Eoin Higgins
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Articles by Eoin Higgins
RIP to the Russiagate Liberals
Eoin Higgins is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.” Alexander Vindman lost to Angie Nixon in the Florida Democratic senatorial primary on Tuesday, marking a long-overdue end to one of the worst liberal mass delusions of the Trump era: Russiagate.
Putting agentic AI to work
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“Agentic AI” has emerged as another buzzword that executives and marketers love to toss around. If you believe the hype, a swarm of ultra-smart AI agents will soon take over virtually every enterprise workflow, from cybersecurity to accounting, freeing up humans to concentrate on what really matters: new features, better revenue models, and brewing the perfect cup of coffee in the office kitchen. But are AI agents truly ready for primetime?
By Caroline Nihill Verified, Brianna Monsanto Verified, Eoin Higgins Verified, Patrick Kulp Verified
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IT Brew
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Space data centers? They could be closer than you think
Are orbital data centers the future for a conflict-ridden industry? Ask Ezra Feilden, co-founder and CTO for startup Starcloud, and you’ll get a more nuanced—and thoughtful—answer than you might expect. Ultimately, it comes down to what makes most sense. “It’s getting easier to deploy things in space and it’s getting harder to deploy things on the ground,” Feilden said onstage at the Ai4 conference.
Industrial AI gets a test at Caterpillar
That construction site is producing a new building—and tons of data for analysis. Caterpillar machines are sending information from jobsites to the company’s tech team, which can be used to not only provide insights into how equipment is operating, but also ways to improve the products. Jaime Mineart, Caterpillar’s CTO, told IT Brew at the Ai4 conference this month in Las Vegas that this high-volume collection of sensor and machine data integrates with AI systems embedded on the machines.
State of the industry: What we heard about AI at Ai4
AI is everywhere—and despite warnings around capacity and a potential bubble, the industry appears to be continuing to grow. But how do actual IT pros feel about AI? At this year’s Ai4 conference, we asked around, on the floor and one on one. What we heard was optimism marked by caution from industry vets. Kevin Tran, a demo engineer for Notion, told IT Brew that people at the conference, much like Notion customers, are thinking about how to automate more efficiently and deploy AI agents.
From unhoused to the C-suite: Anthony Moisant’s journey to Indeed
For some lucky people, their career is also a mission—for Anthony Moisant, Indeed CIO and CSO, his path began as a young person experiencing homelessness and a high school dropout in Chicago. His nontraditional journey gave Moisant a perspective on the need for community—and for opening doors. “Coming out of Yale, coming out of Princeton, coming out of Harvard and Stanford, you have some opportunities that are just green lights for you,” Moisant told IT Brew.
AI observability needs humans in the loop in order to excel
Are you keeping an AI on your agent? That’s the kind of observability question required at a time when the tech industry is embracing the capabilities of AI tools and giving agentic AI more autonomy as solutions grow in complexity. For Michael Bevilacqua, VP of AI product for ETL service provider Adeptia, the question is about data oversight—a focus on telemetry that relies on the data observation being run “headless,” or without human decision-making.
AI-native staffers are highly sought after—and at a premium
When it comes to companies hiring IT talent for AI adoption and integration, a native approach might be best. That’s according to the latest findings from jobs platform Indeed, which partnered with YouGov to survey over 1,000 job-seekers and hiring managers at organizations with 500+ employees about their need for AI-native employees.
Surviving modern ransomware
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Over the past few years, ransomware has evolved into one of the most pressing threats facing organizations and the IT professionals tasked with defending them. Ransomware attackers have embraced AI and cutting-edge tools to more effectively deceive employees, encrypt stolen data, and target vulnerable infrastructure. Yes, it’s an intimidating problem, but cybersecurity experts have done excellent work figuring out how to mitigate this threat.
By Brianna Monsanto Verified, Eoin Higgins Verified, Caroline Nihill Verified, Billy Hurley Verified
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IT Brew
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There’s No Time for Centrists to Be Doomers About El-Sayed’s Victory
Eoin Higgins is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.” Abdul El-Sayed is the Democratic Party’s nominee for the Senate in Michigan after besting Rep. Haley Stevens by less than 1 percentage point. Not long after The Associated Press called the race on Wednesday morning, Stevens threw her “full support” behind El-Sayed. While the votes were still being counted on Tuesday night, state Sen.
There’s No Time for Centrists to Be Doomers About El-Sayed’s Victory
7 hours ago The tremors from Abdul El-Sayed's victory in Michigan's Senate primary will have been felt hundreds of miles away by the Democratic Party leadership. In a year in which Republicans appear to be facing significant electoral headwinds, Democratic primary voters have taken a chance on a left-wing …
John Bates on what he’s learned about communication and AI
John Bates is from England, but his career has taken an international path. The tech executive is currently CEO at Doxis, a German-based AI document visibility company that he said operates in the “document intelligence space, which is really document management or enterprise content management 2.0 for the AI era,” His decades-long career includes stints at companies across the US and Europe.
Shifting sands and making waves: July in the tech C-suite
Summer months are known for vacations and professional inertia—but for the tech C-suite, the work, and the executive back and forth, continues. Coinbase snags Unit 42’s Michael Sikorski as CISO Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase hired former Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 CTO Michael Sikoski as CISO in July, a hire aimed at shoring up the company’s cybersecurity bench. Sikorski spent four years at Unit 42 as CTO.
Tech stack changing as prompt requests shorten
As AI increases its capabilities, there’s less of a need for users to give their chatbots lengthy directives—which is leading to some interesting changes, one company found. Research from Elvex, an enterprise AI adoption platform, indicates that AI prompts are shortening as the underlying technology gets better at predicting what users want. That’s leading to higher positive feedback from customers, Elvex CEO Sachin Kamdar told IT Brew.
Department of Defense internship program for cyber pros aims to correct balance between public and private sector
Public sector cybersecurity gets a bad rap—which the Department of Defense aims to change with a new initiative. The Cyber RAP (Registered Apprenticeship Program) is a paid internship scheme DOD hopes will make the federal government more appealing to cybersecurity talent. The 12-month, paid program offers hands-on experience alongside cybersecurity professionals, mentorship, and the potential for full-time employment afterwards.
Fetterman Might Leave Democratic Party Because the Only Thing He Loves More Than Israel Is Attention
Now Despite being elected to fix the economy, Trump's approval on the economy continues to fall, as Americans now say they are financially worse off. CNN New Central's John Berman and Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten examine why Americans believe the economy is deteriorating and prediction markets show …
Fetterman Might Leave Democratic Party Because the Only Thing He Loves More Than Israel Is Attention
Eoin Higgins is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.” Sen. John Fetterman may switch parties, and the reason is simple: The Democrat from Pennsylvania loves nothing like he loves media coverage. Adam Jentleson, Fetterman’s former chief of staff who now heads the centrist Searchlight Institute think tank, said as much this week.
Why developer review requires a hybrid strategy
There’s something to be said for a human touch, and the tech industry’s review processes are no exception. But the need for people in the loop is running up against the reality that, with the integration of more AI tools into the tech stack, what was once done by humans is increasingly being turned over to software.
Apple steps up as AI infrastructure diversifies
AI is changing the tech stack—and for Apple, that’s an opportunity to enter markets traditionally dominated by PCs. Enterprises rushing to deploy AI solutions are hitting the reality that building infrastructure takes time and money—and hardware isn’t always available. Delays can impact project timelines and even an organization’s health. Fixit. Many IT teams are turning to Apple hardware to pick up the slack when it comes to the on-prem training and use of AI models.
Agentic AI is raising more challenges—and opportunities—for tech infrastructure
Keep that engine running—but make sure it’s running smoothly. For organizations looking to deploy AI solutions across the enterprise—especially agents—relying on complex, hybrid infrastructure is increasingly important. Those at the forefront of AI usage will also need new, powerful solutions to maintain their processing edge.
In New York, a data center moratorium sparks questions
New York put a marker down in the fight to regulate AI, becoming the first state in the nation to enact a moratorium on data center infrastructure. Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, signed the bill on July 14, restricting construction of data centers 50 megawatts or larger for one year. It’s a less ambitious bill than legislation in Maine vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills, also a Democrat, in May; that law would have put data centers 20 megawatts or larger on ice until November 2027.
Apple’s OpenAI lawsuit offers lessons about company secrets
It’s not often that big corporate battles have a direct impact on the day-to-day of the IT pro, but Apple’s conflict with OpenAI is an exception. Apple is suing OpenAI for network breach and parts smuggling, claiming the AI company furthered its hardware production goals by stealing proprietary information. It’s a major lawsuit, and one that could derail OpenAI’s plans to introduce a device in late 2026 or early 2027—and delay its IPO. Charge it.
AI tooling sprawl continues to bedevil organizations
Large and in charge—for enterprises, that’s a sign of the times, and could lead to problems. AI tool sprawl is increasingly presenting challenges for organizations as they manage the changing tech landscape. For companies investing in growth areas while trying to keep costs down, that often means looking for the most efficient solution in the short term, said Shashi Kiran, chief marketing officer at Nile.
Tech jobs numbers show positive growth for sector
Tech unemployment dropped again in June, a potential sign of the industry recovering after months of uncertainty. That’s of little surprise to tech hiring platform Dice, which recently published research that found hiring in the sector has shifted across industries and roles, primarily in the financial services sector, which saw a 47% rise in job postings year over year, and AI and machine learning, which increased 173% in the same period.
Can on-prem solutions beat cloud in the age of AI?
AI solutions are cloudy with a chance of prem. Third-party, cloud-based AI vendors are becoming cost-prohibitive, so companies are turning to developing their own AI tooling on internal tech stacks, backed by local hardware. Running your enterprise’s AI solutions on-prem was long reserved for the big dogs of Silicon Valley, who could afford infrastructure and developers. But a growing number of free tools allow smaller companies to deploy locally, changing the game.
Democrats Ditched Platner — But They Must Hold Onto the Politics That Won Over Maine Voters
ALSO SEE: How Democrats Could Replace Graham Platner in Maine Senate Race and Who Might Take His Place Platner has lost the moral right to speak for the left. The movement that energized Maine’s voters should choose his replacement.
It’s Time for Maine to Ditch Platner — But Not the Politics That Won Over Voters
Eoin Higgins is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.” The day Graham Platner became Maine’s Democratic Senate nominee, he spoke behind a podium bearing his indignant campaign slogan: “They don’t know Maine.” But when sexual assault allegations against the candidate broke this week, supporters and political allies in the state were left wondering instead if they ever really knew Platner — and uncertain about what’s next for the movement...
Game over
Welcome to The Flashpoint. It’s all over but the crying for Maine Democrat Graham Platner, whose upstart primary campaign for US Senate made him a national figure. On Monday, Politico reported allegations of sexual assault from a former partner of Platner’s that are damning and credible. You can read the story here. In the article, Platner’s team sounds a defiant note; after it was published, he released a video sounding a more cautious note and all but acknowledging the campaign is over.
Graham Platner Inspired Another Left-Wing Veteran to Take On an Establishment Dem
Alex Scheel is running an anti-war campaign to unseat incumbent Rep. Marilyn Strickland. He’s also a longtime member of the DSA in Washington state. When Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner sealed the deal on his resounding primary victory in June, the oysterman turned political lightning rod sounded a note of defiance — one that resonated with another would-be candidate on the other side of the country.
Graham Platner Has Already Inspired Another Left-Wing Veteran to Take On an Establishment Dem
Eoin Higgins is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.” When Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Graham Platner sealed the deal on his resounding primary victory in June, the oysterman turned political lightning rod sounded a note of defiance — one that resonated with another would-be candidate across the country.
Moving on: the C-suite in June
Moving on from Meta, and more—this was June in the C-suite. After a career at Meta spanning over a dozen years, CISO Guy Rosen is moving on. In a June 2 LinkedIn post, Rosen said that he was leaving to spend time with his family, with some indications of his next career move. Rosen joined Meta in 2013 following the company’s acquisition of his analytics startup Onavo.
Shadow AI still a problem—but the solution isn’t punishment
What AI lurks in the heart of the tech stack? The shadow knows—shadow AI. A new report from AIOps platform PagerDuty shows that 66% of office professionals are misusing tools at work, adding to an existing problem that’s plaguing enterprises across industries. Company policies don’t seem to be dissuading the practice. PagerDuty found that 72% of professionals believe they understand how to use AI better than their organization’s IT teams.
Election systems security presents challenges and opportunities
During the 2000 presidential election, Florida’s “hanging chads” kept a nation in suspense. Twenty-six years later, paper-based challenges seem quaint compared to the tech threats confronting current-day campaigns. The 2026 midterm elections will present more complex challenges, thanks largely to AI giving attackers an edge—and forcing defenders for political campaigns and federal, state, and local governments to catch up.
‘Complete hogwash’: Ed Zitron on AI promises from Silicon Valley
Ed Zitron has made a name for himself in recent years as an outspoken critic of the tech industry’s push on AI—specifically LLMs. The CEO of EZ Primary Research, Zitron writes the “Where’s Your Ed At” newsletter and hosts the Better Offline podcast. In part 1, he discussed AI bubbles, government subsidies, and other topics; in this part, he talks about how Silicon Valley is approaching this moment, and why he’s skeptical of the potential of the technology to continue to drive the sector.
Ed Zitron on AI bubbles, government subsidies, and more
Is AI a bubble? Is the government going to bail out Silicon Valley? What’s a reasonable expectation for AI ROI? IT pros know many people with many different answers to these questions—and more. One of the more prominent voices warning that AI is a bubble ready to collapse is Ed Zitron, CEO of EZ Primary Research. Zitron also writes the newsletter “Where’s Your Ed At” and hosts the Better Offline podcast.
AI enterprise deployment has governance, security concerns
They’ve given you a number, and taken away your name—but as the Johnny Rivers song goes, agents need to beware when taking chances. That’s also true in the tech space, where enterprises are increasingly adopting agentic AI despite the risks involved. Peter Mullen, chief marketing officer at Kore.ai, told IT Brew that his company’s recent Agent Productivity Index found AI deployment is leading to missed connections and a rise in rework and IT challenges.
AI integration leads to tech friction—a continuing challenge for IT pros
There’s an old saying, “a gem cannot be polished without friction,” and many in the IT sector hope that the same applies to AI. What IT pros know as tech friction—the increase in toil and noise that comes from added complexity of the tech stack—is increasing with AI deployment. AI is adding a new layer of difficulty, and it’s one that’s hard to fully understand. Get it done.
AI hiring intent doubles in six months, showing strength of industry subsector
New employment data for the tech sector shows the impact of AI on hiring. Numbers from tech certification provider CompTIA, working off data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, show that AI hiring intent—job listings for specialized AI roles or that require a specific AI skill—has doubled since November 2025. It’s a sign both of the continued strength of tech sector employment and the importance of AI to the industry.
Apple opens the door to third-party AI model vendors in latest update
There’s been a new development in how Apple manages its products—and it’s an AI disruption. Apple debuted new AI capabilities at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. The company has always had a “consumer-oriented” approach to its products, said Matt Vlasach, Jamf SVP of enterprise product and solutions engineering, who spoke to IT Brew from the conference on June 9. Now, they’re expanding their software offerings with an open approach to AI, focused on developer tool suite Xcode.
Data management and AI implementation are two sides of the same coin
Like all professional relationships, the interplay between enterprise AI and data requires care and caution—but a new survey suggests the two don’t always work well together. The research, from Nasuni, a data platform that focuses on unstructured data and cloud storage, shows how mishandling the relationship can lead to security breaches, gaps in data quality, and misuse of AI technology.
Block the breach: a ransomware game
IT BREW ransomware attack simulator v1.4 Every decision counts. Every choice has consequences. Navigate four critical nodes of this cyber crisis and see if you have what it takes to survive a modern ransomware attack. 08:42 AM in the security operations center (SOC). The hum of server fans. The smell of ozone. And soon, the taste of panic. You are the new CISO of a major software company. You haven’t even finished your first coffee when the SOC’s silence is shattered.
AI is changing coding—and adding friction
As enterprises continue to implement AI solutions for coding, the growing pains are leading to an increase in AI tech friction. A new study from agentic platform Harness breaks down concerns over AI deployment, including how employee use of vibe coding is leading to extra work. Majorities of developers said reviewing AI-generated code for accuracy (53%) and fixing small bugs (52%) are top sources of tech friction.
CBS News chaos is what happens when billionaires control the media
Hello and welcome to Ekō News. CBS News mainstay 60 Minutes is on the chopping block. Since the network was taken over by Bari Weiss, on orders from new owner David Ellison, the newsroom has undergone a number of changes—but this week’s blow up might be the biggest. To get a breakdown—a detailed one, as you’ll see—of the state of play at CBS News, we turned to Zeteo’s Justin Baragona, who’s been following the story since the beginning. What’s the mood at CBS right now? In a word: shellshocked.
World Cup threats present challenges for IT pros
For soccer players, the goal is the score; for threat actors, the score is the goal. That’s the concern as the US, Canada, and Mexico prepare to host the World Cup in June and July. With three different countries and a threat surface exacerbated by international conflict, cyberattackers are looking to take advantage.
Anthropic’s Glasswing spreads its wings
A major expansion of Anthropic’s Glasswing project is planning for a future where cybersecurity is managed largely by AI. Anthropic made the announcement on June 2 in a blog post detailing the success of the pilot program, in which 50 partners were invited to test the cyberattacking abilities of Claude Mythos Preview, an LLM with the reported ability to quickly discover vulnerabilities.
By design: the C-suite in May
New roles, new responsibilities: It’s your tech C-suite moves for May. Tech giant Microsoft created the role of chief design officer and filled the position May 14. Jon Friedman, a longtime Microsoft employee, will take on the role; he described it as one that will “reduce fragmentation, increase alignment, and make innovation at scale real across the company” in a post on LinkedIn announcing his appointment. Friedman has been working his way through the Microsoft ranks since 2004.
State-run healthcare exchanges selling data is latest expansion of threat surface
State-run healthcare exchanges might be sharing your personal data with advertising companies and large tech firms—and potentially boosting the potential for cyberattacks. A May 4 Bloomberg investigation found that almost all 20 state-run health exchanges in the US use ad trackers, raising privacy and ethical concerns. When users of those exchanges interact with information or enrollment web pages, trackers may be sending their data to Meta and other companies.
"Vote blue no matter who" has conservative Democrats saying boo hoo
Score-settling seems more important than keeping the party together and taking the Senate. Welcome to The Flashpoint. As Graham Platner locks up the Democratic nomination for Senate in Maine, centrist Democrats in the rest of the country are looking on in horror. Platner represents a populist, left-leaning, young generation of Democrat. He’s been incredibly successful at reaching voters in Maine and has incumbent Republican Susan Collins panicking. Conservative Democrats aren’t on board. Rep.
Graham Platner Is Forcing Centrist Dems to Reckon With “Vote Blue No Matter Who”
Eoin Higgins is the author of “Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voice on the Left.” One of the most enduring points of contention between the Democratic Party’s left and right wings is “vote blue no matter who,” a demand almost exclusively made of progressives to shelve principle over party when it comes to elections.
Research on AI jailbreakers reveals where they go to sell their wares
Getting past guardrails on a road? Bad. Getting past guardrails for AI models? Lucrative for AI jailbreakers—provided they know where to sell whatever data they steal. Open Measures, a threat intelligence resource focused on attacker search across platforms, recently published research on the increased sophistication of AI-infused cybercrime—and where AI jailbreakers and other attackers are congregating.
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