compromised, with circuit-trace trails converging on it

In brief On October 21, 2026, Microsoft said a China-state aligned group it tracks as Storm-0940 used an AI-driven penetration testing tool to compromise IT services firm ConnectWise — then used that foothold to target hundreds of organizations worldwide. The tool is ARTEX: an open-source, multi-agent AI framework, written in Go, that runs an entire … Read more

Eight Broken Keys: What the eMudhra Certificate Compromise Means for You

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Original illustration: a cracked golden padlock shattering over a dark web of glowing certificate chains, browser windows dissolving into particles, deep-blue night background with amber warning light, teal and amber grade

In brief The private keys for eight intermediate certificates issued by India-based certificate authority eMudhra were found to be compromised — the key-generation process was “flawed” and “trivial to exploit,” according to Mozilla cryptography engineer Dennis Jackson. Holding those keys could let an attacker issue HTTPS certificates for websites they do not control, then impersonate … Read more

Xbox Game Pass Wave 2: 9 New Games and What Each Tier Gets

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Original illustration: game controller on a calendar page with circled dates, floating game-world fragments rising above, teal and amber grade

Microsoft just announced the second wave of October Game Pass additions: nine games from October 21 to November 3, headlined by Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade. But which of them you can actually play depends on your tier — and the cheapest plan gets none of them. In brief The wave: 9 games join Xbox … Read more

One Hacker, $5,000, and an Army of AI Agents: How 100+ Company Sites Were Breached

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Original illustration of glowing server nodes probed by autonomous drones at night, with one node flaring red where an AI-agent breach lands

A single hacker broke into the websites of more than 100 companies — including John Deere, SharkNinja, and Cummins — by handing the work to AI agents and spending about $5,000. Here is how the attack worked, what each breach cost, and why Microsoft now treats AI agents as insider threats. In brief What happened: … Read more

Black Ops 1 & 2 Ports Made $435M in a Month — the Devs Got Nothing

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Original illustration of a weathered supply crate releasing retro game cases beside a modern controller, representing old games making new money

Activision quietly dropped 14- and 16-year-old Call of Duty games on PlayStation in July. They sold 11.2 million copies in a month. Here is why a $40 port with zero new features became one of 2026’s biggest hits — and why the developers who built the originals say they haven’t seen a dime of it. … Read more

Microsoft Pulls Out of Nscale UK Data Center Deal: Why It Matters

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Original editorial illustration of a half-built AI data center with dark unpowered server halls and a disconnected high-voltage power line against a gray sky

Microsoft has walked away from the site that was supposed to house the United Kingdom’s largest AI supercomputer. The Telegraph reported on October 18 that Microsoft ended its agreement to be the anchor customer at Nscale’s planned AI data center in Loughton, Essex — a £2 billion project meant to host more than 23,000 Nvidia … Read more