This Study Shows What Happens to Your Brain If You Ditch Your Smartphone for 72 Hours

Mobile usage has become common in today's world, but a study published in Computers in Human Behavior found that not using a smartphone for 72 hours can change our brain activity in areas which are linked to self-control and reward. Researchers wanted to know how short breaks from smartphones can change our brain functioning because too much smartphone use shares similarities between gaming addiction and substance use. There had been some studies done which talked about differences between light and heavy smartphone users, but this study wanted to know how short-term restriction of smartphones can affect our brain activity.

For the study, the researchers recruited 25 young adults between the ages of 18 and 30 who were regular smartphone users. They were also examined for any mental health conditions or gaming addiction. The study made participants grow through a brain scan called functional magnetic resonance imaging in two sessions. The participants were asked to fill a questionnaire about their smartphone usage habits before the first scan. When the first brain scan was done, they were asked to restrict their smartphone use completely for the next 72 hours.

After 72 hours, participants returned for a second brain scan and again filled a questionnaire about their moods and smartphone cravings. Participants were also shown some blocks of images to monitor responses of their brains to smartphone cues. Some of the blocks contained images of everyday objects, some were pictures of turned off smartphones, and some were pictures of turned on smartphones. The researchers then analyzed the data of first and second scans. They focused on brain regions which were related to attention and reward processing.

The results of the questionnaire, which the participants were asked to fill, didn't show any significant differences before and after 72 hours. But on the other hand, the brain scans showed significant differences. The scans, while seeing the smartphone images (turned off and turned on), showed increased activity in the nucleus accumbens and anterior cingulate cortex, which wasn't there when participants saw images of everyday objects.

The activity observed when participants saw images of smartphones was similar to studies related to substance craving, which suggests that smartphone usage works in a similar way. The study also found a connection between activity in the parietal cortex and craving which suggests that this brain region may influence the urge to use smartphones. The researchers say that even a short break from smartphones can alter the brain activity, but these changes are mostly neural and not behavioral. There are some other limitations to the study, too, like it only focuses on short-term effects and not long-term.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Hackers Steal Data in Hours Without Encryption as AI Tools Speed Up Cyber Attacks

According to new findings from ReliaQuest’s Annual Cyber Threat Report, hackers only need 48 minutes on average to locate and access key assets after breaching a network, and within a few hours, they steal the data and leave without bothering to encrypt it. Now attackers are also using advanced AI tools for their attacks and the quickest exfiltration time recorded by the hackers was just 4 hours and 29 minutes.

ReliaQuest reported that cyber threats have become more common but quicker as well and defenders do not get enough time to detect and respond when critical data is being stolen. Mist ransomware attacks involve encryption because 80% of the time, attackers only focus on the exfiltration of data. The fastest encryption reported in 2024 was just six hours. Researchers say that advanced security tools and strong backups have made encryption not that important in cyber attacks. Attackers prefer data exfiltration because it is faster and also because encryption is more complex.

The researchers also found that 60% of the time, the stolen days are uploaded to legitimate cloud platforms like Mega, Google Drive, or Amazon S3. Organizations need to rethink their strategies because ransomware attacks are going to get more common in 2025. 85% of the data breaches had compromised service accounts which made attackers remain undetected for a long time. 45% of the attacks happen with the abuse of external remote services like VPNs, and drive-by and phishing attacks remain at the top for attackers to gain initial access.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Internet Vulnerability Scans Rise, Leaving Outdated Routers at Higher Risk
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Internet Vulnerability Scans Rise, Leaving Outdated Routers at Higher Risk

Even if we are casual internet users, our router is still being scanned for vulnerabilities. Most of the scans are harmless and get blocked by basic firewalls, but outdated or poorly secured routers can still be exploited. Oren Koren, the co-founder and CPO of Veriti, says that tools like Censys and Shodan scan the internet to find any exposed devices, ports or systems. Even though most scans happen routinely, some scans can be dangerous as attackers can probe the network and search for weak points and vulnerabilities. The scans are of four types: mapping tools, targeted attacks, spray and pray, and organizational tools.

Chief Product Officer at ThreatLocker, Rob Allen, says that everyone should be concerned with internet scans, but they should be more concerned about modern firewalls blocking low-level attacks than port scanning. Attackers mostly scan for vulnerable ports like Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) from which unpatched devices and leaked credentials can be exploited. Many of the attackers have accessed devices without authentication by using crafted HTTP requests. Most of the unpatched and older routers are more at risk and even if your security features are in place, zero-day vulnerabilities can still lead to breaches.

Most users ask whether being attacked reduces their internet speed and the answer is no. But attackers can launch a denial of service (DoS) attack which acts like a traffic jam. But DoS is rare and home users are not vulnerable to it because they can easily change their IP address. F5 Labs reports that network scanning activity has increased by 94% last year and this trend is likely to gain momentum. Organizations are being scanned more than 40 million times a month, which shows that higher-value targets face more probes. To keep yourselves safe from port scanning, make sure your firewalls are enabled and all firmware is updated.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next:

• Clean200 List Shows Top Countries and Companies Transitioning to Sustainable Economy

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• Trust Over Rankings: Americans Prefer Familiar Brands and Organic Results in Search!

by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Clean200 List Shows Top Countries and Companies Transitioning to Sustainable Economy

The Carbon Clean200 list by Corporate Knights and As You Show, California-based advocacy groups, shows 200 publicly traded companies that have been transitioning to a sustainable economy. These companies are located in different countries like France, China, and the UK, and have generated $2.5 trillion in revenue from products and services, which has made them reduce their reliance on water and fossil fuels. The Clean200 data shows that major corporations make up 80% of the global market capitalization and their capital expenditures and sustainable revenues have grown more than twice compared to their other revenues in the past five years.

According to the Clean200 list, the top countries that have contributed the most to the Clean200’s performance are China, the US, France, Taiwan and Germany. These countries have tech hardware that is sustainably certified, and have electric vehicles and rail equipment. The top 10 companies that made it to the Clean200 list are Apple, Microsoft, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Contemporary Amperex Technology, Tesla, and Volkswagen.

Image: Apple Park headquarters / Carles Rabada Unsplash

There were 35 countries that were represented in the Clean200 list, with the US and China taking the lead. Most of the companies on the list are related to the industrial sector, with information technology, consumer discretionary, and materials companies being the most represented. There was a $10,000 investment in the Clean200 in 2016, which has now grown to $29,090 in 2025, while the fossil fuel benchmark has just $17,670.

The Clean200 ranks the world's top companies driving sustainability across sectors. Below is a look at the top 200.

Rank	Name	Country	GICS Sector
1	Apple Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
2	Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd	China	Industrials
3	Microsoft Corp	United States of America	Information Technology
4	Tesla Inc	United States of America	Consumer Discretionary
5	Volkswagen AG	Germany	Consumer Discretionary
6	LG Energy Solution, Ltd.	South Korea	Industrials
7	LG Chem Ltd	South Korea	Materials
8	Schneider Electric SE	France	Industrials
9	Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited	Taiwan	Information Technology
10	CRRC Corp Ltd	China	Industrials
11	HP Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
12	Daimler AG	Germany	Consumer Discretionary
13	Alphabet Inc	United States of America	Communication Services
14	Li Auto Inc	China	Consumer Discretionary
15	Alstom SA	France	Industrials
16	Merck & Co Inc	United States of America	Health Care
17	Bayerische Motoren Werke AG	Germany	Consumer Discretionary
18	Deutsche Telekom AG	Germany	Communication Services
19	Samsung SDI Co Ltd	South Korea	Information Technology
20	Vinci SA	France	Industrials
21	Vestas Wind Systems A/S	Denmark	Industrials
22	Iberdrola SA	Spain	Utilities
23	Cisco Systems Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
24	Lenovo Group Ltd	Hong Kong	Information Technology
25	GlaxoSmithKline PLC	United Kingdom	Health Care
26	Deutsche Post AG	Germany	Industrials
27	Sungrow Power Supply Co Ltd	China	Industrials
28	Rio Tinto Ltd	Australia	Materials
29	Siemens Healthineers AG	Germany	Health Care
30	Steel Dynamics Inc	United States of America	Materials
31	Nokia Oyj	Finland	Information Technology
32	Acciona SA	Spain	Utilities
33	Hyundai Mobis Co Ltd	South Korea	Consumer Discretionary
34	Johnson Controls International PLC	Ireland	Industrials
35	AT&T Inc	United States of America	Communication Services
36	NIO Inc	China	Consumer Discretionary
37	Banco do Brasil SA	Brazil	Financials
38	Central Japan Railway Co	Japan	Industrials
39	Ricoh Co Ltd	Japan	Information Technology
40	CEMIG	Brazil	Utilities
41	Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson	Sweden	Information Technology
42	Neoenergia SA	Brazil	Utilities
43	Goldwind Science & Technology Co., Ltd.	China	Industrials
44	Adidas AG	Germany	Consumer Discretionary
45	Industria de Diseno Textil SA	Spain	Consumer Discretionary
46	EVE Energy Co., Ltd.	China	Industrials
47	Hanwha Solutions Corp	South Korea	Materials
48	Kering SA	France	Consumer Discretionary
49	Nike Inc	United States of America	Consumer Discretionary
50	China Tower Corp Ltd	China	Communication Services
51	CPFL Energia SA	Brazil	Utilities
52	East Japan Railway Co	Japan	Industrials
53	Fresenius Medical Care AG & Co KGaA	Germany	Health Care
54	Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd	Hong Kong	Consumer Discretionary
55	Essity AB	Sweden	Consumer Staples
56	Abb Ltd	Switzerland	Industrials
57	SAP SE	Germany	Information Technology
58	Intel Corp	United States of America	Information Technology
59	Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd	Japan	Consumer Discretionary
60	Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co	United States of America	Information Technology
61	Nordex SE	Germany	Industrials
62	Orange SA	France	Communication Services
63	Volvo Car AB (publ.)	Sweden	Consumer Discretionary
64	Bharti Airtel Ltd	India	Communication Services
65	SoftBank Group Corp	Japan	Communication Services
66	Prysmian SpA	Italy	Industrials
67	Outokumpu Oyj	Finland	Materials
68	Abbvie Inc	United States of America	Health Care
69	Orsted A/S	Denmark	Utilities
70	Panasonic Corp	Japan	Consumer Discretionary
71	T-Mobile US Inc	United States of America	Communication Services
72	Enerjisa Enerji AS	Turkey	Utilities
73	Verbund AG	Austria	Utilities
74	Signify NV	Netherlands	Industrials
75	Yadea Group Holdings Ltd	China	Consumer Discretionary
76	Risen Energy Co Ltd	China	Information Technology
77	Ecopro BM. Co., Ltd.	South Korea	Industrials
78	Enel Americas SA	Chile	Utilities
79	Smurfit WestRock PLC	Ireland	Materials
80	Kone Oyj	Finland	Industrials
81	Aperam SA	Luxembourg	Materials
82	Renault SA	France	Consumer Discretionary
83	Astellas Pharma Inc	Japan	Health Care
84	Charter Communications Inc	United States of America	Communication Services
85	XPeng Inc.	China	Consumer Discretionary
86	Commercial Metals Co	United States of America	Materials
87	Trane Technologies PLC	Ireland	Industrials
88	Ball Corp	United States of America	Materials
89	AstraZeneca PLC	United Kingdom	Health Care
90	Gotion High-tech Co Ltd	China	Industrials
91	Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG	Germany	Consumer Discretionary
92	DS Smith PLC	United Kingdom	Materials
93	Republic Services Inc	United States of America	Industrials
94	Sanofi SA	France	Health Care
95	WSP Global Inc	Canada	Industrials
96	Companhia Paranaense de Energia	Brazil	Utilities
97	GEM Co Ltd	China	Industrials
98	Takeda Pharmaceutical Co Ltd	Japan	Health Care
99	Asustek Computer Inc	Taiwan	Information Technology
100	Henkel AG & Co KgaA	Germany	Consumer Staples
101	Xylem Inc	United States of America	Industrials
102	West Japan Railway Co	Japan	Industrials
103	Albemarle Corp	United States of America	Materials
104	Konica Minolta Inc	Japan	Information Technology
105	China Three Gorges Renewables Group Co Ltd	China	Utilities
106	Crown Holdings Inc	United States of America	Materials
107	H & M Hennes & Mauritz AB	Sweden	Consumer Discretionary
108	Brambles Ltd	Australia	Industrials
109	BCE Inc	Canada	Communication Services
110	Eiffage SA	France	Industrials
111	Dassault Systemes SE	France	Information Technology
112	Air Liquide S.A.	France	Materials
113	Acerinox SA	Spain	Materials
114	Darling Ingredients Inc	United States of America	Consumer Staples
115	Bridgestone Corp	Japan	Consumer Discretionary
116	GS Yuasa Corp	Japan	Industrials
117	Quanta Services Inc	United States of America	Industrials
118	Beijing Enterprises Water Group Ltd	Hong Kong	Utilities
119	ACS Actividades de Construccion y Servicios SA	Spain	Industrials
120	Ganfeng Lithium Group Co., Ltd.	China	Materials
121	Canadian Solar Inc	Canada	Information Technology
122	Rengo Co Ltd	Japan	Materials
123	FirstGroup PLC	United Kingdom	Industrials
124	voestalpine AG	Austria	Materials
125	Giant Manufacturing Co Ltd	Taiwan	Consumer Discretionary
126	Ecolab Inc	United States of America	Materials
127	Canadian National Railway Co	Canada	Industrials
128	DaVita Inc	United States of America	Health Care
129	Flat Glass Group Co., Ltd.	China	Information Technology
130	Zhuzhou CRRC Times Electric Co Ltd	China	Industrials
131	Newmont Corporation	United States of America	Materials
132	Autodesk Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
133	Manulife Financial Corp	Canada	Financials
134	Xinyi Solar Holdings Ltd	China	Information Technology
135	Broadcom Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
136	Sims Ltd	Australia	Materials
137	Telus Corp	Canada	Communication Services
138	Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk PT	Indonesia	Communication Services
139	Sekisui Chemical Co Ltd	Japan	Industrials
140	Companhia de Eletricidade do Estado da Bahia Coelba	Brazil	Utilities
141	MLS Co Ltd	China	Information Technology
142	Norsk Hydro ASA	Norway	Materials
143	Rivian Automotive, Inc.	United States of America	Consumer Discretionary
144	Posco Chemical Co Ltd	South Korea	Industrials
145	Eisai Co Ltd	Japan	Health Care
146	Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp	Taiwan	Materials
147	Pandora A/S	Denmark	Consumer Discretionary
148	Kimberly-Clark Corp	United States of America	Consumer Staples
149	Acer Inc	Taiwan	Information Technology
150	Interconnection Electric SA ESP	Colombia	Utilities
151	Adani Green Energy Ltd	India	Utilities
152	Waste Connections Inc	Canada	Industrials
153	Sonoco Products Co	United States of America	Materials
154	Valeo SA	France	Consumer Discretionary
155	Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Paulo SABESP	Brazil	Utilities
156	Umicore SA	Belgium	Materials
157	Shimano Inc	Japan	Consumer Discretionary
158	Greif Inc	United States of America	Materials
159	Arcelik AS	Turkey	Consumer Discretionary
160	CapitaLand Investment Ltd	Singapore	Real Estate
161	Engie Brasil Energia SA	Brazil	Utilities
162	Kurita Water Industries Ltd	Japan	Industrials
163	Equinix Inc	United States of America	Real Estate
164	Swatch Group AG	Switzerland	Consumer Discretionary
165	Emirates Telecommunications Group Co PJSC	United Arab Emirates	Communication Services
166	BT Group PLC	United Kingdom	Communication Services
167	China Railway Signal & Communication Corp Ltd	China	Information Technology
168	GFL Environmental Inc	Canada	Industrials
169	Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited	Canada	Industrials
170	Olympus Corp	Japan	Health Care
171	Camel Group Co Ltd	China	Industrials
172	EDP Renovaveis SA	Spain	Utilities
173	Siemens Ltd	India	Industrials
174	Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp	Taiwan	Industrials
175	Amgen Inc	United States of America	Health Care
176	Pactiv Evergreen Inc	United States of America	Materials
177	Ferrovial SA	Spain	Industrials
178	Xerox Holdings Corp	United States of America	Information Technology
179	SK Telecom Co Ltd	South Korea	Communication Services
180	Etihad Etisalat Company SJSC	Saudi Arabia	Communication Services
181	Delta Electronics Thailand PCL	Thailand	Information Technology
182	Stadler Rail AG	Switzerland	Industrials
183	Rockwool A/S	Denmark	Industrials
184	First Solar Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
185	Andritz AG	Austria	Industrials
186	Cascades Inc	Canada	Materials
187	Advanced Micro Devices Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
188	Longchen Paper & Packaging Co Ltd	Taiwan	Materials
189	Stantec Inc	Canada	Industrials
190	Elia Group SA	Belgium	Utilities
191	Corporacion Acciona Energias Renovables S.A.	Spain	Utilities
192	SMA Solar Technology AG	Germany	Information Technology
193	Puma SE	Germany	Consumer Discretionary
194	Veralto Corp	United States of America	Industrials
195	City Developments Ltd	Singapore	Real Estate
196	Clean Harbors Inc	United States of America	Industrials
197	Solaredge Technologies Inc	Israel	Information Technology
198	Suzlon Energy Ltd	India	Industrials
199	Analog Devices Inc	United States of America	Information Technology
200	Sibanye Stillwater Ltd	South Africa	Materials

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by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

72% Use Personal Accounts for AI, 90% Bypass IT, Shadow SaaS Expands, Increasing Data Exposure

According to Enterprise GenAI Data Security Report 2025 by LayerX, there are major security risks of AI use in enterprises because 90% of the AI usage happens outside IT visibility. This can increase the risks of data leaks and unauthorized access, so enterprises should have proper training about how to use AI in workplaces. Even though there is a lot of hype around GenAI, its adoption in the industry is still moderate and only 15% of the employees are using GenAI tools daily. On the other hand, 50% of the employees use GenAI tools twice a week, which suggests that GenAI usage is going to increase soon.

Most of the users of GenAI (39%) are software developers, so they are more at risk for unknowingly leaking data, which could involve proprietary codes and can integrate insecure codes into computer systems. LayerX says that most of the employees are relying on Shadow SaaS and they use most of the GenAI tools without IT approval and 72% use them through their personal accounts. Only 12% of the employees who access GenAI tools through their corporate accounts do so with SSO (Single Sign-On). This means that 90% of the GenAI usage by the employees is invisible to the organizations, which makes them more vulnerable to unauthorized sharing of data and data leakage.

It was also found that employees who use GenAI daily tend to copy corporate data about four times on average in a day. The data includes customer data, business information, financial plans, and even source code, which increases the risks of data exposure in AI tools. This means that organizations need new security strategies to keep their data safe from GenAI. They have to integrate Data Loss Prevention (DLP) solutions in enterprises so GenAI can be safely incorporated without any risks.

Image: DIW-Aigen

Read next: Microsoft to Discontinue Skype on May 5, 2025, Urges Users to Switch to Teams
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Trust Over Rankings: Americans Prefer Familiar Brands and Organic Results in Search!

According to a new survey by Page One Power, most of the searchers prefer clicking on brands they know rather than the top results on Google search results. The survey found that 59% of Americans click on search results of the brands they are familiar with, while less than one-third click on top-ranked results. User trust is an important thing in SEO and building a brand that the audience recognizes has become very crucial. The brand doesn't even have to be large-scaled like Amazon or Google, but it has to be something the audience connects with.

49% of the Americans said that they trust and prefer organic results over the paid results, while 46% trust them equally. There are also 5% of Americans who trust paid results more than organic results. Millennials (56%) and men (54%) are more likely to trust organic results, while Gen-X (52%) and women (50%) trust paid and organic results equally.

The survey also found that there are different reasons why Americans click on search results and they vary from generation to generation.

Gen-X (52%) and Baby Boomers (50%) click on results because of their compelling headlines, while Gen-Z (63%) and Millennials (55%) click on results based on their ratings and reviews. 12% of the Americans said that they fully trust search results while 52% named search engines as their most trusted sources of information.

When asked what is America’s top choice for search engine, 44% of Baby Boomers, 55% of Gen-X, 64% of Millennials and 64% of Gen-Z answered Google. 28% of Americans said that their trust in search engines is increasing, while 27% said that their trust is decreasing, which means that search engines are stable in America. Google was named a monopoly by 25% of Americans while 33% said that Google’s clout is okay because of its performance and reach. But there were also 40% of Americans who believe that there are better alternatives to Google. Americans want a wide range of viewpoints (47%) and personalized content (28%) in their search results.

Read next: New Survey Shows that Most of the Users Feel that Google’s Search Results Quality has Deteriorated
by Arooj Ahmed via Digital Information World

Microsoft to Discontinue Skype on May 5, 2025, Urges Users to Switch to Teams

Microsoft has announced that Skype will be discontinued on May 5, 2025, marking the end of an era for the once-dominant internet calling service. The company confirmed that existing Skype users will be able to migrate their chats and contacts to Microsoft Teams (free).

Microsoft acquired Skype in 2011 for $8.5 billion, making it the company’s largest purchase at the time. Over the years, the service was integrated into various Microsoft products, including Office and the now-defunct Windows Phone platform.

Despite a brief resurgence during the pandemic, Skype has steadily lost ground to competitors such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Cisco Webex. Additionally, Apple’s FaceTime and Meta’s WhatsApp further diminished its relevance. Meanwhile, Microsoft has invested heavily in Teams, which offers similar communication features and was introduced in 2017.

Skype was founded in Estonia in 2003 and quickly gained traction as a free alternative to expensive international calls. Its success led to eBay acquiring the company for $2.6 billion in 2005. However, that deal proved unfruitful, and eBay sold 65% of its stake to investors for $1.9 billion in 2009, before Microsoft’s full acquisition in 2011.

As the May 2025 shutdown approaches, Microsoft encourages users to transition to Teams (free) to maintain access to their conversations and contacts.

Image: Microsoft

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by Asim BN via Digital Information World