Vidnoz, an innovative AI platform, today unveiled an astonishing advancement in its free AI video generator - Real Customized Avatar. With these groundbreaking features, Vidnoz AI can not only slash users’ costs of video creation and supercharge video productivity, but also redefine “Real” and “Authentic '' for controversial AI-generated content.

According to a recent survey from Hootsuite, 62% of consumers distrust AI-created content, leading to a decreased likelihood of engagement. In Vidnoz's tests, it reveals a noteworthy 52% improvement in video engagement by adding their realistic avatars and voiceovers with its free AI video generator. The focus is shifting from who creates the content to the authenticity, which makes the content more valuable. In the latest release, Vidnoz AI brings over 100 realistic avatars, catering to 40+ industries and scenarios such as online training, healthcare, education, banking, and more.

Vidnoz empowers enterprise users and individuals, ranging from human resource staff to YouTubers, enabling them to effortlessly produce top-notch instructional videos and presentation videos. For brands and marketers, Vidnoz offers Customized Avatar to generate realistic avatars with the brand's actors to enhance their storytelling and brand representation in video. On the Vidnoz AI platform, users can quickly create stunning videos with their customized avatar and make them speaking in 23+ languages. Vidnoz AI significantly helps enterprises enhance the production of localized videos for global expansion, and improve internal communication and team training across diverse geographical locations.

“We have made significant progress in realizing our vision to simplify video creation for all, yet there is still considerable distance to cover. I'm so proud of our team who are creative and productive. Now there are over 40000 videos crafted daily on Vidnoz. Users transform their ideas into captivating presentation videos and creative advertising videos with Vidnoz. Our lifelike avatars, 300+ diverse templates, and natural-sounding voices make it the favorite and most trusted free AI tool by users. Upon its launch, our Face Swap tool quickly gained widespread popularity. And more free AI tools are in our plans, such as AI Voice Cloning, AI Video Translator, and AI Script Writer," said Sam Brown, Product Manager of Vidnoz AI.

Vidnoz empowers its users to freely create videos at scale that bring higher viewer retention, conversion rates, increased income, and better communications

PubMatic, an independent technology company delivering digital advertising’s supply chain of the future, announced its partnership today with PhonePe, India’s leading mobile payments and financial services platform.

This strategic collaboration makes PhonePe’s premium mobile app inventory and audiences available to PubMatic’s programmatic buying partners. As the industry looks for sustainable and differentiated solutions, this partnership provides Indian media buyers with a unique opportunity to tap into PhonePe’s Indic-language-speaking audiences across a diverse range of metropolitan and non-metropolitan locations.

With 500+ million registered users and over 47% market share in India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI) instant payments ecosystem, PhonePe plays a significant role in India’s shift toward a cashless economy. As part of its commitment to fuelling product innovation and empowering more consumers and businesses to go digital, PhonePe has partnered with PubMatic to unlock the full potential of its digital advertising inventory.

PhonePe will use PubMatic’s state-of-the-art programmatic technology to deliver a privacy compliant, fraud-free supply chain for advertisers and a better user experience for viewers.

The partnership offers advertisers access to PhonePe platform users at scale programmatically, and also ensures viewers using the PhonePe platform receive relevant and engaging advertising.

“We’re excited to support PhonePe in diversifying and enhancing its digital monetisation by making its inventory and audiences available to a wider range of advertisers via programmatic technology,” said Amit Yadav, Country Manager, South Asia, at PubMatic. “This partnership helps PhonePe to maintain a positive experience for the consumers and businesses who use its platform every day, while making these high-value audiences available to PubMatic’s advertiser partners.”

Sravanthi Pasumarthi, Director of Strategy & Operations, PhonePe Ads said, "We are excited to partner with PubMatic and get a foothold into the programmatic advertising space. At PhonePe, we bring to the table the widest reach in India, deep user cohorts, and a whole suite of brand solutions that enable advertisers to uniquely leverage our strengths for their brand solutions at scale. We believe that this partnership will elevate the overall advertising experience on our platform for both our partners and users.”

“The PubMatic-PhonePe collaboration underscores the growing significance of programmatic advertising within India's evolving digital ecosystem. This strategic partnership empowers advertisers to connect with highly engaged audiences, creating meaningful interactions that drive tangible business outcomes,” Pasumarthi added.

Leading content management platform expands operations in Poland and continues to rapidly hire in-region

Box, Inc., the leading Content Cloud, today announced the opening of new Research and Development offices in Warsaw and continued expansion into Poland. Based in the heart of Warsaw, Box will occupy ten floors of the newly completed Varso Tower, now the EU’s highest building.

Since its debut in Poland in 2020, Box has hired more than 300 employees in the region with an emphasis on technical roles. The company will continue to tap into Poland’s world-class engineering and product talent pools, hiring in areas including design, information security, finance, and people operations.

“At Box, we build technology that powers how the world works together. Our thriving engineering teams in Poland are central to Box’s product roadmap, critical engineering activities and overall strategic growth,” said Thierry Chassaing, Senior Vice President of Engineering at Box. “We’re excited to begin a new chapter in Poland with the opening of Varso Tower, our largest Research and Development site outside of our headquarters in California.”

“To date, our teams in Poland represent over 30 percent of critical engineering roles across Box’s global engineering teams, covering most of Box’s product areas,” said Rafal Szczepanski, Senior Director, Engineering and Site Leader Poland. “We look forward to continuing to hire exceptional and diverse talent in Poland, putting our positive culture at the forefront of everything we do.”

Box’s new office space represents a celebration of the unique history and culture of Poland. By working with local artists, photographers, furniture suppliers, designers, and architects including Warsaw-based R&D Studio, Box has created an office space that embraces Poland’s rich cultural heritage. Electric neon hands designed by ADVERTIS pay homage to Poland’s electro-graphic art era.

The state-of-the-art offices are configured to give employees choice over where and how they work, enabling individual working styles. Teams are empowered to do their best work through the purpose-built working environments that support hybrid flexibility, all while bringing the comforts of the home to the office. With open space collaboration zones, huddle rooms, swanky social spaces, bars and gaming lounges, employees can work and relax, enjoying stunning views of Warsaw throughout.

Named by Fortune as one of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, Box’s benefits philosophy aims to enable Boxers to live their healthiest lives. Some of Box’s employee and culture benefits include:

• Hybrid work models, giving Boxers the option of flexible, virtual, and office-based work environments;
• Equity awards and employee stock purchase plan;
• Family planning benefits including fertility, adoption and surrogacy, pre- and post- natal support;
• Mental health guidance and support, including therapy and coaching sessions;
• Weekly team office breakfasts and social activities arranged by Box employee-led communities;
• Complimentary office lunch and snacks.

“At Box, we foster an environment for employees to bring their authentic selves to work, assume good intent, and show deep respect for one another. In addition to my role as a SRE [Site Reliability Engineer], I serve voluntarily as a CFO or ‘Chief Fun Officer’. It involves bringing colleagues together on a regular basis for socials and activities,” said Jakub Wincewicz, Site Reliability Engineer at Box. “Our Poland Boxers are proactively involved in numerous community initiatives and fundraise for charities such as Szlachetna Paczka or Fundacja po DRUGIE.”

With more than 115,000 customers, Box empowers many of the largest and most regulated enterprises around the world to accelerate business processes, power their workplace collaboration, and protect valuable information. Its European customers include AstraZeneca, Eurostar, Jägermeister, Polpharma Biologics and more.

Since first launching in Europe in 2012, Box has established a strong European footprint with offices in London, Paris, Munich, Amsterdam and Warsaw. Box continues to expand its international presence with approximately 2,500 employees based in the Americas, APAC, and Europe. Open roles in Poland are detailed on Box’s career page.

• Total table value grew by 5.7% this year compared to 16% growth in value last year

• Interbrand cites lack of growth mindset, conservative brand leadership and uncertain forecasting behind the slowdown

• Companies that operate across multiple sectors continue to dominate the top of the table – making up 50% of the total value. Data shows a stronger focus on brand enables these companies to unlock rapid growth vs. the competition

• Airbnb (#46) fastest riser in value (+21.8%) despite only entering the table last year 

• Apple remains the #1 brand for the 11th year in a row. It is the first brand to rise above half a trillion USD in brand value

• Strongest performing sectors are automotive and luxury with sector value rising 9% and 6.5% respectively. BMW (#10) entered the top 10 for the first time, with Porsche (#47) Hyundai (#32) and Ferrari (#70) also performing well

• Top 10 highest brand value riser is Microsoft (+14%)

• Zara (#43) and Sephora (#97) two retail stars of the table with brand value rising 10% and 15% respectively

Interbrand has launched its Best Global Brands 2023 ranking, revealing many of the world's top 100 brands are in a state of stagnation. The rate of growth in the overall brand value of the table slowed sharply after last year's significant increase - rising 5.7% this year compared to last year's 16% increase, taking the total brand value to $3.3 trillion ($3.1 trillion in 2022).

Interbrand cites lack of growth mindset, weaker brand leadership and poor forecasting were behind the slow down. This follows a longer-term trend in which brands operating exclusively in one sector, taking an incremental approach, have experienced slower brand value growth.

Gonzalo Brujó, Global CEO of Interbrand, said: "After a few years of strong brand growth, we have entered a period of stagnation, with this year's table showing moderate growth in overall brand value.

"Businesses which have witnessed a rise in brand value, including Airbnb (#46), LEGO (#59) and Nike (#9) have all transcended their established category norms and play a more significant and meaningful role in society and consumer's lives.

"As we continue to navigate economic and environmental headwinds, there is a need for improved business cases and better brand management, to drive future investment and sustain growth, within traditional sectors and beyond. Those who can successfully leverage their brand into new consumer pools of potential will reap the rewards of strong brand growth."

More than two decades of analysis shows companies that address a more diverse set of customer needs, often across sectors, continue to dominate the top of the table - making up almost 50% of the total value. Based on the data, these companies operating across several different verticals are more stable[1], achieve higher top line growth[2], are more profitable[3], and benefit from a greater growth of brand value[4]. For these companies, a focus on brand rather than product plays a greater role in driving choice (+12% vs average), meaning they are able to address more customer needs, within and across categories.

Manfredi Ricca, Global Chief Strategy Officer, Interbrand said: "A brand like Apple, can no longer be ascribed to a sector. It competes across different Arenas, helping its customers Connect (the iPhone), but also Thrive (the latest Apple watch was positioned as a health device), Fund (its new savings account drew nearly $1 billion in deposits in the first four days), and much more. Apple's move across Arenas has enabled it to hold the BGB top spot for the 11th year, having overtaken Coca Cola in 2013."

[1] +81.5% Revenue CAGR vs. the average, 2018-2022
[2] +43.8% revenue growth estimates vs. average
[3] +33.7% EBIT growth estimates vs. average
[4] +4.8pp Brand Value growth vs. average

Kathleen Hall, Chief Brand Officer, Microsoft, said: "We are honored to be recognized for continued strong growth in the Best Global Brands ranking this year. The combination of brand perception and financial performance is a great indicator of brand health and relevance and one we value tremendously. With our acquisition of Activision Blizzard, our prominent leadership position in AI, and our continued commitment to make a positive impact on society, we aspire to be a brand people can trust and build a responsible future with."

Other key findings

Top riser

Airbnb is this year's top rising brand with its value increasing +21.8%. It also jumped 8 places in the table (from #54 to #46) despite only entering the ranking last year. The brand's significant increase in value is in part due to its strong investment in brand and solid financial outlook - revenue was up 40% in 2022 vs 2021 and is expected to rise an additional 13% in 2023 vs 2022.

Automotive and luxury witness strongest growth

Automotive brand value rose by 9% in 2023, with BMW (#10) entering the top ten for the first time (#10). Porsche (#47) Hyundai (#32) and Ferrari (#70) all achieved a double-digit rate of growth and accounted for three of the top five fastest-growing brands.

Tesla held its position in the table this year (#12),but its rate of growth was the slowest among the automotive brands with its brand value increasing 4.0% compared to BMW and Mercedes which grew 10.4% and 9.5% respectively.

Luxury is once again a top performing sector with its brand value rising by 6.5% this year. This is due to luxury brands' resilience and ability to transcend categories to create luxury experiences such as restaurants, hotels and retail pop ups.

Hermès (#23) and Dior (#76) are two of the biggest luxury brand risers with 10.2% and 8.4% growth in brand value respectively this year.

Deduce, the only patented technology platform designed to prevent AI-generated identity fraud, in association with Wakefield Research, today released a study showing alarming trends in synthetic fraud growth. The study, which polled 500 fraud and risk professionals at financial services and fintech companies in the United States, shows a 17% increase in synthetic fraud cases over the past two years, with more than a third of professionals reporting a significant surge of 20 - 50 percent.

Synthetic identities utilize a combination of legitimate personally identifiable information, such as social security numbers, and fabricated information designed to pass as a real human being. This type of identity fraud has been in use for decades but has been systematically growing in complexity. Thanks to the introduction of generative AI technologies, fraudsters are now turbo-charging synthetic identities to such a degree they will circumvent any existing fraud prevention solutions and escalation policies, including document verification and even manual reviews. The study indicates that while the industry invests in fraud prevention, 52% of experts believe that fraudsters are adapting faster than defenses can keep up.

"Synthetic identity fraud has long been a significant challenge for the financial industry, but the advent of AI technology has accelerated the problem," said Ari Jacoby, Deduce CEO. "Fraudsters are now able to create identities at an unprecedented pace, allowing them to play the long game with these personas. They can open accounts, make deposits, and engage in seemingly human-like interactions that pose an immense challenge for technology-based detection methods. Without better fraud prevention solutions, we can anticipate a spike in the financial impact associated with these identities."

The research also reveals that 88% of experts anticipate the problem worsening before an effective solution is found. The increasing sophistication of fraudsters and their ability to adapt to evolving security measures create a formidable challenge for institutions trying to safeguard their assets and customer data.

"The data shows that this is a substantial and evolving threat," said Nathan Richter, Senior Partner at Wakefield Research. "From increases in synthetic fraud and the actions they are taking to appear legitimate, to the concerns these fraud and risk professionals have that fraudsters are adapting faster than they can keep up with, it's clear this is a serious challenge for the financial industry."

This increase in synthetic fraud and the rising value of each incident underscores a systemic problem in how identities are analyzed today. As AI makes it more difficult to separate real people from fake, not only are financial institutions at risk of fraudsters applying for loans or credit, but they're also at risk of offering it to criminals themselves. In fact, 53% of respondents said they had proactively offered credit to synthetic customers.

The joint study by Deduce and Wakefield underscores the need for the financial industry to enhance fraud prevention strategies and develop more effective countermeasures to address the rising threat of synthetic fraud. The pace of technological advancement and fraudster innovation demands a renewed focus on security measures.

Inside look at hacker trends impacting small to medium-sized businesses and the MSPs who defend them

Huntress, the Managed Security Platform for small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) and the Managed Service Providers (MSPs) that support them, unveiled their inaugural SMB Threat Report. This first-of-its-kind report delivers valuable insights on emerging cyber threats and tradecraft targeting SMBs, and offers critical knowledge on how businesses can defend against them.

“The threat landscape is not slowing down. Threat actors are evolving their tradecraft to significantly impact SMBs, and our goal is to educate them and give them a fighting chance against the ever-evolving adversarial landscape. The Huntress SMB Threat Report serves as the definitive guide in helping MSP security professionals know what patterns in adversary tactics and behaviors are out there and how to protect their SMB customers,” said Joe Slowik, threat intelligence manager for Huntress.

The 5 Key Takeaways:

• Conventional Malware On Its Way Out
  
  56% of incidents in Q3 2023 were “malware-free,” as adversaries use the tactic of exploiting scripting frameworks or legitimate tools, in place of malicious software. This reveals that the era of malware-driven cyberattacks is decreasing, paving the way for the acceleration of non-malware threats.

• RMM Software Has Become a Double-Edged Sword
  
  65% of incidents in Q3 2023 involved threat actors using credential harvesting to gain access to victim environments through remote monitoring and management (RMM) software, a lifeline for IT administrators, or using rogue deployment to install RMM tools for access.

• Business Email Compromise (BEC) is Posing a Big Problem for SMBs
  
  64% of identity-focused incidents in Q3 2023 involved malicious forwarding or other malicious inbox rules, a key indicator of business email compromise (BEC). Another 24% of identity-focused incidents involved logons from unusual or suspicious locations. Now favored as an intrusion vector, identity-based attacks are on the rise with threat actors targeting cloud services to steal identifying information or break into business emails.

• Attackers Are Evading Detection by “Blending In”
  
  25% of incidents saw attackers abusing built-in tools like PowerShell and WMI as an intrusion tactic. Attackers have refined the art of deception; in order to evade detection, they are attempting to hide within the noise of legitimate network operations or use living-off-the-land tactics.

• Ransomware Diversification Threatens SMBs
  
  60% of ransomware incidents were from uncategorized, unknown, or “defunct” ransomware strains. While we often hear about headline-grabbing ransomware entities, many lesser-known ransomware strains are prevalent in the SMB space. This diversity suggests that size is no deterrent for cyberattacks, and small businesses should not underestimate the risk posed by ransomware, regardless of the strain's notoriety.

The Huntress threat ops team leverages deep intelligence data from the Huntress managed security platform to deliver unique insights that will help SMBs and their MSPs mitigate their risk and protect their businesses.

Echoworx successfully completes the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Foundational Technical Review, providing further trust assurance for leading global enterprises.

Echoworx, trailblazers in the realm of cloud-based email encryption, is proud to announce that is has been awarded the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Qualified Software certification - spanning all its AWS operational centers including Germany, Canada, the US, the UK and Ireland. This achievement was reached after successful completion of the AWS Foundational Technical Review (FTR).

The AWS FTR enables AWS Partners to identify and remediate any risks in their products or solutions. It ensures that AWS Partner products and solutions meet a specific set of requirements based around security, reliability and operational excellence, as defined by the AWS Well-Architected Framework.

The FTR highlights the importance of software vendors leveraging the AWS platform. Echoworx's extensive customer network, which includes top organizations worldwide, relies on robust security monitoring and effective management of all control areas typically assessed under an FTR. Third-party assurance is expected.

"The digital world is constantly changing, and the requirement for reliable vendor protection and trustworthy processes has significantly increased,” said Michael Ginsberg, CEO of Echoworx. “This is particularly true for the Fortune 100 companies we serve.”

Ginsberg stated, “We are proud to include the AWS Qualified Software in our expanding portfolio of security certifications, joining others such as WebTrust, SOC 2, PCI, and Microsoft and Apple Root Member Certifications. This, along with our entry into the AWS Partner Network, represents our ongoing dedication to protecting our clients' data and continuously enhancing the strength of our security measures."

Echoworx's cloud-based email and statement encryption service offers a secure and customizable platform for safeguarding sensitive communications. This latest validation highlights Echoworx’s ongoing commitment to providing excellent customer experiences with a strong focus on security and operational excellence.

Ada, the world's leading customer service automation platform, today announced a new AI Agent powered by the Ada Reasoning Engine™. The Reasoning Engine gives personalized AI agents problem-solving skills and action-oriented capabilities that enable them to resolve even the most complex inquiries.

"The future is AI that can reason," said Mike Murchison, CEO and Co-founder, Ada. "The AI Agent not only understands what the customer is asking, it figures out the solution path. AI is now capable of breaking down problems into component parts just like our brains do. For every customer inquiry, the AI Agent can reason the next best step and maximize resolution rather than relying on a prescribed workflow. Already, Ada's AI Agent is starting to power experiences that are meeting — and in some cases exceeding — human capability."

The power behind the AI Agent is Ada's Reasoning Engine™, the brain of the AI Agent. Our technology is designed to maximize resolution and future-proof your business so that you are always tapping into the most advanced combination of models. 

Unlike a typical chatbot, Ada's AI Agent delivers mindful responses by reasoning through complex inquiries and collaborating with customers to provide the best resolution possible. And the AI Agent is highly coachable — the companies that succeed with the AI Agent are those that deploy it the way one would train a new employee. This means onboarding the AI Agent, understanding its performance by reviewing transcripts for areas of improvement, and coaching the AI Agent by measuring its performance with clear goals.  

For Ada customer Wealthsimple, a money management platform that has built some of Canada's leading digital financial products, its results using the new AI Agent have been positive. 

"Our AI Agent brings us closer to our customers, reducing operational burden and increasing our automated resolution to help our team think about big picture levers we can pull to create a better client experience," said Paul Teshima, Chief Client Experience Officer at Wealthsimple.

Ada's AI Agent doesn't have features, it has skills and responsibilities such as:

• Follow company policies and guidelines. 
• Retrieve information from thousands of articles, PDFs, web pages across a company's knowledge base. 
• Communicate in any channel, in any language, at any time. 
• Find the best person in your organization to help with a specialized issue in your company. 
• Teach companies new things about their customers. 
• Take feedback (graciously, anytime) 

Like a human, the responsibility of the AI Agent will grow over time as it performs and builds trust. 

Overall, the AI Agent is supported by specific product capabilities including: 

• Knowledge Integration (syncing with systems like Zendesk for example).
• Generative Actions (the ability to take action on behalf of the customer).
• Reasoning Log (the ability to look back and see how the Resolution Engine reasoned what to do next).
• Guidance (telling your AI how to do something specific).
• Automated Resolution Insights (the rate at which the AI Agent is resolving issues without having to escalate to a human).