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Russian Exploits, EE's CEO Schools Security, and OpenClaw-as-a-Service Arrives

INSIDE: Disappearing AI deals, Google's infrastructure obsession, and a quarter-billion for "new takes" on old problems...

February 10, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

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Some people get love letters. You get ByteSize. We call that a win.

Thirty years ago today, IBM's Deep Blue became the first computer to beat a reigning world chess champion, defeating Garry Kasparov in Game 1 of their match. Kasparov won the overall series 4-2, but the writing was on the wall—or rather, the circuit board. By 1997, Deep Blue 2.0 came back with a vengeance and won the rematch, cementing humanity's new role as "second-best at basically everything that can be quantified."

The machine calculated 200 million positions per second. Today, your phone could probably beat Deep Blue while simultaneously running 17 other apps and autocorrecting "duck" when you clearly meant something else.

Microsoft's Patch Gets Crashed by Russia's Eternal Mondays

Microsoft dropped an emergency patch for multiple Office vulnerabilities last week, which is corporate speak for "we found some holes and you should probably do something about them before someone else does." Russian state-sponsored hackers were already actively exploiting these flaws faster than you can say "have you tried restarting?"

The vulnerabilities affect various Office products and could allow attackers to execute remote code, exfiltrate data, or basically throw a house party in your network while you're out grabbing lunch. Microsoft's security team worked overtime to ship fixes, though "overtime" at Microsoft probably still means leaving at 4:30 PM with full benefits and stock options, so let's not throw them a parade.

Here's what makes this extra fun: the threat actors were already inside the house before Microsoft even announced there was a door. It's like getting a Ring doorbell notification about a break-in while the burglars are already raiding your fridge. Security researchers observed active exploitation in the wild, targeting organizations across multiple sectors with the kind of precision that suggests these weren't just script kiddies playing around.

The patch is available now through Windows Update, assuming your IT department hasn't scheduled updates for "sometime in Q3 when Karen from accounting finally agrees to reboot her machine."

When Your Security Strategy Needs an Intervention

Over on Experts Exchange, our CEO Randy Redberg dropped some hard truths about security practices. His article breaks down why most organizations are still approaching cybersecurity like it's 2015—which, coincidentally, is also the last time some of these systems were patched.

The core argument is that too many teams are treating security as a checklist item rather than an ongoing operational reality. It's the IT equivalent of doing one push-up in January and declaring yourself fit for the year. Randy walks through common failure patterns: reactive-only strategies, siloed security teams operating in their own corner like they're too cool to sit with the DevOps kids at lunch, and the classic "we'll get to it after this sprint" mentality that's been echoing through conference rooms since 2012.

What makes the piece worth your time is Randy's breakdown of how to actually build sustainable security practices. (It involves talking to humans, establishing actual processes, and accepting that security isn't something you "finish.") Think of it like laundry. You're never really done, and ignoring it only makes the problem smell worse.

OpenClaw-as-a-Service: Because Regular Cloud Services Weren't Confusing Enough

The major cloud providers are falling over themselves to launch "OpenClaw-as-a-Service" offerings, which is either the next big thing in computing or an elaborate prank that got out of hand. AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud are all rushing to market with managed solutions, turning what was presumably someone's weekend project into a full-blown enterprise service with SLAs and everything.

For those not terminally online: OpenClaw is an open-source tool that does... well, something with data processing and automation. The specifics don't matter because by the time you finish reading this sentence, three more startups will have pivoted to "OpenClaw-native architecture" and updated their LinkedIn headlines accordingly.

What's fascinating is watching cloud giants sprint to commoditize something that literally anyone can deploy themselves. These managed offerings promise "zero-configuration deployment," which translates to "we've done the YAML for you" and will bill you accordingly.

Early adopters are already reporting that OpenClaw-as-a-Service integrates seamlessly with their existing cloud infrastructure, assuming their existing infrastructure is also running entirely on the same cloud platform and they've mortgaged their data center budget until 2030.

⚙️ TOOL TIME

EE 2025 Expert Awards: Your Peers Have Spoken

The 2025 Expert Awards results are in, and for once, the internet collectively agreed on something that isn't a meme format. These are the folks who've been solving real problems while AI chatbots were busy hallucinating stack traces.

The Heavy Hitters:

  • Lifetime Achievement: madunix

    Honoring a legend who left an indelible mark on the community. His articles on authentication and security continue guiding members he'll never meet. Gone but absolutely not forgotten.

  • Expert of the Year: Shaun Vermaak

    Racked up millions of points across Windows Server, Active Directory, PowerShell, and Azure. Basically the person who's fixed your problem before you even knew you had it.

  • Rookie of the Year: Rudi Olivier

    Came in hot with Excel, VBA, and Microsoft Office expertise, proving you don't need decades to make an impact when you actually know your stuff.

  • Author of the Year: Arnav Sharma

    Arnav has shared hundreds of high-quality solutions across Azure, security, Microsoft technologies, and other advanced topics, earning strong recognition for his technical depth and practical guidance.

  • Jack of All Trades: Shaun Vermaak — Yes, again. 4,000+ solutions across practically every Microsoft technology means this person either has time-travel abilities or hasn't slept since 2016.

  • Video of the Year: Andrew Hancock

    One of our top Virtualization and VMware Experts always comes out with some of the best how-to videos. Check out this years, Video of the Year.

Also crushing it: slightwv (Oracle database wizard), MASQ (Windows guru since 2003), noci (Linux/Docker/networking beast), Andrew Hancock (VMware virtualization machine who won like three categories), and Daniel Pineault (the Microsoft MVP who actually responds to questions).

These winners represent what happens when expertise meets genuine desire to help people not break things. Check out the complete list here.

👨‍💻 JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Hey, here’s a way to keep the lights on while management takes credit for "system stability." Requires expertise in prayer-based troubleshooting and the ability to explain why "it's always DNS" without sounding condescending. Bonus points if you can fix the printer without developing a thousand-yard stare.

Sage’s middle management seeks someone to translate "the cloud is down" into PowerPoint slides for executives who think RAM is a truck brand. Must be fluent in both technical reality and corporate fantasy. Therapy sessions not included but strongly recommended.

The “intelligence platform for travel and spending” is looking for someone who can maintain composure while explaining for the 47th time that clicking every email attachment is, in fact, not a valid security strategy.

🛩 INDUSTRY MOVES

  • Nvidia's $100 billion OpenAI partnership reportedly evaporated like my motivation on Monday mornings, leaving everyone wondering if it was ever real or just an elaborate fever dream pitched during an earnings call.

  • Google's planning to dump ~$180 billion into data centers this year because apparently when you're hemorrhaging search market share to AI chatbots, the solution is obviously "build more buildings."

  • Workday is laying off around 400 employees, a stark reminder that even companies whose business is literally managing human capital aren't immune to the tech industry's ongoing talent reshuffling.

  • Fundamental just raised $255 million in Series A for their "new take on big data analysis," which definitely won't be forgotten by this time next year when the next buzzword-compliant startup raises $300 million for their revolutionary approach.

Hey, meatbags! Chip here with this week's EE community questions that prove troubleshooting is still an art form:

That's all for now! Here’s hoping your week runs smoother than Kasparov’s Game 1. Byte you later, romantically or robotically <3

Got news to share or topics you'd like us to cover? Send ‘em our way by responding to this email. We can’t wait to hear from you. Really.