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Nokia’s going through a major transition right now – the Finnish telecommunications giant recently announced that it has signed its last major smartphone agreement that remained under negotiation, making it the company’s seventh major smartphone patent license agreement in the past thirteen months.

This new development essentially concludes the company’s smartphone patent licence renewal cycle, which began back in 2021. According to Nokia, its licensing business will now enter a period of stability with no major smartphone agreements expiring for the coming years ahead. Jenni Lukander, President of Nokia Technologies states:

“We are delighted to have successfully completed our smartphone license renewal cycle. These seven major agreements demonstrate the strength of Nokia’s patent portfolio and the smartphone industry’s continued reliance on Nokia’s technology in their devices.”

“Conclusion of our smartphone license renewal cycle will enable us to focus on growing our licensing run-rate in new areas. We have already made significant progress in these growth areas and have a strong pipeline of future opportunities.”

With this, Nokia now expects significant catch-up payments for Q1 2024, with an annual net sales run-rate of approximately EUR 1.3 billion. Not too long ago, the company also revealed that it has entered into new license and patent agreements with Vivo and Oppo, effectively ending a lengthy legal battle with both brands.

Source: Nokia

As technology continues to evolve, businesses are constantly looking for ways to maximize productivity and streamline their operations. One area that often gets overlooked is the way we handle phone calls. Despite the rise of email and instant messaging, phone calls remain a crucial form of communication in many industries. However, the traditional method of manually dialing numbers can be time-consuming and inefficient. That’s where dialer software comes in. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of using dialer software to streamline your calls and boost overall productivity for your business. Let’s dive in!

Automated Dialing

Automated dialing is a key feature of dialer software that streamlines the process of making phone calls. Instead of manually dialing each number, the power dialer automatically dials numbers from a pre-loaded list, reducing the time and effort needed to make calls. This allows employees to focus on other tasks while the software handles the calling process. Additionally, automated dialing ensures that calls are made consistently and without any errors. This can be especially beneficial for businesses that make a high volume of calls, such as call centers or sales teams. Overall, automated dialing saves time, minimizes human error, and increases productivity for your business.

Call Logging and Recording

Another way dialer software streamlines your calls is through call logging and recording. With this feature, all incoming and outgoing calls are automatically logged and recorded for future reference. This eliminates the need for manual note-taking during calls and ensures that important information is not missed or forgotten. The recorded calls can also be used for quality control purposes, providing valuable insights for training and improving customer service. This feature can improve overall efficiency by minimizing the time spent on call-related administrative tasks and facilitating better communication among team members. For instance, one team member can easily access the call recordings of another team member to follow up on a customer inquiry or issue.

Integration with CRM Systems

Dialer software can be seamlessly integrated with Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems, such as Salesforce or HubSpot. This allows for a more streamlined calling process, as all customer information is easily accessible during calls. When a call is made or received, the CRM system can automatically pull up the customer’s record, eliminating the need to search for it manually. This integration also enables automatic call logging and recording within the CRM system, making it easier to track and analyze customer interactions. Overall, this feature saves time and improves accuracy in handling calls by providing quick access to important customer information.

Call Analytics and Reporting

Call analytics and reporting are essential tools for businesses to track the success of their calling efforts. With dialer software, you can easily access data on call duration, call volume, and other important metrics. This information allows you to identify patterns and make informed decisions about how to improve your calling strategy. Moreover, call analytics can provide insights on the effectiveness of your sales pitches or customer service scripts. By identifying successful techniques and areas for improvement, you can refine your approach to make more productive calls in the future. With real-time reporting, you can also track progress and adjust strategies in a timely manner.

Personalized Caller ID

Personalized caller ID is a feature of dialer software that displays a specific name or number to the recipient when making outbound calls. This can be particularly useful for businesses that have multiple departments or branches, as it allows for a more personalized and professional communication experience. One branch can have its own unique caller ID, ensuring that calls are directed to the correct department without any confusion or delay. Moreover, this feature can also be used to display local numbers when calling customers in different regions, increasing the chances of them answering the call. By using a consistent and recognizable caller ID, businesses can build trust and brand recognition with their customers. This feature not only streamlines the calling process but also enhances the overall customer experience.

Voicemail Automation

Voicemail automation is another time-saving feature of dialer software that allows you to pre-record voicemail messages for specific situations. Instead of leaving a generic voicemail, you can choose from a library of pre-recorded messages that are tailored to your needs. This ensures consistency and accuracy in the information conveyed, saving time and effort for both parties involved. With this feature, you can also schedule automated follow-up calls or emails after leaving a voicemail, increasing the chances of getting a response from the recipient. Voicemail automation helps streamline the calling process and ensures that important messages are delivered accurately and efficiently.

Scheduled Auto-Dialing

Scheduled auto-dialing is a feature that allows you to set specific times for calls to be made automatically. This can be especially beneficial for businesses that operate in different time zones or have customers with varying schedules. Instead of manually dialing at odd hours, scheduled auto-dialing ensures that calls are made at the most convenient times for the recipient. This feature also allows you to prioritize and organize your calling list based on urgency or importance. By automating the dialing process, businesses can save time and effort while still ensuring timely communication with their customers.

Call Routing and Transferring

Call routing and transferring is a feature that allows calls to be directed to the appropriate person or department. With dialer software, this can be done seamlessly with just one click. This eliminates the need for manual call transfers, reducing wait times and potential miscommunication during the transfer process. Moreover, this feature also enables employees to answer calls from anywhere, even if they are not in the office. This enhances flexibility and improves response times, ultimately streamlining the calling process and increasing productivity for the business. With call routing and transferring, businesses can ensure that calls are efficiently handled and directed to the right person or department. Dialer software offers a wide range of features that streamline the calling process for businesses of all sizes. By leveraging these tools, businesses can save time, minimize errors, and increase overall productivity in their call handling operations.  So why stick to manual dialing when you can streamline your calls with the help of dialer software? Try it out for yourself and experience the benefits firsthand!

In the ever-evolving world of social media, Instagram stands out as a powerful platform for individuals and businesses alike to showcase their creativity and connect with a global audience. As the competition for visibility intensifies, many users turn to external tools to boost their Instagram growth. In this article, we will delve into the quintessential quartet of Instagram growth services – Insfollowpro, SocialFeed, InstaBust, and Amazefollowers – exploring their features, benefits, and how they can help you Buy Instagram followers to enhance your online presence.

Insfollowpro: Elevating Your Follower Count Strategically

Insfollowpro emerges as a frontrunner in the realm of Instagram growth, offering users a comprehensive suite of tools to organically increase their follower count. The platform distinguishes itself through its commitment to strategic and authentic growth, steering clear of artificial means that could harm your account in the long run.

One of the standout features of Insfollowpro is its targeted follower acquisition. Through advanced algorithms, the platform identifies users with similar interests, ensuring that your content reaches the right audience. This targeted approach not only increases your follower count but also enhances engagement, as your content resonates with those genuinely interested in your niche.

Moreover, Insfollowpro employs a gradual and steady growth strategy, preventing sudden spikes in follower numbers that could raise red flags with Instagram algorithms. This ensures that your account grows steadily and authentically, creating a foundation for sustained success.

To buy Instagram followers with Insfollowpro, users can choose from various packages tailored to their specific needs. The platform offers a transparent and user-friendly interface, making the entire process seamless and efficient. With a focus on genuine engagement and strategic growth, Insfollowpro establishes itself as a trustworthy companion on your Instagram journey.

Socialfeed: Curating Engaging Content For Maximum Impact

In the dynamic world of Instagram, content remains king. SocialFeed steps into the spotlight by offering a suite of tools to curate engaging and visually appealing content that captivates your audience. This platform goes beyond just increasing follower numbers; it focuses on elevating the quality of your content to foster genuine connections.

SocialFeed’s content creation tools empower users to design stunning visuals, craft compelling captions, and schedule posts for optimal timing. By maintaining a consistent and attractive feed, users can attract and retain followers more effectively. The platform also provides analytics to track the performance of your posts, allowing for data-driven refinement of your content strategy.

In addition to content creation, SocialFeed incorporates features for collaboration and engagement. The platform identifies trending hashtags and popular influencers within your niche, enabling you to leverage these trends for increased visibility. By engaging with relevant content and collaborating with influencers, users can expand their reach and attract a broader audience.

For those looking to Buy Instagram followers, SocialFeed complements the process by ensuring that the acquired followers are exposed to high-quality content, increasing the likelihood of long-term engagement. The seamless integration of content creation, curation, and engagement tools makes SocialFeed a valuable asset for anyone aiming to grow their Instagram presence authentically.

Instabust: Boosting Visibility Through Strategic Marketing

While organic growth is essential, strategic marketing can provide a powerful boost to your Instagram visibility. InstaBust positions itself as a key player in this arena, offering a range of marketing tools to enhance your reach and attract a larger audience.

One of the standout features of InstaBust is its targeted advertising capabilities. The platform allows users to create and run targeted ad campaigns, reaching specific demographics that align with their content. This targeted approach not only increases the visibility of your profile but also ensures that your content reaches individuals genuinely interested in your niche.

InstaBust also integrates with Instagram’s advertising platform, allowing users to seamlessly create and manage ads directly from the InstaBust dashboard. This streamlines the marketing process, making it more accessible for users with varying levels of expertise. The platform provides analytics to track the performance of your ad campaigns, allowing for real-time adjustments to optimize results.

For those looking to Buy Instagram followers, InstaBust’s marketing tools offer a strategic avenue to attract a larger audience. By leveraging targeted advertising and strategic marketing, users can accelerate their Instagram growth and maximize their visibility within their target demographic.

Amazefollowers: Enhancing Social Credibility Through Genuine Engagement

Building a credible and authentic online presence is crucial for sustained success on Instagram. Amazefollowers focuses on enhancing social credibility by fostering genuine engagement and interaction with your audience. This platform goes beyond mere follower count, emphasizing the quality of connections to create a thriving online community.

Amazefollowers employ advanced algorithms to identify and engage with users who are genuinely interested in your content. Through targeted liking, commenting, and following, the platform helps users connect with individuals who are more likely to reciprocate engagement. This not only increases your follower count but also creates a community of individuals genuinely interested in your niche.

The platform also offers analytics to track engagement metrics, allowing users to assess the impact of their interactions and refine their engagement strategy accordingly. Amazefollowers prioritizes authenticity, steering clear of automated or spammy engagement tactics that could harm your account in the long run.

For users looking to Buy Instagram followers, Amazefollowers complements the process by ensuring that the acquired followers are part of an engaged and interactive community. By prioritizing genuine engagement, the platform helps users build a credible online presence, fostering trust and loyalty among their audience.

Conclusion

In the competitive landscape of Instagram, mastering growth requires a strategic approach and the right set of tools. The quintessential quartet of Insfollowpro, SocialFeed, InstaBust, and Amazefollowers offers a comprehensive solution for users looking to enhance their Instagram presence authentically. Whether through targeted follower acquisition, content curation, strategic marketing, or genuine engagement, these platforms provide valuable tools to buy Instagram followers and elevate your profile in the crowded social media space. As you embark on your Instagram growth journey, consider integrating these tools into your strategy to unlock the full potential of your online presence.

With more than eight million paid subscribers, YouTube TV has risen to fourth place among pay-for-TV providers in the United States, according to a report published Tuesday by Business Insider.

The YouTube TV subscription numbers — which place the service behind Charter, Comcast, and DirecTV — were revealed by CEO Neal Mohan in his annual letter to the YouTube community.

“We’re bringing everything viewers love about YouTube to the living room experience,” Mohan wrote. “And that includes sports. We just wrapped our first season of NFL Sunday Ticket, and it really shows the future of YouTube.”

Landing NFL Sunday Ticket was a major factor in YouTube TV’s subscription growth, maintained Eric Sorensen, director for the streaming video tracker at Parks Associates, a market research and consulting company specializing in consumer technology products, in Dallas.

“YouTube TV’s expansion and success can be attributed to the $2.5 billion NFL Sunday Ticket agreement they reached with the NFL,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Sports content drives eyeballs, and there’s no bigger product in sports entertainment than the NFL.”

Once the NFL kicked off in the third quarter of this year, so did YouTube TV subscriptions. Parks Associates survey data, Sorensen noted, show a 46% increase in subscribers in Q3 2023 compared to the same period in 2022.

NFL a Game-Changer for YouTube TV

“YouTube TV’s contract with the NFL has brought in a significant number of viewers,” added Neil Chase, co-founder of Brimstone Pictures, a film production company in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

“This has been a game-changer for YouTube TV,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Having a platform like the NFL adds legitimacy to the network and provides a built-in audience they don’t have to raise from scratch.”

“People are already used to paying premium prices for high-quality sporting events, such as the UFC and WWE, so paying a platform they already use to watch a product they already love isn’t a stretch.”

Airing live sporting events is a way that over-the-top services (OTT) like YouTube TV can poach subscribers from cable and satellite companies.

“Sports is one of the primary reasons for broadcast subscriptions,” explained Michael Pachter, a Managing Director with Wedbush Securities, in Los Angeles.

“Live content is the only reason to pay for cable and satellite, and as we see a migration of live content to OTT, we will see continuing defections from cable and satellite,” he told TechNewsWorld.

“However, nobody does a particularly good job of capturing relevant sports or other live content except for Fubo,” he added. “Fubo is the only bona fide aggregator, but YouTube has the balance sheet to compete.”

Hitting a Sweet Spot

The NFL hasn’t been the only reason behind YouTube TV’s success.

“YouTube TV seemed to hit the sweet spot of content and price,” Brett Sappington, a media and entertainment analyst at Sappington Media, in Dallas, told TechNewsWorld.

Stefan Lederer, CEO and founder of Bitmovin, a video streaming infrastructure provider in San Francisco, agreed. “Even though YouTube TV has had some price hikes, it’s still more cost-effective than satellite and cable, and it still offers over 100 live channels, news, TV, and live sports in one place,” he told TechNewsWorld.

He added that YouTube TV has focused on adding new features for its customers to enhance their viewing experience, such as multi-view, which elevates the viewing experience for sports lovers. “The focus on delivering great content and a superior viewing experience is why YouTube TV is seeing a huge increase in subscribers,” he said.

Sappington explained that before growing the channel package to its current scope, YouTube TV started with local channels in most major markets along with a limited set of popular cable channels. This approach allowed the service to offer a relatively low price and build a base of customers. Over time, it was able to tune the offering, adding selected channels and boosting prices to maximize its appeal across consumer segments.

Powerful Branding Advantage

Sappington added that YouTube TV has an easy-to-use, intuitive interface that blends linear, video on demand (VOD), and recordings — a difficult proposition that many services have struggled to achieve.

“In contrast to the common cable TV experience at its launch, YouTube TV service started viewers at a home page rather than a channel guide, and consumers bought into the change,” he said. “More services now offer that same experience.”

YouTube’s brand also gave it an advantage in the market, he continued. While other virtual multi-video platform distributors (vMVPDs) such as Fubo, Sling, Philo, Vidgo, and others had to grow their brands from scratch, YouTube TV had an advantage in awareness.

“This brand advantage, along with the Google name, also allowed YouTube TV to enjoy a level of press coverage at its launch that other services didn’t have,” he said.

Another advantage Sappington cited is YouTube TV’s ability to offer good quality and wide availability across Android devices and other smart TV platforms. “Rival cable providers weren’t able to claim a notable quality advantage,” he noted. “Consumers were able to find YouTube TV on virtually all of the streaming devices they owned. So, access wasn’t a problem.”

Mimicking Cable and Satellite Models

YouTube TV also benefits from Google’s domination of internet search, maintained Rob Enderle, president and principal analyst with the Enderle Group, an advisory services firm, in Bend, Ore. “Google has a huge advantage when it comes to pushing their own content,” he told TechNewsWorld.

In addition, he noted that YouTube figured out relatively quickly how to monetize content and reward their most successful contributors effectively, as well as bringing forward a service that could do a better job than most at replacing your local TV feed.

“In short,” he said, “YouTube had a unique and powerful advantage from Google, and the YouTube team executed extremely well.”

Much of YouTube TV’s success has been in emulating its cable and satellite rivals by offering live sports and bundled channels. That’s likely to continue in the future.

“I think the OTT guys will have to emulate the cable and satellite industry and bundle with premium cable — like HBO or Starz — offer to list Netflix as a channel, add relevant sports content, and keep prices low if they want to compete,” Pachter said.

Complaints by users of the declining quality of search engine results contain a seed of truth, according to a recent study released by a group of academic researchers.

The researchers from Leipzig University, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, and ScaDS.AI — all in Germany — concluded that “all search engines have significant problems with highly-optimized (affiliate) content.”

In their paper titled “Is Google Getting Worse? A Longitudinal Investigation of SEO Spam in Search Engines,” the researchers, by monitoring Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo for a year on 7,392 product review queries, found that although they could not predict where individual pages would be ranked, they could conclude that “higher-ranked pages are on average more optimized, more monetized with affiliate marketing, and they show signs of lower text quality.”

One of the problems with the study is that it’s confined to product reviews. “Think of it like this: if you only walk down one aisle in a big store, you’re going to miss a lot of other stuff in the store,” said Nazmul Hasan, founder and CEO of Microters, a provider of digital marketing and software development services.

“The study mostly found websites that are trying to sell things, often with special links that make them money if you buy something,” he told TechNewsWorld. “This means they were more about selling than just giving good, plain information. It’s a bit like when you ask for help, but everyone just tries to sell you their things instead.”

Google Improving

“This particular study looked narrowly at product review content, and it doesn’t reflect the overall quality and helpfulness of search for the billions of queries we see every day,” Google spokesperson Ned Adriance said in a statement provided to TechNewsWorld.

“We’ve launched specific improvements to address these issues,” he continued, “and the study itself points out that Google has improved over the past year and is performing better than other search engines.”

As part of their study, the researchers examined whether changes made by search engine companies improved the overall quality of results. “Google’s updates in particular are having a noticeable, yet mostly short-lived, effect,” they wrote.

“In fact,” they continued, “the Google results seem to have improved to some extent since the start of our experiment in terms of the amount of affiliate spam.”

“Yet,” they added, “we can still find several spam domains and also see an overall downward trend in text quality in all three search engines, so there is still quite a lot of room for improvement.”

Promoting Conspiracy Theories

Adriance also maintained that numerous third parties have measured search engine results for other types of queries and found Google to be of significantly higher quality than the rest.

For example, in a paper titled “Where the Earth Is Flat and 9/11 Is an Inside Job: A Comparative Algorithm Audit of Conspiratorial Information in Web Search Results,” researchers at the University of Zurich and the University of Bern in Switzerland and the Leibniz-Institut für and Sozialwissenschaften and University of Konstanz in Germany found that “all search engines except Google consistently displayed conspiracy-promoting results and returned links to conspiracy-dedicated websites in their top results, although the share of such content varied across queries.”

Meanwhile, the New York Times has reported, “For many terms, Bing and DuckDuckGo surfaced more untrustworthy websites than Google did, when results were compared with website ratings from the Global Disinformation Index, NewsGuard and research published in the journal Science.”

“Search results on Google also included some untrustworthy websites, but they tended to be less common and lower on the search page,” it added.

Driving Clicks, Not Quality

The Leipzig and Bauhaus researchers also found that only a small portion of product reviews on the web use affiliate marketing, but most search results do.

They also observed an inverse relationship between affiliate marketing use and content complexity and that all search engines fall victim to large-scale affiliate link spam campaigns.

“Affiliate sites want to drive clicks,” explained Greg Sterling, co-founder of Near Media, a news, commentary, and analysis website.

“One could argue that higher quality sites create more trust and would ultimately be more successful,” he told TechNewsWorld. “But many affiliate marketers appear to be quickly generating sites and pages in an effort to rank and drive clicks rather than focusing on building quality content for the long term, which takes time and money.”

“Imagine if you got paid for every word you wrote for a project. You might write a lot, but it’s not all going to be great stuff. That’s what some affiliate websites do,” Nazmul explained. “They make a lot of articles to get people to click and buy things through their links, so they make money.”

“They care more about selling than really giving you the useful info you need,” he continued. “It’s like those annoying ads that pop up and promise great things but don’t really deliver.”

AI Contributes to the Problem

The researchers also noted that the line between benign content and spam in the form of content and link farms is becoming increasingly blurry — a situation that will surely worsen in the wake of generative AI.

“AI is going to throw a wrench into the system because its writing component is sub-par, and even the research aspect has proven to be wrong at times,” observed Baruch Labunski, CEO of Rank Secure, a website development and search engine optimization firm, in Toronto.

“This will continue to lower the text quality while pushing out more spam,” he told TechNewsWorld. “The amount of low-quality text will continue to pollute search engines until the search engines decide to raise the standards and set new ground rules.”

Sterling explained that huge amounts of “acceptable” content can be created and quickly spun up with AI. “It’s cheaper and easier than using humans or trying to build a brand,” he said.

Artificial intelligence can be used to create articles really fast, added Nazmul. “This can lead to more web pages that might look good to search engines but aren’t much help to you,” he explained.

Vigilance Needed

Sterling argued that search engines need to be constantly vigilant about the quality of their search results. “They have to adapt their algorithms to address evolving spam tactics quickly,” he said. “Google has that capability and will be using AI in the background in service of that objective.”

“But,” he continued, “there also should be a human editorial dimension — such as Google’s ‘quality raters.’ This is partly why you see Google shifting more toward forums and social sites, such as Reddit, in search results as a way to ensure more authentic results.”

“Low-quality content and spam will continue to be a major problem going forward,” he added. “This is why some people are turning to TikTok and Reddit to get direct information from real people instead of using search.”

In an era marked by rapid technological advancements, businesses across various industries are constantly seeking innovative ways to gain a competitive edge. One such frontier that has proven to be a game-changer is the integration of 3D technology. From enhancing customer experiences to streamlining manufacturing processes, the applications are diverse and impactful. This article delves into the reasons why businesses should embrace 3D technology and explores the strategic approaches for its effective implementation.

The Evolution Of 3D Technology

The journey of 3D technology has been nothing short of transformative. Originally confined to the realms of entertainment and gaming, it has now permeated industries like healthcare, manufacturing, and marketing. The evolution from basic 3D modeling to sophisticated virtual and augmented reality applications, including holographic displays, has opened up new avenues for businesses. The immersive experiences facilitated by 3D technology are reshaping how products are conceptualized, designed, and presented to consumers.

Enhancing Customer Engagement And Experience

One of the key advantages of incorporating 3D technology lies in its ability to revolutionize customer engagement and experience. Businesses can create interactive and realistic visualizations of their products or services, allowing customers to explore and interact in ways that traditional media cannot match. This is particularly evident in industries like e-commerce, where customers can virtually try on clothing or visualize furniture in their homes before making a purchase decision. The enhanced engagement not only captivates customers but also fosters a deeper connection between the brand and its audience.

Streamlining Manufacturing Processes With 3D Printing

For industries involved in manufacturing, 3D technology, specifically 3D printing, has emerged as a disruptive force. The precision and efficiency offered by 3D printing have streamlined prototyping and production processes. Companies can now create intricate prototypes with minimal waste, reducing costs and accelerating time-to-market. From aerospace components to medical implants, 3D printing has proven its mettle in producing complex and customized designs that were previously challenging or impossible with traditional manufacturing methods.

Virtual Training And Simulation

Training employees in high-risk environments or providing realistic simulations for complex tasks has become more effective with 3D technology. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) applications allow individuals to undergo realistic training scenarios without exposing them to actual risks. This is particularly crucial in industries such as healthcare, aviation, and defense, where precision and quick decision-making are paramount. The immersive nature of 3D simulations enhances the learning experience, leading to better-prepared professionals.

Leveraging 3D Tech in Marketing And Advertising

The marketing landscape has evolved significantly, and 3D technology has become a powerful tool for creating captivating and memorable campaigns. From animated advertisements to interactive product displays, businesses can leverage 3D visuals to stand out in a crowded market. Furthermore, augmented reality experiences in marketing campaigns provide consumers with a unique and memorable way to interact with brands. The ability to offer immersive and shareable experiences sets businesses apart in an era where traditional advertising methods often struggle to capture attention.

3D Technology In The Gaming Industry

The gaming industry has been a pioneer in adopting and pushing the boundaries of 3D technology. From lifelike graphics to virtual reality gaming experiences, 3D has played a pivotal role in shaping the gaming landscape. Slot games, in particular, have witnessed a significant transformation with the incorporation of 3D technology. The immersive visuals and interactive elements elevate the gaming experience, attracting a broader audience. The use of 3D technology in slot games not only enhances the entertainment value but also showcases the potential of 3D in creating engaging and visually stunning virtual environments.

Overcoming Challenges In Implementing 3D Technology

While the potential benefits of integrating 3D technology into various business processes are immense, it’s essential to acknowledge and address the challenges associated with its implementation. One significant hurdle is the initial investment required for acquiring and implementing 3D technologies. Businesses must carefully evaluate the cost-benefit analysis and develop a comprehensive strategy to justify and optimize these expenditures. Moreover, the learning curve for employees adapting to new 3D tools and methodologies can be steep. Companies need to invest in training programs to ensure that their workforce can effectively harness the capabilities of 3D technology. Resistance to change within organizational structures is also a common obstacle. Clear communication and change management strategies are crucial to overcoming resistance and fostering a culture that embraces innovation.

As businesses navigate the ever-evolving landscape of technology, the integration of 3D technology stands out as a strategic move for gaining a competitive advantage. From revolutionizing customer engagement to streamlining manufacturing processes, the applications are diverse and impactful. The journey of 3D technology, from its humble beginnings to its pervasive influence across industries, underscores its transformative power. As we move forward, businesses that embrace and effectively implement 3D technology are poised to lead the way in innovation, setting new standards for customer experiences and operational efficiency.

Attacks on browsers by phishing actors ballooned during the second half of 2023, increasing 198% over the first six months of the year, according to a report by a browser security company.

What’s more, phishers are increasingly using deceptive tactics in their attacks that are proving to be highly effective against the security controls designed to protect organizations from cyberattacks, noted the report by Menlo Security.

Attacks classified as “evasive” rose 206% during the period and are now 30% of all browser-based phishing attacks, explained the report, which is based on threat data and browser telemetry from the Menlo Security Cloud, including 400 billion web sessions from December 2022 to December 2023.

“Phishing attacks are becoming more sophisticated with the use of cloaking, impersonation, obfuscation, and dynamic code generation,” said Menlo Senior Manager for Cybersecurity Strategy Neko Papez.

“Evasive techniques make it challenging for traditional phishing detection tools relying on signature-based or classic feature extraction techniques to detect evasive pages,” he told TechNewsWorld.

Papez explained that traditional phishing uses a simple request or notification message that typically plays on a human emotion like fear and will often be used in mass phishing campaigns.

“Evasive phishing attacks are used in a more targeted approach in which hackers employ a range of techniques meant to evade traditional security controls and exploit browser vulnerabilities to increase the likelihood of gaining access to user systems or corporate networks,” he said.

Simple and Effective Attack

Roger Neal, head of product at Apona Security, an application security company in Roseville, Calif., agreed that browser-based phishing attacks are on the rise, along with dependency typosquatting, where malicious actors register fake or typo-squatted package names that are similar to legitimate packages used in software development.

“These types of attacks are becoming more common because they are easier to execute than finding an outdated component or injection point,” he told TechNewsWorld. “Attackers just need to set up the trap and wait for a user to make a mistake.”

“Browsers are attractive for phishing attacks because those attacks are simple and effective,” he added. “Users often don’t think twice when they see a login screen, as it’s a regular occurrence in web browsing. This kind of attack has a high success rate with minimal effort, making it preferred by malicious actors.”

Many cyberattacks start with some form of a phishing lure to steal credentials, gain access to corporate applications, and force an account takeover, Menlo’s report explained.

Phishing is the most common initial attack vector because it works, it continued, with 16% of global data breaches starting with phishing. However, it added that evasive phishing techniques have a higher growth rate because those methods work even better and circumvent traditional security tools.

Ineffective Security Controls

“Security controls are less effective against browser phishing because these attacks don’t involve code injection into servers or infrastructure,” Neal said. “Instead, they usually involve creating a fake login page to capture user information, which these controls are not designed to detect.”

Moreover, security controls can’t always account for the “human element.”

“These security controls can be ineffective against browser phishing attacks because such attacks often use social engineering tactics that bypass technical defenses,” explained Apona CEO Ben Chappell.

“They exploit human vulnerabilities, such as trust or lack of awareness, rather than system vulnerabilities,” he told TechNewsWorld.

In addition to a 12-month view of browser-based phishing, Menlo researchers took a more detailed look at one 30-day period during the last quarter of 2023. During that time, they discovered 31,000 browser-based phishing attacks were launched against Menlo customers across multiple industries and regions by threat actors that included Lazarus, Viper, and Qakbot.

Moreover, 11,000 of those attacks were “zero hour” attacks that displayed no digital signature or breadcrumb that a security tool could detect so the attack could be blocked.

“The observed 11,000 zero-hour phishing attacks in a 30-day period, undetectable by traditional security tools, emphasize the inadequacy of legacy measures against evolving threats,” said Patrick Tiquet, vice president for security and architecture at Keeper Security, a password management and online storage company, in Chicago.

“The escalating threat landscape posed by highly evasive browser-based attacks is yet another reason organizations must prioritize browser security and deploy proactive cybersecurity measures,” he told TechNewsWorld. “The rapid surge in browser-based phishing attacks, especially those employing evasive tactics, highlights the urgent need for enhanced protection.”

Exploiting Trusted Websites

The report also noted that the surge of browser-based attacks is not coming from known malicious or spurious fly-by-night sites. In fact, it continued, 75% of phishing links are hosted on known, categorized, or trusted websites.

To complicate the problem further, it added, phishing has expanded beyond the traditional email or O365 paths. Attackers are focusing their phishing attacks on cloud-sharing platforms or web-based applications, opening up additional pathways into organizations.

“Attackers use cloud-sharing platforms and web applications such as Gdrive or Box with trusted domains to avoid detection,” Papez explained. “This expands the attack surface for attackers and allows them to leverage enterprise applications that users inherently trust in their everyday work setting. These have become lucrative phishing avenues for threat actors for hosting malicious content or password-protected files in credential phishing campaigns.”

In addition to evasive tactics, the report noted that the browser-based attacks are using automation and gen AI tools to improve the quality and the volume of their threat action. Attackers now produce thousands of phishing attacks with unique threat signatures. These contain fewer language errors, the tell-tale sign that enables human eyes to spot these threats if they do evade traditional controls.

“Generative AI can be weaponized to create highly personalized and convincing content and generate dynamic, legitimate-looking websites that are much harder to detect,” said Kyle Metcalf, a security strategist with Living Security, a cybersecurity training company in Austin, Texas.

“The more realistic the website looks, the better the chance it has to trick the user,” he told TechNewsWorld.

More Visibility Needed

Artificial intelligence can be used for more than creating sketchy websites, however.

“Cybercriminals frequently register malicious domains using slight variations on the proper name to make it visually hard to distinguish from the proper brand,” explained Luciano Allegro, co-founder and CMO of BforeAi, a threat intelligence company in Montpellier, France.

“Users seeing a link that appears safe click on it to visit a cloned site,” he told TechNewsWorld. “AI helps automate this process, generating massive volumes of adjacent names and automating the theft of assets and the creation of legitimate sites.”

The challenge for enterprise security stems from security tools still relying on classic network signals and traditional endpoint telemetry alone, the report noted. Even AI models trained on network-based telemetry fall short because firewalls and secure web gateways lack visibility into browser telemetry.

This weakness has spurred the growth of the browser attack vector, it continued. Without improved visibility into browser-specific telemetry, security teams will remain exposed to zero-hour phishing attacks.