New Research Highlights Drop In Downloads For Popular Parental Control And Monitoring Apps

It appears that British citizens are losing interest in parental control applications. And that not only puts their children at risk but even puts a leading number of their own electronic devices at stake to malware threats.

The news comes to us thanks to a recently published report by NordVPN that outlined how figures for downloads of leading parental control and monitoring platforms in the United Kingdom are falling during Q1 of 2023.

VPN experts are taking into consideration data belonging to Microsoft Family Safety and Google’s Family Link among others that raised a red flag after a decline was observed.

To better put things into perspective, the apps saw a growth of nearly 41% in the past year. Now when you compare that to 2021, the figures of these top five platforms fell by 2.4% as confirmed by the authors of this report.

You can imagine that if parents are the ones losing interest in such control apps they’re not only putting kids at risk of threats from the advanced tech world of today. They’re similarly putting their own devices, digital identities, and files at risk.

As previously put out by NordVPN’s CTO, the issue is that malware can travel from one infected device of a child through the home router into various other endpoints. And in case it just remains in the router, there is a huge risk attached.

So many parents forget that malware behaves like the flu and despite protective measures in place, you can still attain it through your child’s device, no matter how many precautions you exercise.

So despite many people adopting all sorts of protective measures and avoiding the malicious type of content across the board, tracking kids’ behavior online is also necessary among other precautions on the rise. Moreover, users’ home network is even secure and that’s one major vulnerable part that is linked to this.

Experts further explained that parents can ensure kids’ devices are protected at all times by keeping a reminder for updates of the router’s firmware and renaming networks that are better known as SSID. The names tend to alter from time to time so keep a lookout for that.

But as a whole, the main take-home message is to keep all connected devices protected, including those utilized by kids.

H/T: Techradar

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

App Fraud Increases by 40% Year over Year

The landscape of digital advertising has often faced a singular foe in ad fraud which often leads to billions of dollars in losses on an annual basis. Considerable efforts have been put into trying to reduce the number of fraudulent ads that are out there, but in spite of the fact that this is the case, these frauds are somehow still managing to grow their numbers. Some headway was made over the past few years, but it turns out that ad fraud made an enormous comeback in 2022.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that ad fraud increased by over 40% in 2022 as compared to 2021. These numbers are for the iOS App Store, with ad fraud increasing by an estimated 46% on the Google Play Store. Due to the rise in ad fraud, the industry lost around $5.4 billion within the span of a single year, and that might make it more challenging for marketers to stay afloat than might have been the case otherwise.

It should also be mentioned that around 70% of all fraud can be directly attributed to bots with all things having been considered and taken into account. Click flooding comes in second, followed by fake publisher activity. Install hijacking is also a particularly prevalent method of ad fraud in the Middle East, although it still pales in comparison to bot based fraud as well as click flooding.

The industry that was worst hit by these frauds was the finance app market, with an estimated $2.6 billion in losses being recorded in 2022 alone. This accounts for around half of the fraud related losses for the previous year, and it will be interesting to see if this problem gets even worse during 2023.

The only segment of the digital app industry that seemed relatively safe from fraud was that of gaming apps. They usually have protections in place because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up securing their gaming audience from the startling prevalence of fraud.

H/T: Appsflyer / The state of mobile app fraud  – 2023 edition

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Despite Global Economic Challenges, China Emerges as a Beacon of Growth and Stability

China's economic performance has occurred as one of the few optimistic spots worldwide, from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the latest investigation by the International Monetary Fund, China's performance is expected to grow in 2023 significantly outpacing other major economies around the globe.

The study emphasizes that China's healthy recovery is primarily driven by government-led investments in infrastructure and technology, as well as a rebound in consumer spending. The country's ability to control the spread of the virus early on, combined with its aggressive stimulus measures, has enabled it to bounce back more quickly than many other nations.

This optimistic rise forecast comes at a time when other major powers around the globe are struggling to regain momentum. As per the resources, the annual GDP of China is expected to ascend by 2.2% in the current year. Meanwhile, the GDP of other countries such as India & USA are expected to decline by 0.9% & 2.1% respectively.

It notes that while worldwide economic conditions are starting to recover, the pace of the rebound is uneven, and many nations are still grappling with the effect of the COVID outburst. Many of these nations face significant challenges, including high unemployment rates, wars, weak consumer confidence, and mounting debt levels.

Despite these challenges, China's firm performance is a cause for optimism, especially given its role as one of the globe's largest economic powers. As it continues to recover, it is likely to play an increasingly important role in driving global growth.

However, its economic success has not come without challenges. The country has faced objections from other nations over issues such as human rights abuses and intellectual property theft, which could potentially impact its ability to maintain strong trade relationships.

Moreover, there are concerns about the sustainability of this country's growth, particularly given its reliance on debt-fueled investments in infrastructure and property.

In response to these concerns, the government of China has signaled its intention to shift towards a more sustainable and balanced growth model, with a focus on innovation, domestic consumption, and environmental sustainability. The government has also pledged to address issues such as income inequality and financial risks.

Overall, China's economic solidity and firm growth expectations are a welcome development for the global economy, as it continues to navigate the challenges posed by the pandemic. While there are still uncertainties and risks, this country's advancement provides a beacon of hope for other nations as they work to recover and rebuild in the months and years ahead.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

83% of Ransomware Infected Organizations Paid Over $900,000 Each

The average number of ransomware attacks being experienced by companies grew from four to five in 2022, and that’s just one of the many signs pointing to a worsening state of cybersecurity. Law enforcement agencies usually tell organizations to never pay ransoms because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up making the malicious actors target them repeatedly.

However, ExtraHop’s latest Global Cyber Confidence Index revealed that 83% of organizations that fell pretty to a ransomware attack ended up paying the ransom. The fear of data loss and operational disruption likely led to them biting the bullet, and it is estimated that the companies that paid the ransom had to pay an average of over $925,000 apiece.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that malicious actors often use the double extortion method when companies pay up. Paying a ransom once makes it more likely that you will pay it again than might have been the case otherwise, so there is a clear correlation between failing to follow post-ransomware instructions and having to go through the ordeal all over again.

77% of experts who are working in the field of IT said that obsolete cybersecurity infrastructure was leading to an increased number of attacks with all things having been considered and taken into account. Spending nearly a million dollars to upgrade this infrastructure might be a far more useful strategy for companies to consider since it can prevent ransomware from making its way onto their systems in the first place.

In spite of the fact that this is the case, most companies tend to have a reactive strategy than a proactive one. Creating backups and keeping cybersecurity tech up to date is both more affordable as well as more efficient, yet most companies are failing to meet this very basic requirement. Until major companies start to take cybersecurity more seriously, the number of these attacks will only grow ever greater. It will be interesting to see if these findings have any sort of impact on how ransomware is dealt with.

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by Zia Muhammad via Digital Information World

Microsoft Tests New Ads In Its Windows Start Menu As A Part Of Its Badging Expansion

Microsoft is experimenting with new ads across its Start menu for Windows as the firm carries on with its badging expansion.

The move is being called a part of new treatments for those users making use of local accounts, the company confirmed today.

Furthermore, the computational giant says that such ads were actually undergoing trials since late last year and some of the alerts it generated for accounts on the platform were being displayed as early as last month. This happened to be a part of the preview for Windows 11 and is a part of this week’s security updates for Patch Tuesday.

Moreover, we’re seeing this exploration as one that is adding new variations to the Start menu where users log in through local accounts so they can highlight the advantages of signing into such accounts.

Once you see these treatments coming into effect, the effect wants to hear users’ feedback. And they did reveal how normal it was to ask for feedback after trying different concepts such as these.

This new launch is getting rolled out with the Insider Preview Build in Windows 11 so users at the Dev Channel can try out different concepts and then these insiders could provide the best expert feedback on the matter.

Remember, it’s just so important to mention how such features are tested across Dev Channels that could never be released or won’t be edited heavily after getting available to general clients.

Such systems where these types of treatments end up badging the Start menu will roll out advertisements that pop up across sign-out flyouts through the Start menu for Windows 11.

This new list of interesting treatments is getting tested across the new Windows Insider build so it entails a few interesting prompts along the way. These include the ability to sign into accounts on Microsoft and backup devices to ensure greater security.

Secondly, it means making use of Microsoft 365 which is free of cost while signing in to the account so it's more productive in terms of apps and enhances cloud storage too. Similarly, it will keep users’ accounts safer and enables sign-ins that assist with the personalization of both security and profile settings set up in a single place.

And lastly, it provides access to files from everywhere. You can make use of 5GB for cloud storage purposes that are for free after signing into the account.

The company is also working on additions for options that disable ads for the Start Menu on Windows 11 settings platform. As explained by one expert in Windows, you can soon see alerts in the Start option that would be available under the personalization tab in Start.

And remember, this is not the first time that we’ve seen the computational giant promote products within user interfaces for Windows apps.

In August of last year, we saw a campaign get launched that featured ads through the Microsoft 365 Family subscriptions for ads related to various products of the company pop up in File Explorer.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Meta’s Constant Struggles With Advertisers Due To Apple’s Privacy Changes Could Soon Be Over

For the past 18 months, we’ve been seeing Facebook’s parent firm Meta really struggle in terms of the challenges set out due to Apple’s privacy changes.

We similarly witnessed CEO Mark Zuckerberg announce boldly how the company was adversely affected by Apple’s decision to introduce its ATT policy but it was something that it had to deal with because there was no way out. The rebound was a lot to deal with financially and the losses continued to arise but with time, we saw the app’s ad performance enhance thanks to the deployment of AI-based targeting.

This means saying hello to a huge rise in revenue growth as controversial layoffs of the workforce continue to help bring down costs further. Facebook has really lost out on billions since the past year when Apple chose to allow users to opt out of ad tracking by not providing consent. And as mentioned by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the main core of the huge business is revenue through ads and when that doesn’t work out, the losses are just a lot to deal with.

We even saw the company’s CEO blame its first firing spree from November on the struggle to bounce back from the problems set forward thanks to Apple’s ATT policy. And then a few months later, we saw Meta make way for a major comeback. Top analysts in the world of advertising spoke about how things were looking great for the tech giant and it may soon be at the top of its game despite the huge setback from the previous year, thanks to Apple.

Not only were the stats for ad performance moving in a positive direction and going back to the levels seen before Apple’s shocking policy launch but the fact that Meta was using AI for the sake of ad targeting really is doing wonders.

The news comes as the tech giant takes a back seat in terms of its plans for the metaverse and instead, it focuses more on using AI to attain the most advantageous gains including its struggling advertising front. Clearly, the decision is working well in its favor as the firm’s shares witness a 131% increase since what we saw in the past five months.

It’s interesting how the news has come at a time when we’re seeing the overall advertising economy as the digital world experiences a period of winter but despite that, Meta making gains during this period are getting a warm welcome, despite firms’ budgets for advertising shrinking.

H/T: Businessinsider

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Road rage is the most prevalent cause of car accidents, among many others

Our daily lives are plagued with anger. Usually, the individual who is acting angry is affected, but other people and their surroundings may also be disturbed. When it comes to driving while in anger, it has a greater impact since an aggressive driver runs the risk of hurting both themselves and other people.

Road rage has become a common reason of increasing number of horrible accidents in recent times. It is not only harmful for the driver itself, but it could equally distress the other drivers resulting in a tensed and disturbed environment. When it comes to the causes of road accidents, aggressive drivers are at the top of the list.

Andy Cox, Senior Detective Superintendent, commented that road rage is responsible for four to five deaths every day on UK roads. A recent study by the University of Warwick was conducted to help individuals understand the root cause of accidents and devise a viable solution to this. It was sought to distinguish between aggressive and calm drivers. Nonetheless, this was the first research to take the initiative on the topic of aggressive driving.

According to a press statement from the study's primary author, Zhizhuo Su, where he explained that some participants were asked to recall experiences that made them furious while driving. Other people, on the other hand, were driving calmly.

As the consequence of this study, there were many observations made to determine the aggressive people’s trait throughout the driving simulation compared to the calm ones. We all are aware that aggressive drivers drive faster and more recklessly than peaceful drivers because the average speed difference between them is of 5 kilometers per hour, but some other characteristics that are prominently visible of aggressive drivers in the research are that they make several mistakes that harm the people around them, and they also tend to radiate negative energy to their surroundings, which can harm other people's mental or physical health.

Furthermore, Andy Cox remarked that he could not face seeing those who have lost a loved one due to a car accident. Driver monitoring systems (DMS) were developed to safeguard people's safety, reduce the danger of such occurrences, and offer them with a safer road environment. This will be incredibly advantageous for aggressive drivers since it will inform them when they are at risk of an accident and will calm them down with music or other activities throughout their travel.

Despite many advancements made in recent years to make driving safer for people, such as policies and alterations to the infrastructure, accidents would still be an issue in many nations owing to people's disdain for regulations and carelessness.

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World