The IT Week — critical flaw exploited for two months in BeyondTrust Remote Support, Italy collects only 17% of small e-waste, and how to free up tens of GB on Windows 11

📰 This week's news: critical flaw in BeyondTrust Remote Support, exploited by attackers since late August

On October 16 a critical flaw in BeyondTrust Remote Support was made public. Many companies and IT support providers use this program to connect remotely to their customers' computers. It lets an attacker, without any password, act on the device's files. It affects versions 26.2.3 and earlier and has been used by attackers as a “zero-day” (that is, before a fix existed) since late August. According to analysts at Mandiant and CrowdStrike, a suspected China-linked espionage group is behind it.

Users of the online version (SaaS) were updated by BeyondTrust on October 8. Those who have the program installed on their own servers must update by hand, unless automatic updates are on. The Shadowserver site counts over 1,400 installations reachable from the Internet. The experts' advice is strict: a vulnerable device reachable from outside during the attack period should be treated as potentially compromised until someone has checked it.

On October 13 Microsoft also had its usual “fix Tuesday”: according to BleepingComputer's count it was a record, with 1,411 flaws fixed and 3 already known before the fix. One is already exploited by attackers: it concerns the Windows protection that flags downloaded files as “from the Internet”, and allows it to be bypassed. Practical takeaway: update Windows this week, and ask whoever looks after your IT whether they use remote-assistance tools and which version they run.

♻️ Refurbished world: Italy collects only 17% of small electronic waste

According to Erion Weee estimates, Italy collects only 17% of the small electronic waste placed on the market (smartphones, razors, earbuds, cables), against an EU target of 65%. The overall figure for all electronic waste, estimated by the Centro di Coordinamento RAEE for 2025, is 32.5%, or 6.22 kg per person per year, of which only 1.43 kg is small appliances. The report was picked up by Il Sole 24 Ore.

Yet the rule for taking them away has existed since 2016: electronics stores of at least 400 square metres must take back small appliances (under 25 cm) for free, even without a purchase. It is the so-called “one against zero”, and it is barely used. On October 13 in Milan, the “Raeeplay” project by Amsa and Ecolamp brought collection bins to 26 sports centres. And in Brussels a charge of 2 euros per kilo not collected is under discussion: for now it is only being discussed, not adopted.

What it means for you: a phone or laptop sleeping in a drawer is a small treasure, both as material and as a device to put back into circulation. Before handing it to anyone, though, erase the data properly: it is the part that cannot be improvised, and for companies it is also a legal obligation.

🪟 The Windows tip: free up tens of GB without installing anything

A Punto Informatico guide, published in January and still valid, recalls three moves already built into Windows 11. Especially useful after big updates like October's. It is not news of the week, but it is the practical tip most wanted by people whose disk is nearly full.

1) Storage Sense: go to Settings → System → Storage and turn the switch on. It is off by default: once on, it cleans temporary files and empties the Recycle Bin by itself when space runs low. 2) Disk Cleanup: search for it in the Start menu, run the scan, then press Clean up system files for a second, deeper scan; among other things it finds old Windows Update files. If it has never been done, it can recover 10, 20 or even 30 GB. 3) Temporary folder: type %temp% in the search bar, select everything, delete and confirm.

Three cautions: in the system cleanup do not remove restore points, because they may be needed if something goes wrong; check that the Downloads folder is not selected, because the tool lets you empty it completely; and leave the Prefetch folder alone, which frees very little and slows down program start-up.