by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Markets, Medium Enterprise, Networking, Online Marketing, Social Media, Technology
New Delhi : In a bid to take on WhatsApp Business and Facebook Messenger, Apple is set to introduce “Business Chat” for its users to communicate directly with businesses right within its iMessage instant messaging service.
“Business Chat is a new way for users to communicate directly with businesses right within Messages. This feature will launch in Beta with the public availability of iOS 11.3 this spring,” Apple said in a statement late on Wednesday.
Announced last year at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, the feature will debut with the support of select businesses including Discover, Hilton, Lowe’s and Wells Fargo.
“With ‘Business Chat’, it’s easy to have a conversation with a service representative, schedule an appointment or make purchases using Apple Pay in the Messages app,” Apple said.
Business Chat doesn’t share the user’s contact information with businesses and gives users the ability to stop chatting at any time, the Cupertino-based iPhone maker added.
Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) in the emerging markets like India need to connect with their consumers directly and demand for such apps is growing.
According to a recent Facebook-commissioned study by Nielsen, 63 per cent of the people said their messaging with businesses had increased over the past two years.
In fact, in 2017 alone, over 330 million people connected with a small business on Messenger for the first time.
More than 1.2 billion people on Facebook are connected to a small business in another country, out of which over 250 million people are connected to a business in India.
Also, 42 per cent of the people on Facebook in India are now connected to at least one small and medium business (SMB) in a foreign country and 65 per cent of Indians are connected to at least one domestic SMB.
To help businesses communicate better with their customers in India, WhatsApp also rolled out “WhatsApp Business” — a free-to-download Android app for small businesses — in the country.
In India, 84 per cent of SMBs think that WhatsApp helps them communicate with customers, and 80 per cent of SMBs think that WhatsApp helps them grow their business.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Markets, Technology
San Francisco : A new cryptocurrency-mining bot, named “Digmine”, that was first observed in South Korea, is spreading fast through Facebook Messenger across the world, Tokyo-headquartered cybersecurity major Trend Micro has warned.
After South Korea, it has since spread in Vietnam, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela. It is likely to reach other countries soon, given the way it propagates.
Facebook Messenger works across different platforms but “Digmine” only affects the Messenger’s desktop or web browser (Chrome) version. If the file is opened on other platforms, the malware will not work as intended, Trend Micro said in a blogpost.
“Digmine” is coded in AutoIt and sent to would-be victims posing as a video file but is actually an AutoIt executable script.
If the user’s Facebook account is set to log in automatically, “Digmine” will manipulate Facebook Messenger in order to send a link to the file to the account’s friends.
The abuse of Facebook is limited to propagation for now, but it wouldn’t be implausible for attackers to hijack the Facebook account itself down the line. This functionality’s code is pushed from the command-and-control (C&C) server, which means it can be updated.
A known modus operandi of cryptocurrency-mining botnets and particularly for “Digmine” (which mines Monero), is to stay in the victim’s system for as long as possible. It also wants to infect as many machines as possible, as this translates to an increased hashrate and potentially more cybercriminal income, the blogpost stated.
The malware will also perform other routines such as installing a registry autostart mechanism as well as system infection marker. It will search and launch Chrome then load a malicious browser extension that it retrieves from the C&C server.
If Chrome is already running, the malware will terminate and relaunch Chrome to ensure the extension is loaded. While extensions can only be loaded and hosted from the Chrome Web Store, the attackers bypassed this by launching Chrome via command line.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Markets, Online Marketing, SMEs, Social Media, Technology
San Francisco : Inspired by small businesses who are using Facebook Messenger to connect with their communities and customers, the social media giant has announced the launch of the first-ever “bot makeover contest”.
In partnership with the bot development platform ManyChat, the contest will have three winners who will receive $5,000 each in ad credits.
They will also get a makeover to their Messenger experience courtesy ManyChat, along with consultation from Messenger experts, Facebook said in a blog post late on Monday.
“For small business owners looking to get started on Messenger on Tuesday, we will be partnering with small business expert Gene Marks for a Facebook Live panel about Messenger best practices,” the company said.
According to a recent Facebook-commissioned study by Nielsen, 63 per cent of the people said their messaging with businesses has increased over the past two years, and 67 per cent expect to message businesses even more over the next two years.
In fact, in 2017 alone, over 330 million people connected with a small business on Messenger for the first time.
More than 1.2 billion people on Facebook are connected to a small business in another country, out of which over 250 million people are connected to a business in India.
Also, 42 per cent of the people on Facebook in India are now connected to at least one small and medium business (SMB) in a foreign country and 65 per cent of Indians are connected to at least one domestic SMB.
—IANS
