Trendz³ Newsletter: Loving Technology, Hating Cyber Scams

Trendz³: The Free IT & Tech Newsletter Designed Just for Small Businesses of Northwest Arkansas

Note: This is a web version of our newsletter. You can subscribe here for free.

February 2026

Hi Friend,

It's February — so love is in the air. And there's a lot to love about technology and cybersecurity, and a lot to hate about scams, cyberattacks, and downtime. This month, each trend below highlights something to love and something to hate.

As always, simply reply to this email if you have comments, questions, or suggestions.

And may the month of February bring your organization lots to love.

Sincerely,

Rob Brothers
Founding Partner
TekTrendz

P.S. Just for fun. Here's what it might look like if our team at TekTrendz was responsible for writing messages for those little Valentine candy hearts.

Trend¹ — Arkansas small businesses are riding the AI assistant wave (and what to know)...

Forty-four percent of small businesses surveyed in 2025, including 4-in-10 Arkansas-based SMBs, reported using ChatGPT, Gemini, or another AI assistant for work purposes. And we all know that's only going to grow.

But using AI assistants in the workplace isn't without risk. Yes, AI can supercharge productivity, but, if not careful, it can needlessly expose your business, too.

Some tips for using AI assistants safely and securely in the workplace: 

• Never upload confidential or protected info into an AI assistant. AI models often retain info for training purposes, and, once you submit sensitive info, you lose control over how it’s stored, processed, and reused.
• Think cybersecurity. The AI platforms you share info with can be hacked (exposing any chats you had). Also, if your team can use AI, so can bad actors. Expect cyberattacks to get more sophisticated in the AI age.
• Create clear AI guidelines for your team. If your team is using AI (they likely are), you should have a written policy defining what tools are approved, what data is off-limits, and how AI-generated content should be reviewed.
• Consider purchasing business-grade accounts. They usually offer better privacy settings, access controls, and compliance options. 
• Understand AI's limitations. AI assistants work by predicting (as a statistical probability) the next word in a word sequence. They're not really "thinking"; they don't really "know." So, always fact check AI-derived work.

Something to hate 😡: But they can also force errors and privacy issues. 

Trend² — February sees a surge in romance scams (and why it matters to businesses)

From love bombing to pro-daters, romance scams take many shapes and sizes in the digital age. And they're very common. In 2025, the FTC received over 55K romance scam complaints totaling $1.16 billion in financial losses to victims. And, there's a surge in romance fraud every February, as opportunistic scammers take advantage of people in search of love and companionship.

What does this have to do with organizational IT? More than you might think...

• All the link-opening, app-downloading, even crypto-investing that often accompanies romance scams may occur on work devices/networks

• It may be a scammer's objective to dislodge info from the victim — names, job titles, project details — to use in phishing attacks targeting organizations.
• The deeply hurtful and humiliating, not to mention costly, nature of romance fraud can have devastating impacts on a worker's morale and well-being.
• Though less likely, employees have even been known to steal from their company to pay romance scammers.

Romance scams start as a personal matter but can quickly become an organizational matter. Here's some excellent advice for avoiding romance scams from the FTC.

Something to looove 😍: Technology brings people together — for companionship...
Something to hate 😡: While also giving scammers ways to exploit our emotions.

Trend³ — Messaging apps aren't just for personal use; they're often used for work purposes, too

A late 2025 survey of 500 employees found 86% of them used mobile apps for work purposes — "mostly for communication and collaboration." Enter, stage right: the messaging app. From Teams mobile to Whatsapp, messaging apps are often used — right or wrong — for work purposes: scheduling, sharing, updating, etc.

Something(s) to looove about messaging apps 😍:

Messaging apps can be real assets — offering (1) instantaneous, I-need-a-reply-now messaging with no lags, (2) faster collaboration, and (3) better customer engagement (responding to customers via messaging app), for instance.

Something(s) to hate 😡: 

• Security is often an afterthought because most messaging apps were built for convenience, not compliance.
  

• People are more lax and less security-minded when using messaging apps. Even if the app is secure, human behavior may not be (ahem, SignalGate) 
  
• Important info gets buried or lost forever. Multiple comm channels means information gets scattered and difficult to retrieve.
• Blurring work-life boundaries. Your phone becomes your office.
  

TekTrendz's recommendation: Never share sensitive information via messaging apps — make it a policy. Use the Microsoft Teams mobile app for on-the-go messaging with your team. If you insist on using a consumer-grade app, avoid WhatsApp and choose a more secure option like Signal.

FTC: Free Cyber Resources for Small Businesses

The Federal Trade Commission recently updated its "Protecting Small Business" page. There, you can learn about common scams and ways to protect your business. You can also report scams directly to the FTC. It's a nice resource. 

Visit the FTC Small Business Page

Another Data Center Planned for Arkansas

Another one is coming to Arkansas — another data center, that is. This time, it's a $6 billion investment, trumpeted by Governor Sanders as "the largest economic investment in Arkansas’ history," by Connecticut-based Avaio Digital. The 760-acre site is planned for Pulaski County, just outside Little Rock. State and national leaders say they're taking steps to prevent a spike in energy costs for Arkansans — a major concern given the massive energy consumption of data centers.

Read More About the Project

Articles We're Reading...

Here's four articles we've read recently with important implications for small business — and their technology, productivity, and/or cybersecurity.

• Talk Business & Politics: 7 essential cybersecurity steps for every small business to take

• Ars Technica: US cyber defense chief accidentally uploaded secret government info to ChatGPT

• U.S. Chamber of Commerce: AI Productivity Hacks for Every Business Type

• Cybersecurity Dive: 5 cybersecurity trends to watch in 2026 (including cyber insurance changes)

Whatcha' Waitin' For? Subscribe to Trendz³ Today 

Trendz³ is a free, monthly email newsletter from TekTrendz, created exclusively for small businesses of Northwest Arkansas. Once a month, the Trendz³ newsletter will provide you with a quick rundown of the three most pressing trends in technology, cybersecurity, and IT — that you really need to know. We'll also share helpful resources and news along the way.

It's the IT newsletter designed for you. Click below to sign up today. It's free.