OpenAI has disabled ChatGPT’s privacy history, almost certainly because they had a security flaw where users were seeing each others’ histories.

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Threat actors impersonated target company’s vendor

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Organizations are failing with their anti-phishing measures

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The content of this post is solely the responsibility of the author.  AT&T does not adopt or endorse any of the views, positions, or information provided by the author in this article. 

Customers’ willingness to give you their personal data begins with the experience they receive. Convincing them requires the right tone, an outlook of what they’ll get in return, and most importantly, a high level of trust. But while companies depend on customer data to unlock growth, user-centric data collection can be tricky.

43% of U.S. consumers say they would not allow companies to collect personal data, even to accommodate more personalized, customized experiences, while 88% will give you their data if they trust your brand.

With this in mind, how do you meet customer expectations and proactively build consumer trust throughout the entire customer lifecycle? Effective user journey orchestration, supported by a robust Customer Identity & Access Management (CIAM) solution, can help you balance security, privacy, and convenience, resulting in a trust-worthy digital experience.

5 ways CIAM safely orchestrates your customers’ journey

CIAM is an effective solution for hassle-free and secure logins that enables you to retain more customers with seamless access across various digital channels. This is how CIAM safely orchestrates your customers’ journey.

Capture and manage customer identities to remove friction at registration and login

Businesses spend a lot to acquire new customers but tend to invest less in the experience once acquired. Meanwhile, providing a seamless and convenient experience is what eventually brings loyalty – and thus, the base to harness true ROI.

With CIAM, you no longer need to push every customer through the same rigid authentication processes when they visit your site. Put simply, CIAM ensures customers are always met at the digital front door, conveniently and without friction.  

For example, if customers are registering for the first time, you don’t need to ask them to enter all their personal data immediately. Ask your customer for only needed information, at the right point in their journey. This will allow them to focus on their shopping experience or the task at hand rather than filling in forms.

When an existing customer wants to log into your site, you can make smarter decisions about how many authentication hoops you should make them jump through. For example, suppose the risk environment remains unchanged, and their behavioral context is the same as before. You might decide they don’t need to enter their password again or authenticate using MFA.

CIAM allows you to adjust your authentication experience’s friction level to make your customers’ experience seamless.

1. Build robust customer profiles based on first-party, consent-based data

CIAM captures the personal data that the customer has released to your brand. This first-party data, which is based on consumer consent, enables your business to compile comprehensive client profiles by collecting and combining data from multiple channels. The data produced can assist your company in achieving a unified customer experience as your consumer engages with various business divisions.

First-party data is essential as third-party cookies are being blocked from browsers, and businesses need to invest in privacy-friendly ways to gather data for profiling their prospective customers. Besides from harnessing the value of data, consent-based data collection is a demonstration of respecting your customer’s privacy – a building block to achieving customers’ trust.

2. Orchestrate customer profiles in near real-time to other engagement solutions to deliver personalized experiences

Storing your customers’ profile data in a single platform allows you to make timely and data-informed decisions furthering engagement with your customer with other solutions.

Take, for example, the way Spotify works. When you search for your favorite artist, the platform suggests other artists with the same style. These suggestions allow you to listen to more of your favorite music and offer an impeccable personalized experience. Wouldn’t you like your brand to treat your customers the same way?

If you get to know your customers better by building rich user profiles, you can use these profiles to tailor experiences across every digital property. And your customer will keep coming back to you for more.

3. Drive the adaptive authentication experience to limit burden and enhance security

Requiring your customers to provide an additional authentication factor by implementing MFA is one of the simplest ways to increase the security of the login flow. Email is an option that is often easier to implement, but it can increase customers’ effort at the authentication flow, and building frustration might cause them to opt for a competitor.

With CIAM, you can choose the authentication options, i.e., biometrics, that will be easiest or most secure for your customers without any additional worry about how difficult they might be to integrate and maintain within your application.

A customer identity platform only asks for the authentication you need and always asks for it when you need it, providing two sides of the same coin. If you can prove to customers that the friction added to the experience is always proportionate to the situation, you’ll find it much easier to win their trust.

4. Adopt progressive profiling

A customer’s introduction to your application is often a registration process, and you need to ensure that the process is efficient, seamless, and secure so that you don’t lose the customer’s attention along the way. This might mean primarily collecting only the minimum amount of information you require from your users. A ‘just in time’ and ‘just enough’ approach to data collection is the best strategy for building a frictionless and secure prospect-to-customer journey that leads to better conversion rates.

A CIAM solution can be configured to require as many or as few pieces of information about your customers as you wish to gather. This information can be stored centrally so that you can utilize the CIAM solution as the source of truth regarding customer personal information and be assured that this data is always secured. 

The main advantage of effective user journey orchestration

A significant benefit of deploying a cloud identity platform, and thereby adopting a user journey orchestration process, is that it helps establish the trust needed to build long-lasting relationships with your customers.

Businesses can acquire more customers by using CIAM and progressive profiling to streamline the registration process and asking for information over time rather than forcing new customers to fill out a long sign-up form at the very beginning. Also, reducing friction during login when existing customers return to any digital property can help your business retain customers.

By enforcing appropriate security measures in every situation, CIAM shows your customers that you are a trustworthy steward of their accounts and personal data. This increases the likelihood of repeat business, reduces the risk of account abandonment, and acts as a disincentive for churn.

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ENISA claims most threats are opportunistic

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The furor surrounding ChatGPT remains at a fever pitch as the ins and outs of the AI chatbot’s potential continue to make headlines. One issue that has caught the attention of many in the security field is whether the technology’s ingestion of sensitive business data puts organizations at risk. There is some fear that if one inputs sensitive information — quarterly reports, materials for an internal presentation, sales numbers, or the like — and asks ChatGPT to write text around it, that anyone could gain information on that company simply by asking ChatGPT about it later.

The implications of that could be far-reaching: Imagine working on an internal presentation that contained new corporate data revealing a corporate problem to be discussed at a board meeting. Letting that proprietary information out into the wild could undermine stock price, consumer attitudes, and client confidence. Even worse, a legal item on the agenda being leaked could expose a company to real liability. But could any of these things actually happen just from things put into a chatbot?

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By 2030, experts predict that there will be 5 billion devices connected to 5G.1 For the general population, this connectedness means better access to information, communication with far-flung loved ones, greater convenience in everyday tasks … and more hours devoted to everyone’s favorite pastime: scrolling through funny online videos. 

For cybercriminals, this vast mobile population fills their pool of targets with billions. And criminals are getting better at hiding their schemes, making threats to mobile devices seem nearly invisible. 

When undetected, cybercriminals can help themselves to your personal information or take over your expensive mobile device for their own gains. The best way to combat criminals and protect your mobile device is to know their tricks and adopt excellent online habits to foil their nefarious plots. 

Here are the tips you need to uncover these four hard-to-spot mobile threats. 

1. Spyware

What is it? 

Spyware’s main ability is right in the name: it spies on you. Spyware is a type of malware that lurks in the shadows of your trusted device, collecting information about your browsing habits, personally identifiable information (PII), and more. Some types, called key loggers, can keep track of what you type. The software then sends the details and movements it collects about you to the spying criminal. They can then use this information to steal your passwords and waltz into your online accounts or steal your identity. 

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

Malicious downloads are often the origin of spyware getting onto your mobile device. The spyware hides within “free” TV show, movie, or video game online downloads; however, instead of getting the latest episode you’ve been dying to watch, your device gets spyware instead. 

Have you visited risky sites recently? Is your device running slowly, overheating, or suddenly experiencing a shorter-than-usual battery life? One or all of these signs could indicate that your device is working overtime running the spyware and trying to keep up with your everyday use. 

How to avoid it 

Safe downloading habits will go a long way in protecting you from spyware. While streaming from free sites is less expensive than paying a monthly membership to a legitimate streaming service, you may have to pay more in the long run to reverse the damage caused by unknowingly downloading spyware. If you’re unsure if the sites you visit are safe, a safe browsing tool like McAfee WebAdvisor will alert you to untrustworthy sites. 

2. Malicious Apps

What are they? 

Malicious apps are applications that masquerade as legitimate mobile apps but are actually a vessel to download malware onto your mobile device. For example, when Squid Game was all the rage in 2021, 200 apps related to the show popped up on the Google Play store. One of these themed apps claiming to be a wallpaper contained malware.  

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

Similar to spyware, a device infected with malware will overheat, load pages slowly despite a solid Wi-Fi connection, and have a short battery life. Also, you may notice that texts are missing or that your contacts are receiving messages from you that you never sent. Finally, your online accounts may have suspicious activity, such as purchases or money transfers you didn’t authorize. 

How to avoid it 

Avoiding malicious apps requires that you do a bit of research before downloading. Even if you’re using an authorized app store, like Google Play or the Apple Store, apps with hidden malware can pass the vetting process. One way to determine if an app is risky is to look at the quality of its reviews and its number of star ratings. Approach an app with less than 100 ratings with caution. Also, read a few of the reviews. Are they vague? Are they written poorly? Cybercriminals may pad their apps with fake reviews, but they’re unlikely to spend too much time writing well-composed comments. Finally, do a background check on the app’s developer listed in the app description. If they have a criminal reputation, a quick search will likely alert you to it. 

Perusing the reviews isn’t a guaranteed way to sniff out a malicious app. In 2020, McAfee discovered that one bad app had more than 7,000 reviews. To help prevent malware from taking hold of your device, consider investing in antivirus software. Antivirus software isn’t just for your desktop. Mobile devices benefit from it, too! McAfee antivirus is compatible with any operating system and offers 24/7 real-time threat protection. 

3. Botnets

What are they? 

A botnet is a vast collection of malware-infected devices controlled by a cybercriminal. The criminal uses their network of bots to proliferate spam or crash servers.  

Malware is a broad term that encompasses dozens of specific strains of malicious software, several of which are capable of recruiting your mobile device to a cybercriminal’s army of bots. Without your knowledge, the criminal can force your phone to message your contact list or divert your device’s computing power to overload a server in a cyberattack.  

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

All the telltale signs of malware are applicable here if your phone is part of a botnet. A botnet commander grants themselves the highest admin access to any device they take over. That means you may also see new apps on your home screen that you never downloaded or messages sent by text, email, or social media direct message that you never wrote. 

How to avoid it 

Criminals recruiting devices to their botnet can embed the necessary malware anywhere malware typically lurks: in fake apps, dubious streaming and file-sharing sites, phishing emails, risky links, etc. The best way to avoid becoming a member of a botnet is to watch what you click on, stay away from risky sites, and treat any message from a stranger with suspicion. 

4. Fake Software Updates

What is it? 

Cybercriminals can conceal their malware within fake software updates that look official. Fake updates often pose as Microsoft updates because of the company’s huge user base. Java and Android operating system updates have also been impersonated in the past.  

How do I know if my mobile device is affected? 

The common signs of malware apply to fake software updates too. Also, if a fake update was widespread, you’ll likely receive an official correspondence from the software provider issuing a patch. 

How to avoid it 

The best way to avoid being tricked by a fake update is to enable automatic updates on all your devices. When your devices auto-update, you can ignore any pop-up, email, or text that urges you to click on a link to update. Auto-update is a good practice to adopt anyway, as it ensures that you have the latest software, which often means that it’s the most secure. 

Another excellent habit that’ll prevent you from compromising your device with a fake software update is to always preview where links will take you. You can do this by tapping and holding the link. Check the hyperlink for typos or for pages that direct away from the organization’s official website. 

Protect Your Mobile Device for Better Online Security, Privacy 

Cybercriminals are getting craftier by the day, employing new tools (like ChatGPT) and new strains to trick people and infect mobile devices for their own gains. To safeguard all your devices, consider investing in a solution that’ll protect you from every angle. McAfee+ Ultimate is the all-in-one device, privacy, and security service that helps you confidently live your best online life. The proactive monitoring features stop threats in their tracks, saving you a massive headache and guarding your finances and PII. If any online scheme does compromise your identity, the Family Plan offers up to $2 million in identity theft restoration. 

Mobile malware doesn’t always scream “suspicious!” As long as you arm yourself with the right tools, practice good habits, and keep your eyes peeled, you should be able to spot malicious software. 

1GSMA, “The Mobile Economy” 

The post 4 Mobile Malware Threats You Can’t Even See appeared first on McAfee Blog.

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