Over 37% of Users Hate Targeted Ads

We have all seen some targeted ads that seem suspiciously specific. A number of users might even get paranoid that these ads are only possible because their phones are listening in on their conversations and spying on them. It turns out that 66% of people have noticed that they received a targeted ad regarding something that they had a face to face conversation about according to a YouGov survey.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that such ads might have a negative impact on consumer trust and brand perception. Around 37.4% of customers said that they disliked targeted ads because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up infringing on their right to privacy, as reported by Sortlist.

What's more is that 90% of people who are between the ages of 35 to 44 have said that they have never bought something after seeing it in a targeted ad. This makes these ads seem a lot less effective than might have been the case otherwise, and considering how much harm it can do to consumer trust, it may be better to avoid them.

If we were to zero in on the younger demographics, namely those between the ages of 18 to 24, they also don’t seem to look at targeted ads all that favorably with all things having been considered and taken into account. Seeing a targeted ad can make people in this demographic 28% more likely to start hating the brand, which might cause irreparable long term damage in most cases.

Interestingly, privacy violation was less of an issue for Gen Z. Only 13.7% of them felt that their privacy had been violated by targeted ads. In spite of the fact that this is the case, 39% of them said that they were surprised by how quickly the ad turned up. Considering how young this generation is, this surprise could turn into resentment pretty quickly once they start to get overwhelmed with targeted ads that they simply cannot find the root cause of.

One thing to note here is that all targeted ads are not created equal. In fact, targeted ads might be truly amazing for a brand’s sales if they were placed on TikTok. Ads that Gen Z consumers see on this platform can make them 73% more likely to buy the product that they see, which just goes to show that it’s all just a matter of targeting the right people in the right place at the right time.

Brands would do well to take heed of the statistics presented in these surveys. They seem to indicate that the younger crowd is more agreeable when it comes to targeted ads as long as they expect to see them. TikTok is a platform that is full of ads like this, so they are less likely to be taken aback if they see those ads.

Baby boomers are also quite similar to Gen Z in this respect. They seem to perceive targeted ads as being useful rather than invasive, which makes it seem like they should be another demographic that targeted ads should focus on in the near future.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

This Survey Shows 65% of Americans Have Faced Credit Card Fraud

Credit cards are being used for over half of transactions that are conducted in the nation. This is a testament to how easy it has become for people to start using credit cards, and it has resulted in cash only being used for around 26% of retail transactions that are currently being conducted. Such a trend can be positive, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it has also given rise to an increase in credit card fraud.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that 65% of Americans have suffered from credit card fraud at least once during their lives. That adds up to around 151 million Americans in total. One thing to mention here is that last year the number was 58%, which means that the proportion has gone up by 7 points in the span of a single year.

Back in 2021, 35% of Americans said that they had noticed fraudulent transactions at least two times. That has gone up toe 44%, which seems to suggest that malicious actors are getting bolder in their attempts than might have been the case otherwise.

The amount that consumers are being defrauded of is also increasing by a very large margin. The median amount of the average fraudulent charge was around $79 in 2022, which represents a 27% increase from the number that was seen back I n2021 with all things having been considered and taken into account.

It should be noted that storing your credit card information on browsers for fast transactions could make you more likely to suffer from fraud. Malicious actors can obtain this information fairly easily, which explains why a disproportionate number of fraud victims were found to take part in such forms of credit card use.

All of this information comes out of the latest credit card fraud report compiled by Security.org. It reveals that this fraud is increasing at a rapid pace, which makes the creation of solutions all the more urgent in the near future.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Conducting Effective Breach and Attack Simulations: 4 Tips for Success

Last year was the worst year in history in terms of the number of cyber attacks and the total damage that they caused for businesses. Across the board, from malware and ransomware to phishing and hijacking, every single form of threat is reaching new peaks. And, considering that on average a single breach takes 277 days for a security team to fix, this is time that your business simply doesn’t have.

In order to keep your business protected, companies are turning to the world of cybersecurity more than ever before. At the current rate, the total global spend on cybersecurity training alone will surpass $10 billion per year by 2027. All eyes are on this field, with any defensive strategy needing to be taken to a new level as soon as possible.

Let’s dive into one of the most effective formats of security refining, breach and attack simulations (BAS). We’ll dive into this method, detailing how businesses can conduct them better to obtain better results, more benefits, and help to reduce the overall threat to their company.

Tip #1: Understand The Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Security Posture

Every business, no matter how international or how effective they are, will have a distinct security posture. In this context, a security posture is the current cyber security status of a network or system, directly referring to the defenses that the business has in place. While some businesses may excel in one or two areas, their current configurations could be leaving holes in their overall defenses.

Before running a breach and attack simulation, your business should take time to recognize its own security posture. What do you excel in? Where could you use a little extra support? Making a list of your current configurations and their strengths and weaknesses will allow you to then create a targeted breach and attack simulation.

When you have a specific area of focus or target, it becomes much easier to then run effective breach and attack simulations. Always start off by running this pre-plan exercise before starting with your actual BAS.

Tip #2: Practice Guilt By Association

Throughout your breach and attack simulation exercises, you’re going to encounter a number of vulnerabilities within different software components. Most of the time, you’re going to be balancing open source software, third-party components, and your own home software in any platform or application.

As a rule of thumb, practice guilt by association when you come across a vulnerability. That is to say, if a particular third-party vendor has one or two vulnerabilities in one bit of software, predict that all of their components will contain similar errors. While you can spend time checking each piece of software, it often saves time to simply look for a replacement.

The time you spent checking each component is much better spent simply replacing this culprit altogether. While this may seem like a pain at the time, being able to move to a more reliable vendor will help ensure the longevity of your safety. With that in mind, it’s always a great idea to practice guilt by association when running your breach and simulation exercises.

Tip #3: Use External Teams

Breach and attack simulations aren’t just something you run once per year. Ideally, you should conduct these as often as possible if you’re going to be better equipped to deal with the mounting cyber threat. Yet, if the same team members occupy the same roles in the red and blue team, then you’re going to run into a knowledge problem fairly quickly.

Even if your team is familiar with the MITRE Attack Framework, there will be certain areas that they overlook or simply don’t have the skills to investigate. That’s where bringing in external teams comes in handy. Not only do external teams have a blank slate to work with, meaning they’ll stumble upon vulnerabilities more naturally, but they may also have other specialized knowledge.

Illustration: Jcomp / Freepik

By working with external teams, you can put your systems against a more realistic threat. Just like real hackers, this external BAS team will work through your systems and attempt to break in. Their broad and distinct knowledge will radically increase how effective your BAS exercises are.

Equally, when putting external teams against your home blue team, it often turns into a very fun - and productive - cybersecurity exercise for everyone.

Tip #4: Practice Kindness

Our final tip is one that we’ve included to help ensure your team remains positive while running breach and attack simulations. A lot of the time, BAS exercises will expose vulnerabilities that your own software engineers have created. Instead of making your team feel bad or embarrassed because of these vulnerabilities, you should practice kindness.

Ensure that you use a no-fault policy. Finding these vulnerabilities is in the best interest of your business. If you want your employees to feel safe and cared for at work, they also need to feel as safe as possible. A no-fault policy will help your team fix errors without a sense of shame or guilt.

In the long run, this will be better for your team, your business, and your pursuit of vulnerabilities through breach and attack simulations.

Final Thoughts

Breach and attack simulations aren’t going anywhere. As one of the most effective methods of screening your own security defenses, this method is a vital part of every cyber security expert’s tool book. Yet, we can push BAS to be even better and deliver more when we include the tips outlined in this article.

From practicing guilt by association to positioning your team in reaction to your unique security posture, there are a number of ways that you can improve the outcome of BAS. If you’re looking to conduct effective breach and attack simulations, then working through this list should be at the top of your list of priorities.
by Web Desk via Digital Information World

What Impact Will Generative AI Have? This Survey Reveals the Answers

Generative AI such as ChatGPT has showed us the true capabilities of AI in the modern world, but in spite of the fact that this is the case some people still seem to have mixed feelings about it. It is quite common for people who are hearing about this AI for the first time to look at it with a lot of trepidation because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up replacing them in the workplace.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that a YouGov survey recently revealed what public opinion regarding AI truly looks like. It turns out that 36% of the people who participated in this survey think that AI is bad for society. 28% said that they were not sure, 23% said that it wasn’t a good thing or a bad thing and just 13% said that AI was a force for good in the world.

Men seem to be more optimistic about AI in general. 16% of men said that generative AI was a good thing, whereas only 9% of women said the same. Also, the statistics tend to skew when you separate them based on the age of the respondents.

People between the ages of 30 and 44 seem the most optimistic, but even there only 20% of them felt that generative AI could have a positive impact on the world around them. The 18 to 29 age bracket was not far behind, with 19% of them saying the same. As for people between 45 and 64, only 9% of them felt that there was any good that can come from AI.

This just goes to show that the widespread use of AI has many roadblocks ahead. Even if it proves useful, it will still have an uphill battle in terms of convincing people that it will not end up doing any kind of grievous harm. Interestingly, 52% of survey respondents said that never using AI is bad for society as well, so perhaps the solution is occasional usage.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

More Than 50% Of Americans Feel News Outlets Intentionally Mislead People As Per This Study

If you think the news you’re reading is actually misleading you in more than one way, well, you might not be the only one.

A new study says that more than 50% of Americans feel that they can’t trust local and national media outlets because the news is designed to mislead, misguide, and misinform them on purpose.

This new report comes to us thanks to the Gallup & Knight Foundation. Their national survey proved that only 25% of Americans held an optimistic view of the news but the rest were convinced that the news radiated no sense of positivity or responsibility toward providing the real picture.

More emphasis was placed on local news outlets that so many respondents feel so skeptical about. 23% mentioned how their local news channels could care less about the people reading the information including those viewing and listening to them too. On the other hand, 35% mentioned how they deeply cared about the likes of influencing society with their reporting while the rest felt otherwise.

In terms of generations, it was the American adult population that seemed more positive about local news channels. Here is where 25% disagreed about local papers and news stations that didn’t intend to misguide or persuade the general public.

Similarly, 53% did agree on how local media outlets cared about what effects their reporting would have on the population. Moreover, one recipient of a focus group mentioned these decisions might have to do with local organizations knowing a certain area more specifically.

Therefore, they’re more likely to comprehend the disturbances their wrong actions can bring. Similarly, they felt strongly about the people to which they were communicating their news stories.

As far as topics like funding are concerned, most respondents of this survey felt that both types of news organizations held resources and chances to report the news as accurately and as justly as possible to the general public. Meanwhile, 72% argued that it was just the national news outlets that cared while 65% felt it was the local news outlets that showed more concern.

Whatever the case may be, this report definitely paints a gloomy picture of how much readers and viewers trust the country’s media outlets. Moreover, it provides a clear image of people aren’t keen on reading the news as much as they once used to be in the past.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Recession is a Major Concern for 64% of Consumers

The state of economy has been in shambles for quite some time now, and consumers are really starting to feel the burn. As many as 64% of consumers have stated that they are worried about the prospect of a recession. 72% also said that various factors including climate change, inflation and others are having a more significant impact on their life over the past few years.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, there are some consumers who seem unbothered by all that is happening. For example, the Free-to-Be consumer is a category of market participants who stated that they are 52% less worried about inflation or the recession. These are useful consumers for luxury products since their lack of concern means that they are more likely to spend their extra cash instead of saving it.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that another category of consumer is that of the Anxious-Avoidant consumer. Focusing on issues might be useful because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making a brand more palatable to consumers who are in this category. Studies show that the likelihood of them buying from a brand goes up by 45% if the brand has the same values as they do.

Finally, we have the category of Cautiously Optimistic consumers. They are not exactly anxious, but they are still wary of what could occur. Such consumers tend to prefer products that have some kind of familiarity or nostalgia value attached to them. They also like products that can boost their self esteem with all things having been considered and taken into account.

This data from State of the Consumer 2023 reveals that grouping customers by demographic might distort the actual factors at play here. Brands must adapt their approach to the new classifications of consumers that are emerging, since not all of them are going to overlap with the categories that brands and marketers may have gotten used to over the past few years and decades.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Here’s What the World Thinks About Freedom of Religion in the US

The United States was established on the notion that people would be free to practice whichever religion they chose, and the nation has kept up this tradition to the present day. In spite of the fact that this is the case, many are claiming that the rights and freedoms of Muslims to practice their religion are frequently curtailed, whereas Christians tend to be given a free pass.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that the US has a fairly positive perception across many countries in the Muslim world. 47% of people living in the UAE said that the US had an excellent level of religious freedom, with 20% saying it was fair and just 17% claiming that it was poor or terrible.

The largest Muslim population in the world currently resides in Indonesia, and the people over there seem to have a fairly positive view of religious freedoms in the US as well. Similarly to the UAE, 47% of Indonesians have a very good perception of freedom of religion in the US, with 25% saying that the US is fair in such matters and only 14% claiming that it is underwhelming.

Malaysia is the only Muslim majority country that serves as an outlier here, with only 34% of Malaysians saying that freedom of religion in the US is excellent.

However, it should also be noted that the five countries that seem to have the highest opinion of the US in terms of religious liberties are all Christian majority nations. Kenya comes at the top of the list with a whopping 64% of Kenyans agreeing that the US has excellent freedom of religion laws. Colombia and Ghana came in second with 60% apiece, followed by Poland with 52% and Chile with 51%.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, there are several Western countries that happen to have Christian majorities which have a very poor few of how people of different religions are treated within the United States of America. For example, only 32% of Germans, 26% of Canadians, 21% of Australians, and 19% of UK citizens think that freedom of religion in the US is in any way excellent.

As for people who think that the state of freedom of religion in America is poor or terrible, the numbers are quite high for these western countries. 25% of Canadians believe this, as do 27% of Australians and 27% of people in the UK.

People who responded to this survey generally felt like Muslims were not treated fairly in the US. 41% of Canadians felt like Muslims were treated worse than other religious minorities. 32% of Australians, 39% of Malaysians, and 36% of people from the UK said the same.

Even countries like Indonesia and the UAE that have generally favorable views of religious freedoms in the US agreed. 34% of Indonesians and 37% of UAE residents stated that Muslims are not treated fairly in the US and that they face a lot more discrimination than members of any other religious group which makes America’s image as the land of the free less believable than might have been the case otherwise.

H/T: Morning Consult

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World