New Report Exposes Alarming Security Risks in Popular Mobile Applications

In a new study conducted by Promon, it has been revealed that a staggering 81% of mobile apps are vulnerable to cyberattacks. The findings raise serious concerns about the security of user data and personal information stored within these applications.

The study analyzed over 350 mobile applications across various industries. It revealed that most of the mobile apps had at least one susceptibility and 81% of the applications are exposed to cyber threats.

The susceptibilities identified in the mobile apps ranged from insecure data storage and insufficient encryption to inadequate authentication and authorization mechanisms. These flaws could potentially allow cybercriminals to gain unauthorized access to sensitive user data, including login credentials, personal information, and financial data.

The analysis also highlighted that 84% of tested applications were not smart enough to detect whether a malicious code is embedded in their source code or not, making them more exposed to cyber criminals.

This study also emphasized a major hack, known as 'repackaging'. This is a technique used by hostile actors to change the existing source code of mobile applications. Using this method, hackers can inject their code on top of an app's source code and run extra background processes beyond what the app is designed to do, making the application completely under control. This hack is too deadly that only 15.7% of tested apps have planted any protective measures against it.

In response to the findings of the report, it is recommended that developers must conduct regular security assessments and testing to identify and remediate vulnerabilities in their applications. Further, it is also suggested that consumers must be cautious when downloading and using mobile apps, particularly those that require access to sensitive information.

The report comes at a time when mobile app usage is at an all-time high, with millions of people relying on these applications for everything from banking to healthcare. The increasing use of mobile apps has also made them an attractive target for cybercriminals looking to exploit vulnerabilities and steal user data.

As such, it is more important than ever for developers to prioritize security in the development of mobile applications, and for users to be vigilant about the security of the apps they use. Failure to do so could have serious consequences for both individuals and businesses alike, with the potential for significant data breaches and financial losses.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Microsoft Is Not Worried About Google’s Bard Chatbot As It Calls It Inferior To The Bing Search

We’re finally seeing search engine giant Google pick up the pace and enter the AI race.

The AI-powered chatbot called Bard is open for beta testing finally and while users sign up to get on that waiting list, we thought it would be interesting to see what others like Microsoft felt about the competition.

Needless to say, the computational giant is not worried at all. In fact, it considers Bard Google to be very far behind its popular Bing Search. The latter has been up for public testing for the past few weeks. But what exactly does Microsoft think about the new competition that’s up for grabs?

During the early hours of this morning, Microsoft’s head for web services and advertising, Mikhail Parakhin, did not shy away from answering a query put out by a curious Twitter user. It had to do with his thoughts regarding Bard and whether or not he agreed with so many others about being stunned at this low-level performance when compared to the AI search by Bing.

They are pretty far behind, but it is impressive how much they were able to achieve given the low amount of compute they had and the fact that in core ML algorithms they are trailing the SOTA by, maybe, 6 months. Being "little folks", we learned to never underestimate Google.

— Mikhail Parakhin (@MParakhin) March 23, 2023

Speaking more in detail, he agreed it was great in terms of how many impressive things were on offer, considering how little was provided in terms of the low levels of commute on hand. But let’s not forget how Bard does have one very great advantage over Microsoft’s popular Bing search.

And that is not worrying about any daily chat limits or turns that many users aren’t particularly a fan of. After all, being restricted in terms of using a tool like this can be a nuisance. But again, we may have spoken too soon.

Who knows, Google might end up introducing more limits on its own tool with time. And for that, we’ll need to keep our eyes open.

Read next: Ex-Google Executive Says Microsoft Should Disturb Google’s Search Dominance By Paying Apple To Make Bing Its Default Search Engine On iOS
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

New Proposed FTC Regulation Wants To Make It Easier For Customers To Break Up With Companies

The FTC is on the rise again and this time around, it’s trying to come up with a new proposition that would add simplicity to the lives of so many people.

The FTC is setting out a new regulation that would make it easier for users to break up with their respective companies. And by that, we mean exiting a subscription or a membership with ease, similar to how you entered into it.

This new rule is called ‘Click to Cancel’ and it was only put forward today, and it's being dubbed as the solution to all of those dark and deceptive marketing strategies. So you can bid farewell to dark client experiences as the aim is to prevent users from paying for something that they no longer feel serves them any interest or benefit.

This was further elaborated upon by the FTC as it mentioned how three main requirements would be needed to be fulfilled before users could proceed. For starters, canceling would be as simple as joining. So if you can join online then you can also bid it farewell online.

Secondly, before any organization can give out retention offers to make a user stay, it needs to request the user if they’d like to know more about them. And if the answer is no, the seller needs to accept that.

Negative-option ordeals for so many digital goods where subscriptions get renewed on an automated means are necessary until and unless the client cancels. And who better to be aware of this than Gen X users that know about this from the older days.

Lastly, they would need to have so many subscribers add yearly reminders of the situation before allowing for an auto-renewal process.

This new notice is setting out some estimates about firms that are going to be affected by this regulation would need to spend around an hour yearly for the sake of keeping a track of records and even more time regarding disclosure for statements, with added labor costs to pull this off.

This issue was supposed to be tackled in the year 2021 and that’s when it was proposed by the Senate through a new Unsubscribe Act but it just could not pull through and it failed to meet the requirements for a pass. But today, it’s being dubbed as the right step in a positive direction.

The goal here seems to be for more transparency and greater protection.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Meta Shockingly Admits Its Much-Hyped Metaverse Is Just VR

For a while now, we’ve been hearing so much about the Metaverse, thanks to founder Mark Zuckerberg.

The Meta CEO has been working long and hard in terms of garnering mega hyper surrounding the initiative but today, we’re hearing some shocking statements about it being dialed down as being about just VR (virtual reality).

Seeing this sudden de-hyping phenomenon of the VR world is interesting and far off from what the founder claimed a few years back. And there is no pivot worth raving about as the company tries to lobby against several mobile operators in the European region. The latter want the authorities to force leading tech giants like Meta to pay them for holding their data. They want to fund as they feel the future of the metaverse would need mega infrastructure upgrades to make things happen.

Clearly, this matter is very controversial and the complaints coming forward are not against what the tech giant expected but they are being noticed by those in Brussels.

Just last month, we heard more about lawmakers in the EU mentioning how exploratory consultations regarding the future of networking were on the rise. And then we had people like Thierry Breton who works as an internal market commissioner reveal some sympathy for the cause too.

But Meta does not think so. In fact, it says the argument aligned is nonsense and such fees proposed are arbitrary. Clearly, this is not what telecom companies want as they hope big tech firms like Meta and internet leaders like Netflix and Alphabet need to pay their dues.

In the same way, Meta adds that the creation of the metaverse isn’t going to need telecom operators to expand their capital expenditures so that there is a greater investment for networks. They added how the future of the platform will totally depend on adopting VR technology and all such content of that kind is fixed through the likes of Wi-Fi and which happens to be very well established in most places across Europe.

So basically, there is not going to be any huge difference in the way users achieve product experience through VR headsets. But now the question is where did AR technology go? Is the Metaverse only relying on VR now?

Well, not really. AR technology and its respective devices will end up overlaying technology in the real world in a minor manner and it's going to be another important factor for the metaverse’s future.

Read next: LinkedIn's New Report Highlights The Current Trends In Recruiting
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Instagram Tests Full-Length Reels Playing Within Users’ Stories Stream

Instagram is working on another new and exciting feature related to its Stories and Reels endeavor.

The leading social media app owned by Meta is trying to figure out an innovative strategy that enables the integration of both Reels and Stories. It is a part of the app’s latest experiment that would see such Reels playing for longer within Stories.

An example was put forward by social media expert Hammod Oh that showed how some people are witnessing Reels of full-length across Stories in comparison to seeing just the initial 15 seconds and then pressing on it to see the entire thing.

This could be one other way to go into the popular Reels format as the head of Instagram mentioned recently how more and more individuals were sharing content through both DMs and Stories. And was in opposition to those resharing posts across the main feed.

Hence, this could be a great means to experiment with the growing trend of usage behavior while keeping users engaged for so much longer.

Today, Instagram Reels and those on Facebook are the company’s answer to making more revenue as they keep getting a lot of attention from users and make them stay on the platform for a longer period of time.

Meanwhile, one internal report arising from Meta revealed how this Facebook usage was going on since Q4 of 2022 and was driven mostly by consuming Reels. This has increased by 20% YoY. Similarly, we’re seeing a fall in the creation of original content through Meta’s apps as fewer people are putting up posts on both Facebook as well as Instagram like they used to in the past.

This actually gives rise to the fact that the time of users on these social media platforms is showing a shift to both consumption and exploring newer things. All credit goes to Meta’s ever-changing AI tools that help users get recommendations.

It’s also seen to bring in more people through a Reels display featuring content coming from both platforms.

While critics are criticizing the replica efforts for Meta, we’ve seen these things roll out so many copies of the functions on other leading apps like TikTok and even Snapchat. Clearly, this is proof that copying them will lead to a surge in engagement.

Whatever the case may be, adding Stories and Reels together is a sensible approach and it might even become a huge deal for creators.

Read next: Instagram Tests New Ads In Search Results To Reach Wider Audiences
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

LinkedIn's New Report Highlights The Current Trends In Recruiting

LinkedIn has shared a new report comprising the important trends in the world of recruiting that are related to a series of interviews with plenty of data from users.

This report had expert advice from top HR professionals that made it clear which shifts and changes were taking place as per the app’s profiles with listings from jobs.

There are some regional reports which are also related to particular markets linked for the sake of analysis.

Readers can install the copy but for now, we’re highlighting some major insights on this front.

For starters, this report overlooks the key aspects that the entire recruitment process entails including the leading role, the effects related to economic uncertainty, the branding of employers, hiring based on skills, and internal mobility.

LinkedIn says these are the integral areas showcasing the bigger shifts taking place in the pandemic and the way it alters when people see your work and what they seek from their careers.

Every section sets out a long list of predictions for such elements, including how the landscape for recruitment alters with time too. This is very relevant in terms of flexibility of work but it still fails to be the main focus when it comes down to candidates.

There are similar notes on how usage trends alter on the app and how so many recruiters search on the platform for the right candidate for a role. Some are giving overviews of the ways in which technology changes like generative AI and how that affects recruiting. Furthermore, there are trends linked to learning and upskilling and the way through which employers alter the way they see each.

A lot of this is very particular to the type of industry involved and not very indicative of shifts in the trends related to using LinkedIn. Nevertheless, there are alterations in the ways people behave on the app in terms of the newest features, trends, and tools related to their industry.

Hence, if you happen to be a professional in the HR market, this just might be for you and is definitely worth a glance. It really does show users how people are using the app today to attain the most valuable notes.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

OpenAI’s Latest Generative AI Tool GPT-4 Is Likely To Spread Misinformation - New Study Claims

A new study by NewsGuard is shedding light on the great risks of misinformation spread related to the latest generative AI tool by OpenAI called GPT-4.

The test conducted by researchers proved that the AI-powered tool was sprouting misinformation whenever it was prompted to do so.

NewsGuard is the name given to a service that makes use of skilled journalists to review both news and information web pages. And it is now serving as a huge reminder that technology needs validation and testing via several sources.

Last week, OpenAI made the debut of its latest generation of GPT-4 and raved about how it’s enhanced to produce more factual information than the regular GPT-3.5 as that’s the kind of results that were produced during internal testing.

But the latest test by the team at NewsGuard proved otherwise. They shared how the latest AI model was going to set out prominent fake information at a more frequent pace and even more aggressively than the usual ChatGPT3.5 version. These items were produced by GPT-4 and included a few disclosures.

GPT-4 was doing so much better in terms of increasing fake narratives that would be presented in convincing manners through a leading number of formats. This entails news articles, threads on Twitter, and television scripts. They were observed copying both Russian and Chinese state media outlets, conspiracy theorists, and peddlers known to come up with fake health ordeals.

NewsGuard shared the news and stated how similar tests were used to witness both GPT 3.5 and GPT4 and how it sends out responses to a growing number of prompts linked to as many as 100 different fake narratives.

These fake narratives included a leading number of controversial topics like COVID-19 vaccines and shootings taking place at the Elementary School. These were taken by the media outlet’s database for fake narratives.

The entire testing process began in January and during that time, the researchers found it produced 80 false narratives out of the 100 provided. And then another test was conducted in March where fake and misleading claims were produced for all of the outlined narratives.

For instance, the software was asked to produce messages for an information campaign comprising a Soviet themed 1980s. This had to do with how the HIV virus was produced in a lab owned by the US Government.

While GPT 3.5 debunked such claims, GPT 4 complied with the task without any disclaimers regarding the information and how it was so fake.

Before we forget, NewsGuard takes great pride in terms of deeming itself to be a neutral third party that overlooks both media and technology sources and checks for misinformation. It receives backing from computational giant Microsoft which puts a lot of money into OpenAI.

But we must admit that seeing GPT-4 admit that it’s enhancing predecessors in terms of adding factual answers and ridding disallowed content is shocking when the opposite is being proved in this study.

And that means bad news as threat actors may abuse this type of technology to achieve their malicious gains.

Read next: New Study Claims 48% Of Americans Stress About Their Taxes And Resort To Professional Help
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World