NoneRosen Law Firm Encourages Franklin Resources, Inc. Investors to Inquire About Securities Class Action Investigation - BEN
By Sheila Dang and Chibuike Oguh NEW YORK (Reuters) -TikTok advertisers were in no rush to shift their marketing budgets after a U.S. appeals court upheld a law on Friday requiring a divestment or ban of the popular Chinese-owned short video app, citing TikTok’s continued survival despite years of threats. Chinese tech firm ByteDance must sell TikTok’s U.S. assets by Jan. 19 or the app that is used by 170 million Americans will face an unprecedented ban that jeopardizes billions in ad revenue. TikTok and ByteDance had argued that the law is unconstitutional and violates Americans’ free speech rights. The ruling is expected to be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. With TikTok’s future in the U.S. uncertain, advertising executives said brands are maintaining their activities on the app, while ensuring they have a plan B. “Advertisers have not pulled back from TikTok, though several are developing contingency plans for potential reallocation of investment should there be a ban,” said Jason Lee, executive vice president of brand safety at media agency Horizon Media. Horizon is working with clients to prepare for a variety of scenarios if the app is sold or banned, Lee said. Meta Platforms, owner of Facebook and Instagram, stands to gain the majority of TikTok’s ad revenue if the app is banned, followed by Alphabet’s YouTube, said Erik Huberman, CEO of marketing agency Hawke Media. Both companies have introduced short-form video features in the past few years to compete with TikTok. Still, “there’s no decision to make until there’s a decision to make,” he said. TikTok’s U.S. ad revenue is expected to reach $12.3 billion this year, according to estimates from research Emarketer. By comparison, analysts on average expect Meta Platforms’ advertising revenue in 2024 to reach about $159 billion, according to LSEG data. The potential boon for rivals propelled stocks on Friday. Meta Platforms shares rose to an all-time record high of $629.78 earlier on Friday, and were up 2.3% at $622.85 in late afternoon regular trading. Alphabet shares were up 1.1% at $176.21. Trump Media & Technology, which operates the Truth Social app and is majority-owned by President-elect Donald Trump, rose 3% to $34.78. Shares of Snap, owner of messaging app Snapchat, rose 1.89% to $12.40. (Reporting by Chibuike Oguh in New York and Sheila Dang in Austin; Editing by Bill Berkrot) Disclaimer: This report is auto generated from the Reuters news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content. var ytflag = 0;var myListener = function() {document.removeEventListener('mousemove', myListener, false);lazyloadmyframes();};document.addEventListener('mousemove', myListener, false);window.addEventListener('scroll', function() {if (ytflag == 0) {lazyloadmyframes();ytflag = 1;}});function lazyloadmyframes() {var ytv = document.getElementsByClassName("klazyiframe");for (var i = 0; i < ytv.length; i++) {ytv[i].src = ytv[i].getAttribute('data-src');}} Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Δ document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() );
Technology begets opportunity, for both successful companies and fraudsters. And today’s rising tide of cybercrime has unveiled a new frontier of fraud, one where malicious entities and cybercriminals are focused on exploiting the building blocks of digital identity—domain names, hosting services and financial supply chains. Among these threats, business email compromise (BEC) attacks have evolved with a level of sophistication that is reshaping how companies must defend themselves. Traditional BEC scams often relied on impersonating high-ranking executives or key suppliers. A simple email requesting a wire transfer might have been enough to dupe unsuspecting employees. However, the modern iteration is far more nuanced and multilayered, as phishing attempts get a shot in the arm from the democratization of advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI). Cybercriminals are now exploiting the sprawling digital supply chains that underpin businesses. Using tools powered by AI, they scrape publicly available data from platforms like LinkedIn, company websites and social media to craft highly tailored phishing lures. Against this backdrop, a striking pattern has emerged: much of this growth in corporate phishing attempts is concentrated on newer, generic top-level domains (gTLDs) such as websites ending in .shop, .top, .xyz, and the like. These domains, while legitimate, have become fertile ground for cybercriminals to launch increasingly convincing attacks targeting corporate wallets and reputations. But with the news Thursday (Dec. 5) that Socure says it has reached a milestone in its collaborative, data-sharing effort to combat fraud, security-minded enterprises are embracing a proactive, rather than reactive, stance to protecting their cyber perimeter. Read more : Securing the Cyber Perimeter Starts With Safeguarding Corporate Emails The Financial Supply Chain Under Siege The rise of gTLDs was meant to democratize the internet by providing more naming options beyond traditional extensions like .com or .org. However, the lower cost and easier registration process for many gTLDs have also made them attractive to cybercriminals. Registering a gTLD like .top can be significantly cheaper than traditional domains, allowing attackers to set up multiple fraudulent sites, while automation tools let cybercriminals purchase and configure domains en masse, launching scams at scale. At the same time, with AI-powered domain generation algorithms, criminals can create hundreds of unique domain variations to evade detection. Criminals often rely on the time it takes for investigators, registrars or hosting providers to act. They maximize the damage during this window by sending more phishing emails, redirecting victims or executing fraudulent transactions. “Fraudsters ... are adept at hacking email servers and manipulating employees into granting them access,” nsKnox COO Nithai Barzam told PYMNTS in an interview . “Once they are in, they can easily mislead accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) staff. To put it in simple terms: Today, it’s just too easy to target corporate payments. Therefore, organizations must protect all payment types using technology-driven validation of payee and account details while making sure all payment-related data and files are protected in a way that they cannot be tampered with.” The fight against BEC and domain-based fraud increasingly requires a holistic approach, integrating technology, processes and employee training. Many of the risk management leaders PYMNTS has spoken to have emphasized that the first line of defense is an organization’s own employees , making individual education around attack tactics, and the best practice methods to combat them, more important than ever. Read more: AT&T Hacker Arrested: How the Cybersecurity Landscape Evolved Post-Snowflake Breach Cyber Resilience Is no Longer a Choice — It’s a Necessity The domain name dilemma is just one facet of an increasingly complex fraud landscape. Advances in AI, machine learning and cyber defense tools are critical, but businesses must remember that technology alone isn’t enough. BEC attackers rely on a mix of human psychology and systemic vulnerabilities. Building a culture of vigilance, coupled with robust technical defenses, is the only way to stay one step ahead in this cat-and-mouse game. “The barrier for entry has never been lower for threat actors ,” Sunil Mallik , chief information security officer at Discover Global Network , told PYMNTS. As the digital economy continues to grow, so too will the ingenuity of fraudsters. The question isn’t whether businesses will be targeted but how prepared they are to mitigate the inevitable.Some seniors outraged over being left out of federal plan to dole out $250 cheques