Search this site

As of March 2021, one in three websites on the internet runs on Nginx, according to a web survey by Netcraft. Nginx web server powers high performance applications in a responsive, efficient manner and is useful for load balancing, HTTP caching, mail proxying, and reverse proxying. With the ability to handle 40,000 inactive HTTP connections with just 10Mb of memory, it is the go-to choice for high-traffic sites. This blog will cover the hardening tips to improve your cybersecurity posture. Step 1. Disable Any Unwanted nginx Modules When you install nginx, it automatically includes many modules. Currently, you cannot choose modules at runtime. To disable certain modules, you need to recompile nginx. It’s recommend to disable any modules that are not required as this will minimize the risk of potential attacks by limiting allowed operations. To do this, use the configure option during installation. In the example below, we disable the autoindex module, which generates automatic directory listings, and then recompile nginx. # ./configure --without-http_autoindex_module # make # make install Step 2. Disable nginx server_tokens By default, the server_tokens directive in nginx displays the nginx version number. It is directly visible in all automatically generated error pages but also present in all HTTP responses in the server header. This could lead to information disclosure – an unauthorized user could gain knowledge about the version of nginx that you use. You should disable the server_tokens directivr in the nginx configuration file by setting server_tokens off. Step 3. Control Resources and Limits To prevent potential DoS attacks on nginx, you can set buffer size limitations for all clients. You can do this in the nginx configuration file using the following directives: • client_body_buffer_size – use this directive to specify the client request body buffer size. The default value is 8k or 16k but it is recommended to set this as low as 1k: client_body_buffer_size 1k. • client_header_buffer_size – use this directive to specify the header buffer size for the client request header. A buffer size of 1k is adequate for most requests. • client_max_body_size – use this directive to specify the maximum accepted body size for a client request. A 1k directive should be sufficient but you need to increase it if you are receiving file uploads via the POST method. • large_client_header_buffers – use this directive to specify the maximum number and size of buffers to be used to read large client request headers. A large_client_header_buffers 2 1k directive sets the maximum number of buffers to 2, each with a maximum size of 1k. This directive will accept 2 kB data URI. Step 4. Disable Any Unwanted HTTP methods We suggest that you disable any HTTP methods, which are not going to be utilized and which are not required to be implemented on the web server. If you add the following condition in the location block of the nginx virtual host configuration file, the server will only allow GET, HEAD, and POST methods and will filter out methods such as DELETE and TRACE. location / { limit_except GET HEAD POST { deny all; } } Another approach is to add the following condition to the server section (or server block). It can be regarded as more universal but you should be careful with if statements in the location context. if ($request_method !~ ^(GET|HEAD|POST)$ ) { return 444; } Step 5. Install ModSecurity for Your nginx Web Server ModSecurity is an open-source module that works as a web application firewall. Its functionalities include filtering, server identity masking, and null-byte attack prevention. The module also lets you perform real-time traffic monitoring. We recommend that you follow the ModSecurity manual to install the mod_security module in order to strengthen your security options. Step 6. Set Up and Configure nginx Access and Error Logs The nginx access and error logs are enabled by default and are located in logs/error.log and logs/access.log respectively. If you want to change the location, you can use the error_log directive in the nginx configuration file. You can also use this directive to specify the logs that will be recorded according to their severity level. For example, a crit severity level will cause nginx to log critical issues and all issues that have a higher severity level than crit. To set the severity level to crit, set the error_log directive as follows: error_log logs/error.log crit; Step 7. Monitor nginx Access and Error Logs If you continuously monitor and manage nginx log files you can better understand requests made to your web server and also notice any encountered errors. This will help you discover any attack attempts as well as identify what can you do to optimize the server performance. You can use log management tools, such as logrotate, to rotate and compress old logs and free up disk space. Also, the ngx_http_stub_status_module module provides access to basic status information. You can also invest in nginx Plus, the commercial version of nginx, which provides real-time activity monitoring of traffic, load, and other performance metrics. Step 8. Configure Nginx to Include Security Headers To additionally harden your nginx web server, you can add several different HTTP headers. Here are some of the options that we recommend. X-Frame-Options You use the X-Frame-Options HTTP response header to indicate if a browser should be allowed to render a page in a or an

As of March 2021, one in three websites on the internet runs on Nginx, according to a web survey by Netcraft. Nginx web server powers high-performance applications in a responsive, efficient manner and is useful for load balancing, HTTP caching, mail proxying, and reverse proxying. With the ability to handle 40,000 inactive HTTP connections with just 10Mb of memory, it is the go-to choice for high-traffic sites. This blog will cover the Common Nginx misconfigurations that leave your web server open to attack. Common Nginx Misconfigurations 1. Passing Uncontrolled Requests to PHP Most Nginx example configs for PHP advocate for passing every URI ending in .php to the PHP interpreter which could result in arbitrary code execution by third parties on most PHP setups. In this example, all requests that the .php file extension will be passed to the FastCGI backend. A default PHP configuration is set so that it attempts to guess the file you want to execute in cases where the full path specified does not lead to a file that exists on the system. Let's say you request for /cyber/security/nginx.php, which does not exist while /cyber / security /nginx.gif actually does exist; the PHP interpreter will process /cyber / security /nginx.gif. If nginx.gif contains embedded PHP code, it will execute. 2. Alias LFI Misconfiguration Inside the Nginx configuration look the "location" statements, if someone looks like: There is a LFI vulnerability because: Transforms to: The correct configuration will be: So, if you find some Nginx server you should check for this vulnerability. Also, you can discover it if you find that the files/directories brute force is behaving weird. 3. Missing Root Location The root directive is positioning in your configuration matters. One of the Nginx configuration pitfalls that administrators are strongly warned against is putting the root directive inside location blocks. If you add root to every location block individually, then an unmatched location block will lack root, which would cause errors. Conversely, failure to put the root directive in a location block would give access to the root folder of the server block. In the above example, the root folder is /etc/nginx/app meaning that files in this folder are available to us. However there is no location for / i.e location / { } but only for /cybersecurity.jpeg. As such, a request like GET ../nginx.conf would show the content of the config file etc/nginx/nginx.conf As such, requests to / will take you to the path specified in the root directive which is globally set. The most common root paths were the following: 4. Using non-standard document root locations Deviating from the standard root document locations laid out in the Filesystem Hierarchy Standard might seem like a fun idea sometimes. That is of course until someone requests for a file they should not be able to access and you end up getting compromised. In the above example, a request for /etc/passwd would reveal your etc/passwd file meaning attackers would have your user list and password hashes and if your Nginx workers run as root, how your passwords have been hashed as well. 5. Unsafe variable use Some frameworks, scripts and Nginx configurations unsafely use the variables stored by Nginx. This can lead to issues such as XSS, bypassing HttpOnly-protection, information disclosure and in some cases even RCE. SCRIPT_NAME With a configuration such as the following: The main issue will be that Nginx will send any URL to the PHP interpreter ending in .php even if the file doesn’t exist on disc. This is a common mistake in many Nginx configurations, as outlined in the “Pitfalls and Common Mistakes” document created by Nginx. An XSS will occur if the PHP-script tries to define a base URL based on SCRIPT_NAME USAGE OF $URI CAN LEAD TO CRLF INJECTION Another misconfiguration related to Nginx variables is to use $uri or $document_uri instead of $request_uri. $uri and $document_uri contain the normalized URI whereas the normalization in Nginx includes URL decoding the URI. Volema found that $uri is commonly used when creating redirects in the Nginx configuration which results in a CRLF injection. An example of a vulnerable Nginx configuration is: The new line characters for HTTP requests are \r (Carriage Return) and \n (Line Feed). URL-encoding the new line characters results in the following representation of the characters %0d%0a. When these characters are included in a request like http://localhost/%0d%0aDetectify:%20clrf to a server with the misconfiguration, the server will respond with a new header named Detectify since the $uri variable contains the URL-decoded new line characters. 6. Raw backend response reading With Nginx’s proxy_pass, there’s the possibility to intercept errors and HTTP headers created by the backend. This is very useful if you want to hide internal error messages and headers so they are instead handled by Nginx. Nginx will automatically serve a custom error page if the backend answers with one. But what if Nginx does not understand that it’s an HTTP response? If a client sends an invalid HTTP request to Nginx, that request will be forwarded as-is to the backend, and the backend will answer with its raw content. Then, Nginx won’t understand the invalid HTTP response and just forward it to the client. Imagine a uWSGI application like this: And with the following directives in Nginx: proxy_intercept_errors will serve a custom response if the backend has a response status greater than 300. In our uWSGI application above, we will send a 500 Error which would be intercepted by Nginx. proxy_hide_header is pretty much self explanatory; it will hide any specified HTTP header from the client. If we send a normal GET request, Nginx will return: But if we send an invalid HTTP request, such as: We will get the following response:

In Python, traditionally the functions are declared with the def keyword, while anonymous functions are defined without a name using the lambda keyword. The syntax of a Lambda function is - lambda arguments: expression Lambda functions can take any number of parameters but can only execute one expression. We use lambda functions when we require a nameless function. At first, Lambda functions seem difficult to grasp. They are brief in length yet can be a challenge for a beginner. So, in this blog, you'll discover the potential of lambda functions in Python and how to apply them to fundamental list and data frame operations. Let us first load the pandas library and a sample dataset to work on: >>> import pandas as pd >>> from vega_datasets import data >>> df = data.barley() >>> df Output: List Operations >>> site_names = df['site'].unique().tolist() Traditionally, we use for loops to iterate through a list of elements and apply simple functions. But these for loops can be inconvenient, making the Python code big and untidy. Let us see an example of a for loop and how we can efficiently obtain similar results through Lambda. >>> for i in site_names: >>> i = ''.join(i.split()) >>> i = i.lower() >>> print(i) Output: 1. Example using Map() The map() method uses a lambda function and a List and performs the lambda function to all the elements and returns a new List. >>> a = site_names >>> b = list(map(lambda x: ''.join(x.split()).lower(), a)) >>> print(b) Output: 2. Example using Filter() The filter() method uses a lambda function and a List and performs the lambda function to all the elements while filtering the data. >>> yield_list = df['yield'].tolist() >>> sub_list = list(filter(lambda x: x > 50, yield_list)) >>> sub_list Output: 3. Example using Reduce() Using the Reduce() function, the function described by lambda is applied to the first two elements and the result is stored. Thereafter, the function is next applied to the result and third element, and so on. Finally, the list is reduced to a single value at the end. >>> from functools import reduce >>> reduce(lambda a,b: a if (a > b) else b, sub_list) Output: Dataframe Operations 1. Add a new column by applying function on an existing column using Dataframe.assign() >>> df = df.assign(yield_Percentage = lambda x: (x['yield']/df['yield'].sum()) * 100) >>> df Output: Here, we created a new column ‘yield_Percentage’, and populated it by converting the yield values to percentages. 2. Add a new column using if-else on an existing column using Dataframe.apply() >>> df['yield_category'] = df['yield'].apply(lambda x: 'Low' if x < 40 else 'High') >>> df Output: Here, we created a new column ‘yield_category’ and using an if-else condition on the column ‘yield, assigned ‘Low’ if the yield is less than 40 units or else ‘High’. 3. Iterating over dataframe using Dataframe.apply() Similar to the Map() function, the Apply() method takes a function as input and applies it to the entire dataframe. First, we define a function: >>> def filtering(site, yield_Percentage): >>> if(site in ['University Farm', 'Waseca', 'Morris']) and yield_Percentage > 1: >>> return 1 >>> else: >>> return 0 Secondly, the lambda function is used to iterate across the rows of the dataframe. For every row, we feed the ‘year’, ‘site’, and the ‘yield_Percentage’ column to the filtering function. Finally, axis=0 or axis=1 is mentioned to specify whether the operation is to be applied to the columns or rows, respectively. >>> df["invest"] = df.apply(lambda row: filtering(row["site"], row["yield_Percentage"]), axis=1) >>> df Output: Here, we created a new column ‘invest’ based on the function ‘filtering’ where value 1 is assigned to the rows where yield percentage in the sites 'University Farm', 'Waseca', 'Morris' is more than 1, and otherwise 0.

With the NSO group’s Pegasus in the global news, there is a buzz around people wanting to know what it exactly is and how it functions so that necessary preventive measures can be taken. From what can be gathered, Pegasus has been identified as a zero click attack, to understand this form of attack some fundamental questions have to be raised. One must as themselves if you can be under threat even when you are just surfing the internet and being careful about not clicking on suspicious links? Is the big brother watching you and who is this big brother? Should one be bothered by hacks being reported or is it just the high-profiled people being targeted? We will try to find the answers to some of these questions in this piece. By the end, it will mainly enable a reader to know what a zero-click attack is and how it functions, along with important methods to save oneself from these sneak attacks being perpetrated in today’s world. What is a Zero-Click-Attack? As one might guess from the name, a zero-click-attack requires zero clicks, which means that this type of cyber threat does not require any voluntary action from the targeted user. This implies that even a very careful and conscious internet user can fall prey to such spyware. When compared to other cyber-attacks and breaches, a phishing network is generally used which means that at some point while using the device, the targeted user must have performed some action (as little as a click on a malicious link) to trigger the spyware in question. But, a zero-click attack, on the other hand, exploits the flaws of the targeted device which means any and all types of devices including macOS, Windows, iOS, and even Android. These attacks use data verification loopholes to work their way up in one’s device. Even though the softwares are continually upgraded and patches are covered by minor updates some loopholes remain and lead to theft of data and privacy. Why should you be worried about a Zero-Click-Attack? Common people like you and me should be careful. These zero-click attacks can be a cause of worry because they are now happening in real life, they are not just a part of sci-fi movies which have unrealistic plots. Science is moving forward and so are the ways hackers trying to steal data. And data as we all know is very important in today’s world, it will be tomorrow’s hottest currency. Mass cyber-attacks are common but zero-click attacks are highly targeted and use sophisticated technology. These attacks can have egregious consequences, which could result in one risking and ultimately losing one’s entire life without even one’s knowledge since they work in the background. Another reason one should be worried is that these malicious softwares install themselves in the background and steal the already existing data on the device along with using the camera, microphone, and location coordinates, so basically real-time data theft also. How does a Zero-Click-Attack work? A zero-click attack primarily looks for loopholes in data verification. So something like an Application Push Notification (APNs) feature could aid a spyware like Pegasus to enter and treat data like its own. Un-updated or not up-to-date softwares are the breeding ground for such attacks since they have not been upgraded with the latest security features to protect themselves from such breaches. A step-by-step guide on how zero-click attacks work: The spyware handler or the threat actor will study and look for any loopholes or vulnerabilities that can be taken advantage of. In other words, it looks for areas that can be exploited in applications that are already on the phone (WhatsApp video-missed call feature, 2019) The second step involves planning on how to inject the spyware into the targeted user’s device. Generally, special data is crafted which might include hidden text messages or images which trigger the spyware and it starts functioning on the victim’s device. The final step involves exploiting the data and privacy of the targeted user. The spyware is made in a way that it does not let the victim know that it is running in the background and keeps sending sensitive data to the person exploiting it. In addition to this, it does not leave any traces behind. Usually, it has a self-destruct mechanism and just vanishes from the targeted user’s device. Are there any other Zero-Click-Attacks apart from Pegasus? As of now not a lot of zero-click attack Spy wares are known to the common people. Pegasus has become widely known because of the allegations that the Indian Government had been spying on several people. And even Pegasus has not always been a zero-click attack spyware. The earliest attack that can be identified which was perpetrated by Pegasus dates back to 2016 which used a spear-phishing technique. It was only in 2019 that the NSO developed Pegasus was identified as a zero-click attack spyware. However, there are other communities where these softwares can be easily found and deployed or even customized, like GitHub, which serves as an open online community of coders. Can you prevent yourself from a Zero-Click-Attack? As we already learned that any patch left untreated can become a data hazard, it seems practically impossible to prevent oneself from such an attack. If we look at how the infamous data breach happened in 2019 via WhatsApp, it was triggered by missed calls and how can one protect themselves from not getting missed calls. The most difficult solution would be to use an archaic handset and discard all smartphones but does not seem feasible in today’s fast pacing world. The only preventive measure that can be taken at large is keeping our devices updated and install all and any minor patches that are fixed by the software providers. Upgrading your phone periodically is also a good idea but it might come off as an expensive one and not as eco-friendly considering how less than 20% of the e-waste is recycled sustainably (according to a report by the United Nations, 2019).

We have all been seeing Pegasus in the news, it is the hottest spyware right now out in the world. But are we paying attention to the right details? Do we know if it will affect us and if it does to what extent, is there a cause of worry? And most importantly, is there a way we can stop it or at the very least, protect ourselves. Politicians and Allies have started accusing each other of spying and saying that their fundamental rights are being violated. We will try to find the answer to most of these questions in this article. What is Pegasus? Pegasus is a malware or a malicious software developed by an Israeli firm NSO Group, it has been in existence since 2010. Pegasus is classified as a spyware because of its ability to be able to gain access to devices, even without the knowledge of the user and then it starts gathering personal information on the user’s device which is sent back to the server or whoever is using this malicious software to spy. It must also be noted, that Pegasus not only transmits the information and data stored on the targeted mobile phone device, it can also turn on the camera and microphone to transmit real-time photos, videos and, audio of the targeted user along with exact location co-ordinates, without the targeted user being aware of any of it. It runs, in the background and also comes with a self-destruct mechanism, if caught or a built-in self-destruct feature after the job is done i.e. the required information is extracted or even a time based self-destruct feature, which means that after a specified period of time, the malware vanishes from the mobile phone. How does it work? From what can be gathered in the news is that the spyware in question does not require any interaction from the target but it was not always like that. According to the brochure provided by Pegasus, it was described as an Enhanced Social Engineering Message (ESEM), up until early 2018. In simpler words, it means that only when a malicious link packaged as ESEM is interacted with or clicked will it start its dirty job of spying and delivering the suitable remote exploit. Also, until early 2018, it had been known that the clients primarily relied upon WhatsApp messages and Short Message Service (SMS) to ploy the target user into opening the malicious links, which further infect the mobile phone device. But now, the times have changed and the technology has become more sophisticated, Pegasus can now be deployed in newer ways. This means prying on people’s privacy is now easier and the chances of getting caught have also reduced manifolds. Pegasus now uses a zero-click method of attacking and also comes with a self-destruct mechanism in-built upon being caught. Now, for Pegasus to be installed and working on a target user’s mobile phone as much as a WhatsApp video missed call is enough. The user does not even have to answer the call for the malware to be installed and up and running. What is a ‘zero-click’ attack? A zero-click attack is an attack that is performed remotely without the knowledge of the user or the target’s engagement. It works by the way of network injections. This gives Pegasus an edge over the other spyware available in the market. As mentioned above, just a missed video call is enough to infect the target user’s device. Another way is an Over-the-air (OTA) option, in this method, a push message is sent covertly which compels the target user’s device to install the software even when the user is unaware and particularly has no control over this. Is your device at risk? It does not matter which operating system you are using whether an Android or an iOS device. Your mobile phone device might still be at risk of getting infected by this spyware called Pegasus. Initially, it was observed that iPhones in particular were targeted through Apple’s default Push Notification Services (APN) protocol and the iMessage app. The spyware will mimic and impersonate as a downloaded application to an iPhone and start transmitting itself via Apple’s servers through push notifications. In 2016, a report about the existence of Pegasus was made to the Cybersecurity firm, Lookout, by the Citizen Lab (an interdisciplinary laboratory based in the University of Toronto). These organisations flagged the threat to Apple and in addition, Google and Lookout made public the details of an Android version of Pegasus. How does Pegasus infect a device? According to the Pegasus brochure, all that is needed to infect a device is a phone number. The phone number of the targeted user is fed to the system for a network injection and the rest of the job is done automatically by the spyware. It might not work sometimes though, in cases when the targeted device’s operating system is upgraded with new security protections or is not supported by the NSO system. The brochure also mentions that the malware can be “manually injected and installed in less than five minutes” and this is possible if physical access is provided to the target device. Is there a way to prevent ourselves? Mobile phone makers and software developers try that the newer versions of the phone are always bug-free and also roll out updates as and when a need is felt. This patching is done to fix minor bugs and make the system stronger and less vulnerable to attacks. Also, as the Pegasus brochure clearly mentions that “installation from browsers other than the device default (and also chrome for android based devices) is not supported by the system”, which means that one can protect themselves by changing their default browsers. One might believe that the best way to protect themselves against such attacks is by switching phones and going back to the archaic handset which allows only basic calls and messages but in this fast-moving world, it will be hard to keep up. Hence, the best way to be less vulnerable to these attacks is by keeping your device’s operating system updated at all times and if your budget allows, change your handset every couple of years, this is perhaps the most expensive yet most effective remedy.

Was the call you received from your boss asking you to do something unusual, really your boss? Is the person in the questionable picture/video of an acquaintance being circulated really them? It is fun to use an app to sound like a famous artist and see your favourite actor do stunts that do not seem physically possible. But the former situations can put one in a risky position. The internet and Artificial Intelligence have made our lives easier but they also bring with them the risks, which include fraud and deception. Spreading misinformation is as far as a click away. The infamous Public Service Announcement by Barack Obama in 2018, which was created using Deep Fake tools took the internet by storm and created a buzz around the concept. The reason this buzz should be created again is because we as a community are spending more time on the internet, more than ever. With the pandemic in full swing and most organisations planning to shift to a permanent work from home structure for most positions opens up opportunities for people to work remotely and breaks down geographical barriers. But it also increases the risk of fraud, especially with technology advancing at such a fast pace and false information getting harder to verify. The scope of AI-generated deep Fakes has also expanded in various aspects which now include not only sophisticated visuals/ videos but also audios. Deep Fake phishing differs from email phishing and looks more authentic and is harder to catch. To understand and defeat the purpose of a deep Fake it is important to learn how it works. Basically, a programmer uses an AI tool which understands and solves complex problems of datasets. It is trained to study the behaviour of a photo/person and learns to paste it on existing content by carefully learning the angels and reactions which eventually produces synthetic media. Although there are many ways off creating fake media the most common way includes using auto encoders on the deep neural networks. Let’s understand this step-wise: Finding the content which has to be over-written. Gathering enough media of the person to be duped. Using an auto-encoder which employs a face-swapping technology. The auto-encoder will learn and study the person from various angles and environments which will eventually map the features and paste the video/ over-write the content. After this, a Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) is added to the mix, this is a machine learning tool. It improves the quality of the media by detecting any flaws, within multiple rounds. Apart from these sophisticated technologies, there is a wide presence of apps which make it easier for a common man to create such synthetic media. Most common apps include FaceApp, Zao, DeepFace App. Also, as the software development community is becoming more open day –by-day, Github which is an open source community provides deep fakes. Increased accessibility to such tools can prove to be dangerous to teenagers and their mental health with increased cyber crimes. Talking of audio Deep fakes, they can be used to make fake calls and transfer money. There is a threat of stolen identity in which the user can either create new accounts and commit fraud or can access an already existing account and transfer funds and steal. How to save yourself? As of now, India does not have any regulations explicitly for deep fakes, so the most plausible way to save yourself from such a threat is to be aware and keep an eye out for anything that looks suspicious. Some synthetic media can easily be detected because of its poor quality, like automated calls, which could sound computerised and mechanical. Similarly, biometrics can be used in combination with a two-factor authentication which includes One Time Passwords, etc.. Also, for videos, one can look out for movements like facial expressions, hair movement, the smoothness of skin, the sync of audio and video and most importantly teeth. A mediocre deep fake might not focus on such aspects and this is where attentiveness can fill the gap. But with more sophisticated and smarter technology being deployed, these things can easily be corrected and a so-called flawless impersonation might not be that difficult to achieve. The need of the hour will be to cross-check unusual things until an anti-deep fake or a detection technology is widely available.

The coming together of three big factors—the pandemic, growing privacy concerns among users and governments, and changes initiated by Big Tech giants—will change the way the marketing and advertising industry functions in the coming decade. The covid pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital technologies and this sudden change promises to disrupt marketing as a lever of business as we know it today. Given the direct impact this has on revenues and revenue growth, this issue warrants the attention of business leaders. Consumer concerns on privacy have grown over the years. The rampant use of user data for behaviour manipulation, including for elections, has raised hackles worldwide among businesses, governments and people at large. Consumers are getting increasingly conscious of how their data is being used. A recent update of WhatsApp’s privacy policy, allowing the service to share user data with its parent Facebook, created a furore. Together, these issues have led governments to enact privacy laws across the world. These laws have mandated businesses to collect data in a manner that is compliant with norms, and which protects the right to privacy of consumers. In India, the Personal Data Protection Bill (PDPB) is in its final stages of passage through Parliament. While laws related to information technology have been in existence since the early 2000s, these were focused on cybercrime and activity such as hacking, spam and offensive personal messaging. Privacy laws such as the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and India’s PDPB have changed two things: 1) they acknowledge that devices such as smartphones are an intrinsic part of a person’s identity, and hence, any information that can be used to profile an individual comes under the ambit of laws; and 2) these laws articulate what is consent—that it should be free, informed, specific, clear, and capable of being withdrawn. This evolving landscape around privacy is what has forced tech giants Google and Apple to toughen their stance on privacy. Last year, Google had announced the blocking of third-party cookies effective January 2022. As we approach this deadline, Google has signalled that it shall not allow any form of alternative identifiers across its suite of products. Apple had taken an aggressive privacy-first stance even earlier, and upped the ante on trust. With the release of iOS 14, it has mandated privacy ‘nutrition labelling’ on its App Store and mandated consumer consent for tracking purposes. These Big Tech companies are also increasingly subject to more regulation by governments, given their ability to create monopolistic or oligopolistic markets and control the playing field. The recent Information Technology (Guidelines for Intermediaries and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules in India and the landmark News Media Bargaining Code in Australia are a few examples of anti-trust laws that are coming up across the world. The faster adoption of digital media driven by the pandemic means that business processes need to be digitized and delivered seamlessly as customer experiences across the internet. The onus of delivering these experiences calls for collaboration among experts of marketing, technology, design, cybersecurity and law. The emergence of privacy laws requires businesses to collect and use data in ways that are both ethical and compliant. So, while designing and delivering customer experiences, business leaders need to be on top of data protection and consent management, even as they ensure that processes are set up for ethical and sensitive use of data. A data breach has multiple costs and entails various risks, including financial risk, legal risk, compliance risk and the biggest of all, reputational risk. Privacy is being weaponized and any laxity on behalf of a business could have serious consequences. Any inadvertent data breach results in loss of reputation and the possibility of legal action. On the positive side, the evolving privacy landscape presents brands and advertisers an opportunity to educate and strengthen their relationship with customers and get to know them better. Businesses will need to invest in harnessing their own customers data across platforms, as every company now needs to behave like a tech company. Consequently, customer relationship management (CRM) modules will go mainstream and be fully integrated into marketing efforts.. Harvesting market research and aggregated anonymized data is also critical to enriching this first-party data. These strategies will help businesses bridge the gap between consumer insights and marketing implementation, which will soon be constrained by the death of third-party cookies. The end of browser-based third-party cookies also means that campaign planning, targeting, optimization and measurement are affected. The move signifies the death of re-targeting and lookalike marketing as practised today. Cost-per- impression-based buying will transition to cost-per-click/engagement-based buying. Walled gardens such as Google will only provide attribution within their publishing domain. Businesses need to evolve mechanisms to measure their marketing campaigns to be able to determine omni-channel effectiveness. With less than eight months left for the purge of third-party cookies and a rapidly evolving regulatory framework, businesses need to be ready to implement privacy-by-design in their marketing efforts. A sharp focus on first-party data and on contextual advertising is imminent. Time is running out and many businesses have yet to wake up to this reality. Co-Authored by Lloyd Mathias, Co-Founder & Angel Invester at Com Olho As published on Livemint

The Global Pandemic due to Covid-19 around the world has set up a new level of e-commerce world for us and everything has shifted to “Digital” now. The transactions are digital to the maximum extent. Watching this dependence of the whole community over internet has also led to an extreme spike in internet frauds. One such type of fraud is called Synthetic Identity Fraud which we are going to discuss about in this topic today. For getting their hands over Synthetic Identity frauds, the fraudsters use a fusion of made up and real information of people which may include email addresses, social security numbers, their physical addresses and so on. They use this information with their made-up data for applying to loans, credit cards or to buy goods from any e-commerce website. What is a Synthetic Fraud? Unlike the bank frauds where a fraudster theft your real information so as to get financial benefits with fraudulent means, the Synthetic fraudsters not only steals your information, but also make up some fake or imaginary customer identities of people by merging their made-up data and the real data together. And, they do this for deceiving financial institutions and businesses. How does Synthetic Fraud work? As we know now, such type of frauds is performed by combining a number of fictional elements or by merging multiple identity elements of real people. For example, a combination of Social Security Number (stolen) with some real address that is generally a P.O. Box. Fraudsters steal the Social Security Number of either a child or of an elderly individual because these numbers are not taken in use as actively as other details. After this, that scammer will make their credit profile better by making small purchases over months or years. This improved credit score will now help them to make large purchases at a time. And then, they stop applying for credit or loans using this identity. Impact on the Merchants With the increasing number of such Synthetic Identity frauds, merchants get affected of course. And, all this can impact them in the following three ways: First of all, the merchants who offer credit accounts can get under a huge loss directly. Secondly, the sellers who sell high ticket products by working with third party can be obligated for such frauds depending on their agreement. Thirdly, such frauds increase the overall costing of business for anyone. And lastly, as such fraudsters steal some extent of the data for real information of individuals, so merchants or retailers should always ensure that the data of their system does not get breached. Thus, no one should disclose any kind of information about their customer to anyone asking for it or they should not let anyone sneak into their system anyhow. Combating the risk of Synthetic Identity Frauds With the continuously enhancing numbers of synthetic frauds in every type of e-commerce industry, businesses should always know that if the customers of their e-commerce business are exactly the person who they claim to be online. This becomes more important when someone is purchasing a quite large good from an e-commerce website. Howsoever, identity verification of anyone making a purchase is extremely crucial to know whether they are real person or are just claiming to be a real person. E-commerce sector should also go for Digital Verification Technology so as to know one’s authenticity as it can significantly help a business in identifying synthetic frauds. Locations, devices or individual behavioural patterns are very difficult to imitate. Hence, the key of interpreting such synthetic frauds lies in the ability to detect the digital footprints of a user and comparing these to known individuals with normal behaviours. Another protective layer for protecting the companies from frauds should include the process of sending a temporary password only on their verified mobile numbers which should be confirmed prior making a purchase. If not for every purchase, such processes should be included for risky or huge purchases or transactions. Effective models for detection of synthetic frauds include the specific analyzation of customer behaviours which can be done by uncovering the peculiarities and the questionable motif while opening accounts, or trading in all the e-commerce industries. Such suave and advanced technology is able to do the following: Detection of synthetic identities just while their origination, that is, before any lending decision. Removal of such synthetic identities from pre-qualification or prescreen programs. To decreases the amount of waste efforts regarding back-office collections, such technology can monitor the already registered accounts to disassociate the synthetic identities which already exist in your portfolio. Mollifying the effects of Synthetic identity frauds over populations which may include recent immigrants, new to credit customers or the people who have damaged credit. Tips and Learnings E-commerce frauds puts any online business into high risks which should be mollified by using and implementing an advanced system for identifying such identity frauds. Every business should find time and analyse the areas in which such identity frauds most likely occur and how they occur. Retailers should go through a detailed analyzation and testing of all the relevant transactions and also, they should monitor the controls well. A constant and timely monitoring schedule can improve a company’s hold on their customer’s authenticity and thus will decrease the frauds. This way they can immediately notice as well as fix the rules which are broken. Therefore, it is recommended that all the employees of a company should “dog-food” the system which will ultimately facilitate a better customer experience. As we already know how Covid-19 made such frauds relentless. However, the alternative approaches and changing schemes has complicated the detection of fraud even more. Considering any of the factor of this worldwide pandemic, which may include regulatory requirements, economic conditions, and IT source constraints; it becomes difficult to keep up. So, understanding all about the Synthetic Identity Fraud, you can reduce the risk by implying some prominent tactics discussed.

I had a few notions about Com Olho when I joined the startup understanding that it is a new enterprise with a small team but ever since I joined, I have no regrets. It has been a steep learning curve. Working here has been a voyage of self-discovery – a unique experience. A small team, extremely hard working people, flexible timings, multi-tasking and a vibrant work culture are some of the things that define this place. The best part here is they have a flatter, more open organisational structure, where every person is at the forefront of the business with every act of his/her making a difference to the company’s fortunes. I work as a Marketing Associate here. Before joining Com Olho, I hadn’t had any experience in marketing. I used to work as an Accounts Manager. The amount of faith put on me is unmatched. I have a large creative space – with no restrictions. I can literally come up with anything that makes sense and aligns with the business ideas. They offer an environment where every employee’s voice is heard and matters. I feel a sense of freedom and ownership working here. As if I don’t belong to Com Olho but Com Olho belongs to me. It’s something deeply personal and I will feel a special connection. And that’s what being in a start-up boils down to — more opportunity for ownership, for responsibility, and for growth. I believe there is a lot of scope within Com Olho to experiment. I am happy to be a part of a team that has a new product and the experience is teaching me to be independent, flexible, resilient and make the most out of the available resources. It is a new entity and the self-learning skills I have developed will always be valuable over the course of my career. Also the team has been really considerate in tough times like this. Ensuring colleagues' well-being and safety are their priorities. Our founder, Abhinav Bangia always says – ‘Stop watching too much Digital’ and this is something which brings a bit of sanity and comfort. A determined creator and marketer, I have a passion for crafting meaningful content. I’m always on the lookout for the next good story, idea or digital trend – meanwhile my very own story remains a perpetual work in progress. Connect with me on LinkedIn : Link

Advertising Fraud is a growing menace among advertisers globally. HP Enterprise in its Business of Hacking highlighted ad fraud as the most easiest and lucrative cybercrime. In a 2017 report Juniper Research estimates ad fraud to be worth US$19billion equivalent to $51 million per day. This figure, representing advertising on online and mobile devices, will continue to rise, reaching $44 billion by 2022. Fraud is generally defined in the law as intentional misrepresentation of information or material’s existing fact made by one or multiple people to another person with knowledge of its falsity and for inducing the other person to act, and upon which the other person can take on severe damages in terms of performance, reputation and finances. Goals for Assessment 1. Highlight the fraud focus points (High) where the performance of an audit may need to be adjusted. 2. Provide assurance that the risk of ad fraud is being effectively incorporated within the risk assessment. 3. Minimise the risk of overlooking fraud during assessment stages. 4. Build Reports for clients admissible in court for fraudulent traffic supply. Com Olho’s Risk Model A risk model maps and assess the advertiser’s vulnerability to identify ad fraud scenarios, with a scale defined as below : Fig 1.1 : Com Olho's Risk Model Tests 1. Deterministic Deep Tech based single test to find presence of fraudulent advertising traffic. 2. Non Traditional Deterministic Test for Organic Hijacking. 3. Non Traditional Deterministic Test for Bot Mixing. Results Upon investigation, depending on scale of campaigns, KPI of campaigns, advertiser awareness etc. Fraud impacts all forms of advertising budgets, even with the most strongest KPI's. Follow the table below to understand vulnerabilities percentages. Fig 1.1 : Vulnerabilities Percentages v/s KPI Want to learn more about the tests? Drop an email to abhinav@comolho.com

Digital twins are in reality the virtual repetition of physical tools that the data scientists and the IT devices make use of for running the simulations prior to the actual tools being built and deployed. Today, these digital twins are becoming more and more advanced and changing the way technologies like IoT, AI can be optimised. How will you describe digital twin technology? The Digital twin technology is moving higher from the manufacturing viewpoint and moving towards the merging of the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, and data analytics. As more and more complex things start to become associated with the adaptability of producing information, having a digital friend raises the ability of the IT professionals and data scientists in optimising the deployments for better efficiency and creating imaginary scenarios. Describe the working of a digital twin technology A digital twin commences its life when it is built by specialists, more often by the experts in data science or in applied mathematics. These developers do proper research in the physics that define any physical thing or system being imitated and use the same for developing a mathematical model that boosts the real-world origin in the digital space life being built by specialists, often experts in data science or applied mathematics. The twin-magic: The twin is built so that it is able to receive the inputs from the sensors that collect the data from the real-world counterparts. This will empower the twin to boost the physical material in the real sense and time, in the procedure providing the insights of functionality and the potential difficulties. The twin can also be designed on the basis of the prototype of its physical aspects in this situation the twin is able to provide feedback as the product is refined. The twin can also serve like a prototype itself prior to any physical object or version being built. Some uses of Digital twin technology. There are two examples that state the use of digital twins: the car and a cargo vessel. Materials like an aircraft engine, train, offshore platform, and turbine can be easily designed and also tested digitally prior to being produced physically. These twins can also be used for maintenance work. For instance, technicians may use a digital twin for testing about a proposed affix to the physical twin. Digital-twin business operation can be found in numerous sectors:- Manufacturing is one of those sectors where advancements of digital twins are possibly the farthest ones, along with factories that are already making use of digital twins for boosting their performances, as per several types of research from many industries and companies. Automotive digital twins are built more likely because of the fact that many cars are already fitted with mensuration sensors, but the refining of the technology is becoming more vital because of the increasing number of autonomous vehicles hitting the roads. Healthcare is that sector that will produce the digital twins of the people we've been talking about. Band-aid sized sensors will send the health data back to the digital twin which will further be used to monitor and in examining the patient's well-being and conditions. Understanding the relation between Digital twins and the Internet of Things Clearly, we can say the IoT sensors today are a big part of what makes the digital twins more likely. And as IoT devices are refined, the digital twin cases will comprise smaller and lower difficult materials, which will give extra advantages to the industries. Digital twins are more generally used for predicting many outcomes that are based on variable information. This is the same as running the stimulation case which is often seen in science fiction and films, where any digital scene is proven with the help of the digital environment. Along with the extra software and data analytics, digital twins are able to optimise an IoT disposal for maximum productivity, as well as will help the designers in figuring out where things must be going or the way they should operate prior to being physically disposed. In A Nutshell The more that a digital twin can imitate the physical material, the more possible chances are there that the efficiencies and other advantages can be seen. For example, in the manufacturing sector, where there are more instrumental tools, the more precise digital twins might be boosted to see how the devices are performing over time, which will help in making estimates of future functionality and chances of failure.

It’s 2021 and who doesn’t know about the existence of kickbacks in our advertising industry. A practice that is prevalent for ages in the marketing industry and still the agencies are happily performing it to earn more money. Advertisers are not very open to talking about the practices of kickbacks in the advertising industry, but still do perform it. It's kind of a legal form of bribe but it's still very controversial. What are kickbacks and what are their forms? Well, a kickback seems more of an illicit payment made in exchange for special benefits or some other form of shady service rendered. Cash, a reward, payment, or something of value may be used as a kickback. Kickbacks are a bribery activity that disrupts an employee's or public official's ability to make objective decisions. It's usually considered as a form of an illegitimate bribe. Why do kickbacks even exist? The answer lies in the highly ‘money-making’ intention of the industry where everyone wants to get filthy rich, by hook or crook. The issue of kickbacks is more of cultural practice in the industry where trust, ethics, and transparency are murdered. It’s all about hiding things better, the better you hide the better you can extract the money. Although there are several different types of kickbacks, they all involve collaboration between two parties. Example: For instance, a private or government company's business manager can accept a product invoice despite the fact that the bill is inaccurate. And the product seller may then pay the business manager a portion of the profit (or some other kind of reward). The detection and investigation of kickback schemes are one of the most complex forms of fraud. Let's look at among the most popular red flags of kickback. These might not always indicate that if something sinister is happening, but the more of these are present, the more likely a kickback scheme is taking on. Clients are overly pleased with vendors. Organisation compels workers to use a single vendor. There will be no open tender procedure (or lower bids are ignored) The seller has usually a history of legal or regulatory issues Organisations tend to use suppliers who deliver substandard goods or services. There's always a delay in delivery dates Mostly during the buying process, there is a lack of sufficient monitoring. Rates for products or services are higher than usual rates So, Do clients also take profit from kickbacks? To say, YES, to some extent, they can. There really is no doubt that a publisher would be willing to offer a rebate to high-spending customers. Rebates are provided by advertisers to guarantee that a larger portion of the inventory is purchased at a better price rather than being marketed at different prices through an ad exchange. However, a kickback can also help a client get a better inventory rate if it's in the company's or publisher's best interests to provide a lower value at the time to assure that the media purchase happens. This may be affected by how close an organisation is to achieve a kickback agreement and also how important the kickback is towards the business overall. How can the clients be more cautious dealing with kickbacks? To deal with kickbacks and lack of transparency, the client must ask certain questions to self and based on those should take further actions. Some of the basic and necessary questions that he or she should take into considerations are:- Is it possible to meet my target audience via other digital platforms? If that's the case, which platform is the most cost-effective? Can I recognise the difference between the expected and real rate that the publisher and my agency are supplying? Why aren't my inventory rates or estimates changing from reporting period to reporting period or campaign to campaign? (a clear sign that the department is accepting bribes) Are commercial marketplace agreements helping me achieve my promotional objectives? Who is creating the investment decisions, and why are they being made? Are there any extra data or custom innovations included in the package? If so, how can these contribute to my campaign's goals? Why is there so much delay in the supply? Should I do some more research about the agency? Why is there a shortage of communication? Conclusion Kickbacks in the media industry may come in the form of rebates or false charging for products that do not exist. Clients spend a value in the form of higher prices or a poorer quality of service than they would usually expect for their money. Agency fees are shrinking, and a difficult-to-understand digital marketplace is delivering the encouragement and shield for such behaviour. And as already said, it’s still one of the most complex forms of white-collar crimes that can be detected. Author : Auhsini Das About Her : With a Data Science degree from IIT Madras, Aushini enrich audience with her high quality tech articles. Having +5 years of experience in content writing, She work passionately to create copy that converts, with a focus on maintaining your authentic brand voice.

After our first year as Com Olho, we reflect on where we came from and where we're headed! The last 365 days have been filled with passion, excitement, hard work and a lot of fun. As we turn 1, we are looking back and celebrating our milestones and memories that happened along the way. On our very first day of the company, our first task was to just setup the chair and table. We din't have a website, a product or any kind of sales collateral. But we managed it all. "Com Olho" is a Portuguese word meaning "With Eyes". We found the name unique, high on brand-ability and most importantly it wasn't taken. We started up with a very simple vision, take a problem statement and solve it using advance technology, and today we have 3000 lines of committed code, 6 product update version releases and double digit sales collaterals. Hopefully thats enough reasons to take advantage of our birthday promotion.

As an aerospace engineer, I'd like to draw an analogy from airplane takeoff for digital transformation. In case of airplanes taxiing for takeoff, acceleration, which is the rate of change of speed, is directly related to the distance rolled on the runway. The slower the acceleration, the longer the distance needed before the aircraft achieves takeoff speed. If the aircraft never achieves the required acceleration, it cannot take off on the given runway. That's not too dissimilar to digital transformations. Acceleration, or rather the lack of it, can become a challenge. The initial experiments take so long that both stakeholders and organizations never see momentum develop. The disruption never takes off. Organizations are rapidly trying to evolve to survive the next industrial revolution. The rapid pace of change in the technology means that each digital idea has shorter-than-usual shelf life, which gives digital transformation much shorter runways to work with. Speed and iterative execution complement each other to dramatically reduce risk of failure of digital transformations. We would recommend that organizations on the path of digital transformations adopt speed (or in particular "innovation velocity") as a key metric. Speed (Innovation Velocity) as a Metric Innovation Velocity- the pace of innovation- is a key metric in many forward thinking organizations. Given the shorter runway for digital transformations, evaluating a large funnel of idea, each executed at low cost and high speed, is the best bet for hitting a few successes. This focus on speed is an even bigger challenge in larger, more stable organizations that aren't usually known for rapid or low-cost iterations. Successful tech companies like Amazon, Netflix and Alphabet have build this expectations of fast iterations into their cultures. Start-ups on the other hand, tend to work on one big idea but are excellent at low-cost and high speed iterations. The motivation system in a startup helps with agility. When money runs out, the game is over, and you need to find a new job. This obviously doesn't quite work well with larger organizations, given their cultures of job security and stability. Why More Organizations Don't Drive Speed ( and What Can be Done About it) Most leaders are already aware that speed if an important driver for success of digital transformation. We strongly believe that the reason most organizations are not able to drive transformation at speed is related to structural issues. There are 2 main reasons for this. We call the first the "clock speed" issue. A "clock speed" of operation is the normal pace at which decisions and operational change happens at the organization. Measuring each of the stages in the operational change can help you drive faster innovation. You should measure landscape assessment, design, hypothesis testing, field testing, and roll out. Each of these stages can be measured by time goal and can have maximum time allowed in each stage. This would help you fix the clock speed issues, and would act not just as measuring metric for your digital transformation ideas, but would also act as a great motivation for your team. We call the second as the "two-worlds" issue. This issue arises because the organizations have become inherently slow due to checks and balances introduced over the years to manage risks. There are legal- and procurement-related boxes to be checked, IT policy and technology standards to be met, HR policies and global work processes to be kept in mind, while executing any new thing inside the organization. This restrict new ideas to disrupt the old practices, thus leading to the two world issues. A innovation index must be set to protect transformative ideas in early stages of development, to shield the innovative work from the normal brunt of corporate processes. The specific translation of the enterprise's business goals into digital transformation strategies- both one-time and ongoing- must be led at the top (i.e CEO, business owner, leader etc). The context of this write up was inspired by work done by Mr. Tony Saldanha at P&G to help it take off the digital transformation journey. Also thanks to Mr. Salim Ismail to inspire us from his write up in exponential organizations.