Businesses Are Using Pirated Software to Save Money, Here’s Why That’s Dangerous

The global financial crunch and the ensuing inflation that it is causing is forcing many businesses to cut down on costs, but in spite of the fact that this is the case many of the methods that businesses are using might do more harm than good with all things having been considered and taken into account. Small to medium businesses in particular are having a rough year, and many of them are turning to pirated software to reduce their expenses.

56% of small to medium enterprises stated that they liked the idea of pirated software because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up helping them to save a bit of money. However, according to Kaspersky this might cause an uptick in the number of cyber attacks that these businesses would be faced with. Around 9,685 users of Kaspersky’s formidable antivirus software ended up getting infected with malware, and using pirated software may have led to this increase.

Despite the dangers that are being associated with the use of pirated software and programs, only 7% of small businesses with fewer than 50 employees were willing to stop using them. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that using open source software might be a better option. While there are still some risks involved with OSS, it can at the very least be a safer option that would allow businesses to face fewer threats than might have been the case otherwise.

Kaspersky also made another recommendation to businesses, which is that they should have employees use standardized accounts that don’t have admin rights in the system. That way even if their accounts get compromised the malicious actors won’t be able to infect the rest of the system. Whatever methods end up being used, SMEs can’t afford to take the risks that are associated with pirated software. They might be able to save money, but that would come at the expense of ransomware attacks and malware such as crypto miners that run in the background.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

LinkedIn Launches New Security Features To Combat Fraud

Popular professional networking app LinkedIn has released a new set of features to help the platform combat the likes of fraud and issues linked to spamming on the app.

The company says the new features can help gives users an added layer of security and protection such as better insights on new profiles, designs to secure users from scams, and also new tools which highlight AI-produced profile pictures.

For starters, there’s a feature called ‘About this profile’ that gives more insight into how profiles were generated, when was the last time it underwent updates, and so much more.

Simply press on the three dots feature for the menu on your app and you'll find all sorts of information about when a profile was made and more details about registered emails and phone numbers.

This makes it so much simpler to determine who is real and who is fake across the network so those looking to steal your sensitive details are prevented from doing so. This past month, a new and alarming report by MIT took into consideration the fact that the number of cases related to this ordeal was growing as we speak and it’s a huge concern for obvious reasons.

These scammers are using such connections to try and force users to invest in crypto scams through MIT. This noted how LinkedIn victims usually end up losing funds more easily due to the likes of fraud across different platforms.

In addition to that, in the past year, there were some separate databases comprising various details belonging to LinkedIn users. So many records of users were getting pitched across the dark web and when looked into closely, it was proven how information was never taken through practices like hacking. Instead, it was more related to matters such as data scraping.

LinkedIn was really looking at the outlaw through legal means for several years. Moreover, such scraping had to do with scammers taking data by linking with users on the application. They then took access to gain more and more data related to them and their networks.

The huge prevalence and issues on the matter have led to the platform really taking some necessary steps to better the security of the app and this is where this new update stems from. With measures such as these, you can better understand who it is that you can connect with and those you shouldn’t be linking in the first place.

Then there is plenty of talk about LinkedIn really working hard to get its AI models and machine learning back on track to better detect aspects like profile pictures that were made using the AI image application.

LinkedIn released a new report in this regard about how it is really working hard and using state of art and cutting technology to ensure all images uploaded were done so authentically and don’t have any malicious intentions behind them.

Verification through means like facial recognition and even biometric analysis is being considered. And they hope to use this for the sake of enhancing effectiveness in the anti-abuse defenses so fake accounts get removed with ease.

With time, this is definitely going to be a huge problem because AI image generation would be making it hard for people to realize what is real and what’s fake. Similarly, they’re going to make it hard for the system to differentiate between the two.

Last but not least, the app says it’s going to be adding new warning alerts to users’ DM to give them a heads-up about content that may be harmful to view. This keeps them aware of any unwanted surprises coming their way.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Facebook Accuses Apple Of Tweaking Its Guidelines To Boost Its Own Business

We saw Apple launch it's iOS 16.1 update yesterday. And with that came a few tweaks to its guidelines on the App Store.

This shows that apps like Facebook which go on offering boosts to posts and various other types of promotional content need to utilize in-app purchases to make use of the offerings.

But as you can imagine, the news did not sit down too well with Meta because it feels such guidelines are proof that the Cupertino firm wishes to benefit from its own business and nothing else.

Releasing a recent statement on the TheVerge, Meta felt strongly how Apple was out to undercut other types of competition coming his way while bolstering its own.

In the past, Apple mentioned how it would not be taking shares from developers who generate revenue through ads. Now, it’s a whole different ballgame as they’ve apparently changed their minds.

Facebook reiterated how they will continue to stay committed and offer all forms of small firms some simple methods to run ads that can benefit them. They would be required to pay for a boost in case they wish to see it perform better in terms of better views and engagement. But even before the guideline came into play, Apple mentioned several times that various forms of digital content would be up for sale through purchases made on the app but yet, but Facebook is yet to follow the rule.

To boost posts on the Facebook app on Apple, no types of in-app purchases are needed. One boosted post gets paid via credit cards, Pay Pal, and debit cards or even through a bank transfer. So Apple says it won’t be receiving cuts made to other firms to the Facebook app. As far as Instagram and others leading apps are concerned, they make use of purchases done on the app to get a similar feature for boosting purposes.

Meta’s Facebook and Instagram are using a similar form of direct purchases to carry out boosts for a while now. Yet, Apple has allowed Facebook’s parent firm to get away but not anymore.

The issue was one that was discussed between both Meta and Apple regarding the issue back in the month of August through private means.

Apple may have a lot of rules related to digital purchases made before the guidelines were put forward, Apple says this new wording outlines boosted posts in particular. It’s listed toward the bottom of a regulation related to ad management applications that don’t put out ads alone.

Applications that allow advertisers to buy and even manage various forms of advertising campaigns don’t need to make in-app purchases, the firm confirmed. They’re solely reserved for the purpose of campaign management and never put the ads on display on the same application. On the other hand, those involving digital purchases for things like content would need to make an in-app purchase.

One spokesperson that was recently seen representing Apply says that the firm has always had plenty of clear guidelines in place that require goods and services for using in-app purchases. However, there failed to be any form of explanation given why the Cupertino company was making the tweaks in wording now. Similarly, they fail to outline why Facebook was never made to abide by the rules in the past.

For now, we’re not quite sure if these changes in guidelines that came about yesterday would be representing the company taking strong action against apps like Instagram and Facebook. But if that’s the case and Apple does want money through the boosted posts, the app would be passing those extra financial burdens on to different people and firms that utilize this boost feature.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Oculus Founder Says Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Is Terrible And Compares It To The Likes Of An Expensive Hobby

It’s been a tough year for Mark Zuckerberg with many highs and lows taking place in his Meta world. But the last thing you’d want to hear is more criticism about the upcoming metaverse.

This time around, the news comes to us from the founder of Oculus who has compared the platform to the likes of a project car that is terrible today. But he feels that Zuckerberg can put in more funds to make it an amazing endeavor tomorrow.

Moreover, he called it a passionate project that not many saw great potential in, other than Zuckerberg himself.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey was very bold and blunt about the whole matter and we believe he does have the right to speak on the subject. Remember, Oculus was sold out to Facebook for a staggering $2 billion in the year 2014. But so far, he just isn’t happy with what the Meta CEO has come up with but he’s saying with a lot of major changes, it might be something great soon.

The news came when he was caught speaking during a recent Tech Live conference by the WSJ. When asked to comment on the Horizon Worlds project, he called it out as one that he isn’t interested in. Remember, this is the core project of the Metaverse so the fact that he does not like it says a lot.

• Also read: Shareholders Want Meta To Get Its Act Together And That Includes Cutting Down On Jobs

With an investment that’s worth a staggering $15 billion, Zuckerberg has huge hopes for the future of the digital world and how it would be more immersive and embrace AR and VR technology.

For now, Zuckerberg does not have many tangible things to put on display, other than the company’s name and several headsets, and the good old digital platform called the Horizon Worlds, which Luckey says many people on the team dislike.

Despite being fired from Facebook, he wants to see the metaverse succeed because he adores AR and VR devices and feels Facebook can succeed from it greatly. He also acknowledges how Zuckerberg has really invested a lot of hard work, time, and effort into the platform.

He claims that a lot of funds were being put out by Zuckerberg and there is a huge chance that it would get better with time. He says that the company will be making a lot of mistakes along the way like a project car. And that really shocked plenty of people.

The Oculus founder says it’s like a costly hobby where you like a very luxe vehicle and then you end up spending a whole lot of money because you can. Clearly, we don’t think Meta would be happy to hear that.

From all that we’ve witnessed so far, the metaverse shift has been so costly. In 2021, ended up losing out on a staggering value of $10 billion thanks to Reality Labs which oversees all of the Metaverse’s projects like Oculus. The latter is renamed Meta Quest. Shockingly, tech analysts working at WSJ say they predict the firm to lose another $10 billion in 2022 too.

The Wall Street Journal is not giving out great responses to Meta on its futuristic platform since day one. And the fact that the Facebook app is suffering great losses thanks to reduced revenue and growth isn’t making things better.

Well, Meta is on its own course of handling things. We saw avatars with legs launched recently, alongside different advancements in the platform. But again, we also saw shares dropping down to a new low since the year 2018 too.

H/T: Insider

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Apple Launches First Major Update To iOS 16 With Support For Innovative Features

In September, we heard about the new iOS 16 getting launched but there was plenty of talk about how so many features just couldn’t make it in time for the rollout.

But there’s no reason to break a sweat as those features are up for grabs in the phone’s newest update.

Yes, the iOS 16.1 update is out and it’s one of the first we’re seeing of the device’s operating system. Many people have waited a month for this but by the looks of it, this just might be worth it.

Those interested can avail it on all eligible iPhones by going through Settings, General, and then the Software Update. Moreover, you can expect it to take a few minutes to reach all those people waiting in demand.

Several new and exclusive features are being added and these include the likes of iCloud Shared Photo Library. This could be your own new and exclusive personal library for friends and loved ones. In addition, you can expect to find Live Activities located on the Lock Screen and another Dynamic Island seen on various iPhone 14 Pro devices.

Similarly, fitness enthusiasts have something great to celebrate as Apple Fitness+ can be seen across different iPhones without the need for the fancy Apple Watch. Moreover, the update will be bringing more support for Matter and so many others. We’ve got the complete release outlined for your below.

For starters, the iCloud-shared Photo Library is great for users wanting to stay up to date with images of those that mean the most. You can share this with five others while the rules allow you to add images from the past that are related to start dates and others individuals seen in your pictures.

The rules for setup enable users to pool their own images that are based on starting dates of when a library was made. Then, filters present to allow you to switch between the likes of viewing your shared and personal libraries together. You can edit, add captions, remove, and so much more, unlike before.

Next up, the Live Activities is designed for all of your third-party applications seen in a place like the Dynamic Island of your phone and also across various Lock Screens for iPhone models.

As mentioned, Fitness+ allows you to benefit from taking staying healthy and on track with your fitness journey, even if there is no Apple Watch in your repository.

The Wallet allows you to privately share your most precious assets through key sharing. Be it your hotel room, car, or more, this is applicable on both WhatsApp as well as Messages.

We have a feature called Matter which is another name given to smart home connectivity tools that support so many home accessories that function across various ecosystems. Moreover, you’ve got the Clean Energy Charging tool that allows you to limit carbon pollution by charging devices when there are other modes of low carbon emissions available.

Bookworms can take advantage of the Reader Controls that function through automated means and are disguised when you begin reading.

Last but not least, there’s a new bug fix up for grabs on the iPhone. Hence, you can find solutions to so many different vulnerabilities from the past where deleted chats can arise in the conversations list located in your section called Messages.

Others include Dynamic Island material not seen when using Reachability and CarPlay not connecting when using the VPN application. Apple has vowed to fix all of these bugs and another main kernel issue that the firm says may leave many people at risk.

Read next: In light of the ongoing economic crisis, half of the US workforce wants to work overtime to earn more
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

LinkedIn To Add Profile And Page Inter Links for Better Engagement

User reports show that social media giant LinkedIn adds various link stickers for better and more effective platform engagement.

In the tech era, LinkedIn is one of the massive social media hubs where people formally connect and share job opportunities, achievements, and many more similar things related to professional life. Currently, LinkedIn is considered one of the most effective formal connectivity platforms.

Recent announcements from LinkedIn official highlights that the platform focuses on updates that might be effective for its users and might be a source of competitive advantage over other competitors. The massive social media hub primarily focuses on its rapid target audience insights.

For effective engagement, LinkedIn adds person and page sticker links that will drive traffic toward the app. Previously the app permits its users to post the URL link to their feeds, but with the updated policies, one can now add any specific person's profile link or page link in their feed.

With this step, the app focuses on better engagement and added insights. With the updates, the platform has widened from business-only and formal posts to mutual interactions and better facilitation for users with a wide variety of tools to capture the target audience in a better way.

Besides the businesses and organizations, this update can be helpful for individuals also. With the option of personal profile link sharing, one can easily gain connections and insights into their profile. It might be beneficial in building a strong and branded LinkedIn account.

Besides this, LinkedIn stories weren't the most effective method for engagement. The following update will take the place of LinkedIn stories, as the users can use the following functions in their day-to-day feeds for better engagement and added insights to their posts.

Another factor that can massively affect the LinkedIn insight strike rate is the Twitter heading under Elon Musk. With this, LinkedIn might experience rapid business-related traffic toward its platform. The chances of Twitter getting better are almost negligible, that's why it can heavily affect LinkedIn's interaction rate.

To add more, LinkedIn is also focusing on better accessibility features and updates that might prevail new users towards its ecosystem and build equity with the old ones. With the social media flooded with Elon's overtaking of Twitter, LinkedIn considers itself the major competitor and best possible replica of Twitter.

Also, LinkedIn officials with high hopes believe that LinkedIn might be the most prominent choice for people for better reach and connectivity in the coming times. As, along with a user-friendly ecosystem, it provides access to better engagement with efficient tools and updates.

To conclude, one of the biggest social media platforms focuses on multiple updates that might be beneficial for its users. With the current updates, LinkedIn seeks competitive edges over its present competitors. With high hopes and with practical strategies for reach and engagement, LinkedIn is ready to dominate everyone in the upcoming era.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

In light of the ongoing economic crisis, half of the US workforce wants to work overtime to earn more

According to the latest survey conducted by Qualtrics, more than half of the U.S workers are considering going over time or looking out for multiple jobs to earn more money due to the ongoing economic crisis.

Almost 57% of the survey participants showed interest in adding extra hours to their shifts to combat the rising economic problems.

Out of 1000 respondents who took part in this survey, almost 60% of them who had kids were more inclined towards making more money for their family.

Back in 2021, the Great Resignation played an important role globally, though the movement is still going on, however, the conditions may have changed. Originally the campaign started when employees wanted to put their mental peace over work but now, people are resigning as they want to work in a place where they can earn more. Over the last year, the movement instead of slowing down is pacing up and current inflation and economic conditions have a lot to do with this.

Benjamin Granger, the chief psychologist at Qualtrics, said that families are now evaluating their budget and are looking for ideas or methods through which they don’t have to cut their budget short. These new ways may include searching for new places to work in. He further added that turnover like this can affect organizations, hence it is very important for them to know more about what their working staff wants or who is more likely to leave the job for a better one. As a result, timely steps can be taken by the company so they can prevent employee turnover.

In comparison to the results observed in 2021, now almost 64% of the participants agreed that the current situation is giving them a hard time paying even for the necessary items. While seventy percent of working parents believe that their current pay is not enough.

To minimize their expenses, people are now shifting to areas with lower inflation rates. 18% of them have already shifted while 13% are considering it. Further research showed that employees who have a family to take care of are more likely to shift than those with no kids.

While some are planning to do extra hours, others are considering getting a side job as well. However, inflation may not be the only reason for doing a side job as 40% of them are doing it either for fun or to gain experience in other fields as well.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World