What to do when automation has given you too much free time.

Hello, it’s Wednesday! There’s a first time for everything, even for teen retail brand Hollister to release a music video. Go figure!

In today’s edition:

Did I do that?

Minute man

Model behavior

—Brianna Monsanto, Billy Hurley, Eoin Higgins

IT OPERATIONS

Morning Brew Design, Photos: Adobe Stock

Are you working hard, or hardly working…because of automation?

The latter can be a real conundrum for IT professionals who automate their workflows. About a decade ago, when Nizel Adams, CEO and principal IT architect of IT consulting company Nizel Co. and subject matter expert at CompTIA, worked as a contractor for a major distributor, it took up to a week to image one computer. The process took up so much time that it often backlogged support tickets—that is, until he built an automated imaging system that significantly sped up the process.

“Once I got that going, it got it down to about 45 minutes before they had a computer,” Adams said. “That enabled people to start actually working on other support tickets, rather than working on setting up computers all the time.”

However, the additional time opened up a new can of worms for Adams and his team: their schedules had cleared a tad too much.

What to do with your freed up time.—BM

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CYBERSECURITY

Dave MacKinnon

When Dave MacKinnon, CSO of cyber-resiliency firm N-able, first spoke to a board member, he was “scared to death.”

I don’t speak business like they do, he remembers thinking, as he discussed cyber threats with the company’s freshly spun-up cybersecurity committee, a subset of the board that came together about five years ago.

Since then, the interactions have thankfully gotten less scary; every quarter, he now has 90 minutes with the cybersecurity committee, and he has learned a few things about how to talk to stakeholders.

That’s an important skill these days, as a new report finds CISOs are getting the boardroom face-time, but business leaders still want higher-quality information on the impact of evolving threats. Given recent SEC regulations requiring boards of directors to oversee cybersecurity, CISOs have become important boardroom guests, presenting on topics like security controls and current threats.

MacKinnon’s advice for CSO’s pressed for time with their boards.—BH

CYBERSECURITY

Getty Images

Mythos is a font of information.

That’s the concern for cybersecurity pros reviewing information about Anthropic’s new AI model, Mythos, part of a new tier of models named Capybara. According to leaked product information meant for early access customers, the new model could be used by threat actors to implement more powerful attacks.

Leaky faucets. Fortune first reported on the leak on March 26. Almost 3,000 documents on the model, including images and PDFs, were accidentally made available on Anthropic’s blog CMS and accessible to the public without needing a login (they’ve since been taken down). The content was meant to give customers a preview of the new model’s capabilities.

Mythos allegedly represents a “step change” in capabilities and the “most powerful” model Anthropic says it has ever built, the company told Fortune in a statement after the leak.

And Mythos is just the beginning.EH

Together With Windows 11

PATCH NOTES

Francis Scialabba

Today’s top IT reads.

Stat: 54%. That’s the percentage of CISOs from the retail and hospitality industry who expect larger security budgets this year. (Cybersecurity Dive)

Quote: “What Microsoft presented to the world, and to its most demanding customers, was a sophisticated system perpetually on life support.”—Axel Rietschin, a former Microsoftie, reflecting on Azure’s go-to-market strategy (The Register)

Read: Vibe coding is causing an influx of new apps on the App Store. (Fast Company)

Productivity protection: Windows 11 Pro PCs helps keep your team productive and your org protected with built-in security and AI-powered apps. You can work smarter, safer, and faster with the latest Windows 11 Pro PCs.*

*A message from our sponsor.

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Despite heavy investment in AI, only 12% of companies are considered true AI leaders. A new report breaks down what’s holding enterprises back and what separates AI maturity from experimentation.

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