Google Might Start Allowing Review Gating on Maps Again

Google Maps was initially meant to be an app that allowed users to get directions online, but it quickly diversified into a wider range of offerings because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making it more useful to the average user. In spite of the fact that this is the case, not all of the features that Google Maps have offered have been useful strictly speaking, and the review feature is a good example.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that Google might be trying to remove its review gating policy on Google Maps. Review gating basically refers to any attempt to dissuade customers from leaving bad reviews and encouraging or incentivizing them to leave good ones with all things having been considered and taken into account. The ban on review gating was meant to improve the quality of reviews and make them more reliable, but it seems that Google is trying to entice business owners by removing this policy.

Compare:https://t.co/e7Ra22oLK5 https://t.co/Ulc22xbySP

— Chris Silver Smith (@si1very) August 22, 2022

However, despite initial appearances it seems like the removal of this policy is not quite as business user oriented as one may have thought. The Federal Trade Commission has recently cracked down on review gating, which makes having a policy on this less useful for Google than might have been the case otherwise. Google also has a separate fake engagement policy which covers much of the same ground that the review gating policy did, so this might just be an attempt on Google’s part to strip its usage policy down in the interests of making it more concise.

Whatever the case may be, any change to Google’s user policy is important since it can impact that the direction that the tech juggernaut might be headed in. It is interesting to see Google slimming its usage policy down, since this indicates that the company is attempting to make it clearer which is markedly different from how other tech companies try to bury the facts in pointless legalese that most users can’t read.

Read next: Google Search Tests Out New Label for Short Articles
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Research Finds Nearly 1,800 iOS Apps Leaking AWS Credentials and Harming the Supply Chain

Amazon’s main revenue generator is of course its immense ecommerce platform, but in spite of the fact that this is the case the corporate juggernaut has also created an additional source of income through Amazon Web Services. A team of analysts working at Symantec recently found that there are around 1,859 applications that possess vulnerabilities that could give malicious actors easy access to AWS credentials.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this poses a huge risk to the supply chain. 77% of these applications had valid tokens for accessing AWS servers hard coded into their backend, which is risky because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing hackers to enter private servers if they their hands on these credentials.

The vast majority of these apps were for iOS, with only 37 being for Android phones with all things having been considered and taken into account. Businesses often store very sensitive client data, and B2B transactions that are crucial to the functioning of the global supply chain can be exposed due to them being hard coded.

Businesses working with other commercial entities often give them an SDK, or software development kit, and this SDK is what contains the cloud credentials. Malicious actors may be able to use these credentials and pose as legitimate clients, and that can disrupt the supply chain in numerous ways.

There are already a number of issues that are clogging up the supply chain, and vulnerabilities can make matters even worse than might have been the case otherwise. Supply chain issues are some of the main driving factors behind inflation, and unless something is done to patch these loopholes we might start to see even more disruptions down the line.

Many businesses forget that they have hard coded credentials, so if they were to revamp their systems they’d be able to mitigate the problem for a while. Structural change is necessary otherwise exploitation of vulnerabilities will continue for be an issue.

Read next: Cybersecurity Experts Warn Against New Email Phishing Scam Where Hackers Pose As Instagram
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Meta Publishes New Overview On Its Video Ranking Algorithms

In case you were not already aware, Meta is working hard at promoting its video content on the app.

The company says Reels are doing great at bringing in more revenue and therefore it makes sense why there is so much emphasis on the feature.

To be more specific, Reels have been applauded as the company’s fasting growing surface for engagement. And it's already taking up nearly 20% of people’s watch time across the platform.

Hence, there’s a new push for Reels and ways to better boost its presence and performance on Facebook and Instagram. Therefore, if you’re a creator who’s keen on making the best Reels out there, this post is surely for you.

This week, the tech giant was seen going public with an overview that shed light on its ranking algorithms linked to videos. These came with helpful and very detailed explanations of all the kinds of elements involved.

At the same time, there was a major emphasis on what Meta takes into consideration when deciding the final reach of a particular video post. As a whole, four key subunits had been identified.

The first one was related to originality. This is in line with the company’s push to increase the number of creators on the app while providing more exposure to different apps too.

Meta mentioned how a lot of original videos are designed to reflect the opinions and values of the creators themselves. They are awfully unique, putting forward content that’s never been created before. Then there was the company reiterating how they always prioritize original content over everything else so that credit goes where it’s due the most.

Now that sounds great but how exactly does the company ensure content coming through is really authentic? Well, it needs to be made by you and then published on your page. In the same way, some more unique additions can be included in other types of material. But reposting is not in demand and isn’t allowed.

Therefore, those who wish to reshare posts should be well aware of the fact that the reach will definitely be going down on this one, as compared to the original content.

The second factor has to do with ‘Capturing and Retaining Attention’. Anything that has captured the viewers’ attention and inspired others to watch the end of the content is definitely going to be promoted more on the app.

Meta says that it gauges this through analytics and graphs. Anything that witnesses a slow decline over time means it’s doing well with the audience. But if there’s a sharp drop, well, it was never meant to be of interest to anyone.

To put it simply, there has to be something in there that causes the audience to stay tuned and maximize its engagement. Alongside this, Meta is emphasizing on content length not being such a huge factor of importance.

For them, content needs to be as long as it has to be, ensuring it's relatable to the intended audience and continues to engage them. Good production quality and burned-in captions also tend to go a long way, the firm adds.

Next in line, Meta feels the concept of repeat viewership is so important. This includes the likes of loyalty as well as the intent of the content. After all, viewers coming back for more means they’re loving what they’re seeing.

Last but not least, Meta feels Engagement carries a significant amount of weightage. Be it Likes, Comments, or Shares- the firm prioritizes this so much. It’s this that ignites users to communicate and engage on the app.

Anytime that ends up promoting discussions to the next level is the sort of engagement that the app is in search of.

Read next: Meta Confirms Shutdown Of Facebook's Nextdoor-Clone 'Neighborhoods'
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Cybersecurity Experts Warn Against New Email Phishing Scam Where Hackers Pose As Instagram

A new phishing scam is on the rise since late July and cybersecurity experts are issuing an immediate warning against it.

If you happen to be getting a bizarre email that confirms your verification on an app like Instagram, beware because the chances of it being a scam are incredibly high.

Thanks to a new report by VadeSecure, which is a leading firm for cybersecurity, we’re getting details about the scam that began in July 2022. A lot of users have been getting all sorts of emails surrounding the same theme.

Hackers are posing as people from Instagram and that just makes it impossible to detect, one expert explained. Moreover, the email could also be seen confirming a user’s profile getting reviewed and approved for final verification.

For the subject line, you’ll see the title, ‘ig blue-badge info’ arise and the email address would be linked to ‘ig badges’. At first, some users would feel the email is very real and true, as both logos from Meta’s Facebook and Instagram can be seen arising. These are spotted on the top and the bottom of the mail.

These smart tactics used by hackers are clear evidence that they’re doing everything in their power to trick the user into thinking it’s as real as can be. But the truth is far from that as the intent is nothing but malicious.

But there are several misspellings seen and very evident formatting mistakes that don’t require a specialist to detect.

The phishing scam is the name given to a huge issue where hackers make use of bait such as in this case, where the chance is to achieve verification across Instagram. This way, victims end up clicking malicious links and plugging in their personal details too. And the interesting part is how the scams usually occur through emails and that’s why security software has trouble blocking or filtering these.

Instagram is also very well aware of all this. They mentioned recently in their Help Center that the whole process linked to verification occurs through this application and never through emails. Hence, those receiving such bogus emails need to be informed about the hackers behind them.

And requests for verification are not applied to everyone. Instead, they are for those including celebs, brands, or a particular public figure. Hence, if and when you do receive such things, the best thing to do is ignore them and then delete them.

Read next: Over 15,000 Android Apps Revealed to Leak Sensitive App Developer Data
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Over 15,000 Android Apps Revealed to Leak Sensitive App Developer Data

App developers rarely ever reveal all of the secrets that are hard coded into their apps because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up giving their competitors an edge over them. In spite of the fact that this is the case, recent studies have shown that thousands of Android apps continuously leak sensitive data that developers would want to keep private.

Cybernews recently did some research which studied and analyzed around 30,000 Android Apps. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that over half of these apps are leaking hard coded secrets such as API keys, data from Google Storage as well as database access. Hackers who aren’t all that skilled can easily take advantage of this by obtaining sensitive information that can unveil the inner workings of apps with all things having been considered and taken into account.

Much of this problem can’t be attributed to the apps themselves, but rather the practice of hard coding secrets in the first place. Just under 56% of all of these apps had secrets hard coded into them on the client side, and the lack of adequate cyber security infrastructure on that end makes it incredibly easy for malicious actors to try to break in.

Health and fitness apps turned out to be the worst offenders once all has been said and is now out of the way. Around 8,654 apps in this category were found to possess hard coded secrets, followed closely by education apps 8,161 of which contained secrets that had been hard coded.

Many of these apps don’t have secured databases, so they are essentially giving any malicious actor that can break into these hard coded areas free access to all manner of client data. This is both a reputational risk for the developers as well as a privacy risk for users, so a lot of work would need to be done to change the prevalence of this phenomenon. A few common sense security protocols can make matters a bit better.

Read next: Apple Launches Security Updates To Backport Patches For Its Older iPhones And iPads
by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Instagram is working on a new plan an event feature

Instagram is one of the most used apps in the world with millions of people tuning in every day to see what is going on in the world. The app was created by developer Kevin Systrom in 2020. The app quickly took off and is currently on its way to replacing Facebook as the most used social media app.

If someone is an Influencer and a situation where people are in need pops up they create an event like a fundraiser or something of the sort and need to plan the event properly. Well, Instagram is working on one such feature that will let creators plan an event through their dashboard.

According to a screenshot posted by the app developer and update leaker Alessandro Paluzzi, when creators will click on the create option (the one with the square and the plus sign in between), they will see a menu that will let users (at the very end) see an option to plan an event. Upon clicking that button users will be directed to a new page with three options Location, date & time, and last but not at all least Guests. They are the most important part of any event.

Because this feature has not been released and is still under development, we don’t know much about this feature's exact functionality, but we do know that this would be coming to our screens pretty soon.

This feature will let users be more organized with their events and will assist them as well. Organization is one of the most essential things for a healthy lifestyle to commence. Being organized means that you would be able to manage both your time and your tasks appropriately and perfectly.

This feature by Instagram is a great way to help users be more organized, and we hope that Instagram keeps coming up with such features in the future as well.

Read next: Instagram Tests New Feature That Allows Users To Mute Words, Emojis, And Phrases From Captions And Hashtags
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Google has come up with a new feature that will allow users to save things using bookmarks

Google is the most popular search engine with billions of people using the app every day. While on the app on our mobiles we often want to save a page that we want to come back to later and can’t remember the URL, this is where Google’s new feature comes in.

First, a quick recap is in order, so last year in September Google redesigned the collection tab so that it had a much better user interface and was easier to use. Now Google has taken another step forward and integrated the bookmark option with the search results.

The app has long since been home to the “add to collection” button, but now that has been replaced with the bookmark option.

The app has now brought the bookmark option to the built-in browser to reside alongside the hamburger menu of “about the page” and other actions. Tapping on the button will lead to a small split screen tab opening up with the option to select what folders you want to add the result into. The tab also sports the ability to change the folder the page was added to if the need to do it arises. One thing that should be noted is that the small bookmark marker will stay there even if you search again with a different keyword but with the same results.

The saved items can be viewed through either the collections tab or through the web directly as well. You can make as many collections as you would like and save pages to your heart's fill. You can save not only pages but movies, books, locations, etc.

The ability to save with this feature is still not very out in the world and is only available for a few logged in users according to an article by 9to5G. Once this feature becomes widely rolled out, we will make sure to inform you.

Read next: New Warning Issued Against Google Chrome’s ‘Internet Download Manager’ Which Has Received 200,000+ Downloads
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World