75% e-commerce phishing attacks exploit Apple and Amazon’s brand names

Phishing is a type of cyber threat that has become very common, mainly because it is easy to perform and can work really well. Threat actors can easily buy ready-made phishing software and begin their malicious campaigns without needing to be very good with the technical stuff.

In order to initiate a phishing campaign, hackers require a website that looks legitimate. Once the website has been constructed, emails or messages are sent out to the potential victims, in which hackers pretend to be people from real business backgrounds. Victims are asked to click on the link attached to the email or message and are required to provide personal data along with banking details.

In order to make themselves look real, phishers might use the names of renowned companies from different areas, including banks, shops, or even government agencies. Based on the information shared by Kaspersky via Atlas VPN, most of the time, e-commerce sites are used to bait the victims. Data from last year revealed that in almost 42 percent of the phishing attacks, e-commerce sites were used to lure in the victims.

On the other hand, companies such as finance firms or payment system companies were also used to target victims; however, they only accounted for ten percent of the total cyber attacks.

The data was shared by the Russian cybersecurity company Kaspersky, which collected it from people using its security software while keeping their identities anonymous. With e-commerce becoming more popular and giving rise to online shopping platforms, the number of companies impersonated by these hackers has also increased.

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The most frequently used brand name is that of the tech giant Apple. Hackers offer Apple products at a very low price or offer them as a reward for forecasting the outcomes of any ongoing sports event. Last year, Apple’s name was used in over sixty percent of the total attacks. Apple was followed by Amazon as the second most used brand to lure victims. Collectively, the two companies were used in almost 75 out of 100 cyber threats. As mentioned above, payment system companies are also used such as PayPal. Out of all the attacks that were made using these companies, 84 percent were made by impersonating PayPal.

Hence, by looking out for emails from these brands, one can easily protect themselves from becoming the next victim.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Instagram users will soon be able to hide their followers’ lists

Social media platform Instagram is known for connecting people with their friends and family as it provides a space where people can share their life achievements or experiences in the form of posts or stories. With the expanding popularity of the application, providing privacy to the community has also become an important task for the developers.

According to the latest tweet posted by Ahmed Ghanem, marketer and social media expert, Instagram is working on a new privacy feature that will allow users to hide their followers list. By enabling the feature, users will be able to control the visibility of their followers’ lists. As a result, it can make it difficult for strangers to find and target users from one’s follower list.

Since not everyone would want to hide their followers list, the feature will be kept optional. Once turned on, the feature can also be turned off at any time. For those who have a private account, they can already control who wants to follow them; the new feature will be relevant for those with public profiles that can be followed by anyone.

It won’t be the first time that Instagram will be adding privacy features; previously, the platform introduced a number of options, such as allowing users to mute or block people they don’t want to hear from. Users were also allowed to turn off comments on their posts. Similarly, features to prevent young users from receiving messages from strangers or adults were also introduced as an attempt to provide a safe environment to the audience.

The platform does not intend to harm anyone’s business or reputation, as a number of public profiles of influencers or celebrities rely mostly on the follower count; in fact, the main idea behind the upcoming feature is to let users have more control over their privacy.

So far, no official date has been shared by the officials that could tell when the feature will be available globally; however, it can be expected that the platform will keep working on new features that will provide more privacy to the users.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

According to This Survey, 75% of Consumers Have Serious Concerns About AI

The rise of AI might seem like it was inevitable, but the recent innovations have been occurring at a breakneck pace with all things having been considered and taken into account. No one could have predicted the meteoric rise of AI and how much of a role it would play in the tech landscape in 2023. With Microsoft, Google and Meta all investing heavily in the tech, it seems like it is here to stay. In spite of the fact that this is the case, a majority of consumers have some serious issues with AI.

According to a survey conducted by Forbes Advisor, 76% of consumer say that they are worried that AI might make misinformation more prevalent than might have been the case otherwise. What’s more, this is just one of the concerns that this many consumers reported. 75% also stated that they are concerned about the potential loss jobs caused by AI because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making certain roles obsolete.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that consumers are still readily adopting AI chatbots into their daily lives. 65% stated that they would prefer to use ChatGPT over Google, which might make the dominance of the once unassailable search engine juggernaut less pronounced in the long run.

54% also believe that their customer experience might get improved due to the presence of AI, with 53% mentioning that AI chatbots being used for customer support could prove highly useful. 37% of the people that responded to this survey also stated that they feel like their product recommendations could become far more personalized thanks to the advanced and precise nature of AI.

Regardless, the concerns surrounding AI are still quite relevant. 60% of survey respondents are worried that product reviews might get written by AI chatbots which would make them far less trustworthy. All in all, we are living in a fast changing world, one where AI will become increasingly relevant, and consumers will need to contend with the new normal.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Montana Becomes First US State To Vote In Favor Of TikTok Ban With $10,000 Fine For Violations

It appears that the TikTok ban is really happening in the US as Montana becomes the first American state to vote in favor of a new bill regarding the matter.

We’ve been seeing the social media platform be scrutinized by American lawmakers for quite some time now and the app’s CEO testify before Congress too. But that appears to be not good enough for Montana which is now approving a new kind of bill that bans the leading platform across the entire state.

The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal which claims lawmakers were in the majority and voted 54 to 43 in favor of this law. But it’s not over yet as the decision is now going to be forwarded to the state’s governor Gret Gianforte. And if he does end up signing it, the ban is going to be well in place.

This bill was reportedly written out today and is said to go into practice by the start of next year. Therefore, the app who is owned by China’s ByteDance wouldn’t be allowed to operate and if anyone does choose to violate this law, the violation is huge and currently stands at $10,000.

For now, there are a lot of things in question including how the ban would be enforced and whatnot. Most importantly, it all depends on Governor Gianforte and whether he opts to sign it or not.

For those who may not be aware, the politician has really been in opposition to TikTok and has even been dubbed as one of the boldest critics of the app. As it is, the popular social media app is banned from all government-owned devices so we’re not going to be too surprised to see it come into effect, statewide.

America’s federal government has even banned the platform on government devices as in so many other nations around the globe.

We’ve seen the government similar press universities in places like Montana so they can implement these bans further, whereas states like Texas have already taken part in the initiative.

The Associated Press has revealed that such penalties wouldn’t be applied to different users but instead, would be applicable to ByteDance and the App Store from where such platforms are installed. So as you can imagine, it would really take a toll on the likes of Apple and Google.

Lawmakers in the state of Montana mentioned how they wish to lead by example so others can see the seriousness of the matter and ban the app. Meanwhile, Montana’s attorney general Austin Knudsen mentioned how an app is a huge tool that is utilized by China’s government so it could spy on state officials.

• Also read: Most People Feel Nervous About TikTok Gathering And Accessing Their Sensitive Data, New Survey Claims

But remember, such a bill could be described as void if the US puts a federal ban on the app or if the platform opts to sever its links with China. Meanwhile, experts claim the only reason why Montana is rushing ahead with the decision is that it does not feel a federal ban is going to come into place, anytime soon.

Meanwhile, TikTok is not feeling pressured by the news. It did release a statement in regards to the matter and added how the company is going to continue with its fight for both users and creators in the state who rely on the app for a livelihood and hence are at stake of losing their privacy rights. They also feel it threatens their First Amendment rights due to such overreach by the country’s government.

Now if this bill does come forward after being signed by Montana’s government, it puts out a series of major challenges that could end its way to the country’s Supreme Court. The matter is really not that simple and straightforward.

For now, tech giants Apple and Google are reserving their comments regarding the bill and that could potentially put it on the hook regarding the mega $10,000 fine for every violation.

Hence, it’s just a wait-and-watch ordeal at this moment in time and one that many people are going to be curious about for obvious reasons.

Read next: Internet Ad Revenue Crosses $200 Billion Mark, Here’s Why That’s Not Good Enough
by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Internet Ad Revenue Crosses $200 Billion Mark, Here’s Why That’s Not Good Enough

2021 was an absolutely phenomenal year for internet ads from an overall earnings perspective. According to the Internet Advertising Bureau, revenue from internet ads grew by a whopping 35% back in 2021. 41.4% of this revenue came from search ads, 30% came from display ads, 20.9% was derived from video ads with audio ads accounting for just 2.6% with all things having been considered and taken into account.

More records were broken in 2022, with total ad revenues exceeding $200 billion for the first time to reach $209.4 billion. In spite of the fact that this is the case, many are saying that this is underwhelming since it represents a growth rate of just 10.8%. While this is still healthy, it is less than a third of the rate of revenue growth that was seen in 2021.

2022 started off strongly, with a growth rate of 21.1% being noted in the first quarter. With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that this growth rate fell to 11.8% in the second quarter of 2022, and it further plummeted to 8.4% and subsequently 4.4% in the third and fourth quarters of the year.

Interestingly, audio ads saw the biggest growth rate of all because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up capitalizing on the new podcast craze. Ad revenues sources from audio ads increased by as much as 20.9%, although this still left audio ads with just a 2.8% proportion of total revenues.

As for digital video, it also registered a solid increase of 19.3%. With video ads earning $7.6 billion more than last year, they managed to acquire a 22.5% share of total ad revenues as compared to 20.9% last year.

The digital ad industry is going through a tumultuous period. The trend is quite concerning because the growth rate decreased each and every quarter in 2022. Whether or not this trend continues in 2023 remains to be seen, but it will be an essential statistic for marketers to focus on.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

WhatsApp Is Bringing New Security Enhancements And Working On New Group Chat Features

WhatsApp is again proving to the world why it’s one of the best texting platforms out there today.

The company is making sure its users stay guarded and protected at all times, thanks to the launch of a new array of security enhancements.

If you happen to be an avid WhatsApp user, we’re sure you know by now that it’s not exactly simple to switch from one particular device to the next. We do hope to see things getting better with the launch of its companion mode. But for now, we’re seeing the app stick to a more classic approach to keep things simple.

This would stop the account from getting hijacked and being transferred without any sort of authorization. As per a recent post published in the company’s blog, we are seeing a new endeavor called Account Protect come into play. It requests authorization and verification for old devices before an account gets transferred to new devices.

Device Verification is just one of the means that WhatsApp plans to use to ensure users are safe and their accounts are secure. If you visit the app’s engineering page on the Meta website, you’ll see how it’s a huge dive into the realms of technology and very technical.

Furthermore, it doesn’t require interactions with users and will be active throughout. And while the app is known for its end-to-end encryption feature, there are certainly times when you can see malware interfering with the secure surroundings. And in the end, it affects the overall functions of the platform and sends out texts without the user noticing or giving consent.

The app confirmed in the blog how its authentication keys are really secure but there are always exceptions. You can see the app stealing this kind of data. And one particular example related to this is a third-party client on the app that’s unauthorized. When the authentication key gets compromised, hackers or bad actors could use this data to impersonate others in chats and product texts that are not wanted. The worst are images that lead to huge scams.

The issue is problematic for users and everyone else involved. Similarly, it can be hard to see what is going on in the world. You also have device verification and that would entail three new parameters that prevent these kinds of activities from taking place later on.

Other than that, the company is launching some new features for users to enjoy. This would be related to group chats and was first announced a few weeks back through the app’s official webpage.

Now, the app is staying true to its promise of allowing 1024 users to join a group chat so the more members there are, you don’t have to worry about them being excluded.

The new limit is going to be officially launched worldwide with the company speaking about giving more regulatory control to admins for groups.

This would entail a new system for approval that was part of a previous beta in a recent update. Similarly, you can now look for groups that a certain contact would be a member of by looking for the name.

The features are coming soon so if you don’t happen to have them at this moment in time, don’t worry. They are rolling out in the next few weeks. It’s really important for users to keep on updating the app through the respective Play Store and App Store so they don’t stay behind in terms of the latest offerings by the WhatsApp company.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Malicious Actors Can Get Malware on the Play Store for Just $5,000

The Google Play Store has become notorious for its propensity to include apps that are infected with malware. Malicious actors have actually managed to create a veritable cottage industry out of this. Working out of forums based on Telegram, cybercriminals can purchase a service from another malicious actor that would get their malware laden app on the Play Store for as little as just $2,000 with all things having been considered and taken into account.

The prices vary from case to case, with charges of anywhere from $2,000 all the way to $20,000 having been seen so far. This information is coming from a report that was recently released by Kaspersky, and it reveals just how risky the Play Store is starting to become. Cybercriminals who are offering these services can mask the malware by injecting it into useful apps such as QR code scanners, dating apps as well as small scale mobile games.

What’s more, developer accounts are also being sold because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing malicious actors to send malware to the Play Store whilst attracting less attention than might have been the case otherwise. These so called clean accounts, which are free of any reports or suspicion, can be purchased for as little as $60 or so.

The criminals behind these services are also fairly confident that their offerings will be successful. Some are going so far as to promise upwards of 5,000 downloads before the app gets taken down. This might not sound like a lot, but in spite of the fact that this is the case it would be enough to facilitate the theft of large quantities of data.

Google really needs to tackle these issues otherwise the Play Store’s current trajectory will continue unabated. These apps that are being created requested a wide range of permissions that can give them access to a user’s camera as well as their contact list. Urgent steps must be taken, lest the prevalence of malware becomes ever greater and puts the security of all Android users at risk.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World