iKOMG, a groundbreaking media service partner for broadcasters and content owners, is excited to unveil iKOQ, an ingenious dynamic QR code solution that promises to redefine television interaction, QR coding practices, and the integration of viewer data like never before. This innovation marks a pivotal moment in the television industry, offering viewers a more immersive and personalized experience while opening up new avenues of revenue generation for TV channels.

In today's ever-evolving media landscape, the rise of streaming services and shifting viewer behaviours have necessitated a transformation in the way television content is delivered. iKOMG understands that TV channels must stay ahead of the curve by delivering captivating and tailored content. iKOQ emerges as a trailblazing solution that empowers TV channels to engage their audience in unparalleled ways.

At the core of iKOQ is its ability to seamlessly integrate dynamic QR codes into TV broadcasts, creating a bridge between the content on the screen and viewers at home. With a simple scan, viewers can interact with content in real-time and make direct purchases from their screens. Whether it's booking vacations, securing concert tickets, or exploring exclusive offers, iKOQ transforms the passive TV viewing experience into an interactive and dynamic journey.

David Treadway, Chairman of iKOMG, said: "We are delighted to introduce iKOQ. This innovative solution represents a significant development in the television industry, as it bridges the gap between content and audience like never before. iKOQ offers a win-win situation for both TV channels and viewers, creating a more engaging and personalized viewing experience while generating new revenue opportunities."

iKOQ is poised to revolutionize the viewer experience across a multitude of TV genres. Travel and lifestyle channels can seamlessly integrate iKOQ with Triplan+, providing viewers with a seamless and streamlined experience for booking flights, accommodations, attractions, and daily trip plan with a simple scan. Music and sports channels can guide viewers to ticketing platforms and merchandise stores, enhancing their engagement, and fostering brand loyalty.

Moreover, iKOQ is not just a technological leap forward; it's a testament to iKOMG's unwavering commitment to excellence and customer satisfaction. The iKOQ launch exemplifies the team's dedication to empowering broadcasters and content owners with cost-effective solutions that deliver real-time value.

In the age of data-driven decisions, iKOQ doesn't just stop at QR coding and interaction—it also offers invaluable insights into viewer behaviour and preferences. TV channels can leverage this data to fine-tune their content, advertising strategies, and engagement efforts, ensuring a more tailored and enjoyable experience for their audience.

In conclusion, iKOMG's iKOQ is set to reshape the way viewers engage with television content, ushering in a new era of personalized, interactive, and data-rich TV experiences. By embracing this innovative technology, TV channels can not only enhance their audience's viewing journey but also unlock new revenue streams, securing their position as trailblazers in the ever-evolving television industry.

Jumio 360° Fraud Analytics uses AI-driven predictive analytics to detect fraud rings and other coordinated attacks

Jumio, the leading provider of automated, end-to-end identity verification, risk assessment and compliance solutions, today unveiled at Money20/20 USA Jumio 360° Fraud Analytics, its new fraud-fighting technology that uses AI-driven predictive analytics to identify fraud patterns with more sophistication and accuracy than ever before.

According to Jumio’s analysis, 25% of fraud is interconnected — either perpetrated by fraud rings or by individuals using the same information or credentials to open new accounts on banking sites, ecommerce platforms, sharing economy sites and more. A single organized crime operation or fraud ring can cause damage into the hundreds of millions of dollars. And with rapidly evolving AI at their disposal, fraudsters are becoming more sophisticated than ever before, leaving businesses scrambling to stay ahead.

Jumio 360° Fraud Analytics tackles this problem with a whole new approach to stopping fraud. It looks beyond simple linkages, such as flagging someone because they are connected to a known fraudster. Instead, it looks at billions of data points across Jumio’s cross-industry network to identify patterns based on behavioral similarities and other indicators. Using graph database technology with a layer of machine learning, it groups identity transactions into clusters across the network and determines the fraud risk of each cluster. This provides a multi-dimensional view of each transaction and the cross-customer ecosystem as a whole.

“Jumio revolutionized online identity verification when it pioneered the ID + selfie approach,” said Robert Prigge, Jumio CEO. “Today we are pushing the industry to evolve once again by harnessing the power of predictive analytics to identify fraud patterns across our vast network. This will allow us to identify and stop fraud rings and other coordinated attacks with more accuracy than ever before.”

Today, when a user goes through the ID verification process, Jumio performs a wide variety of advanced, AI-driven fraud checks. With the addition of Jumio 360° Fraud Analytics, the identity transaction will also be compared to the clusters and generate a predictive fraud score that can be used to automatically reject the transaction if it exceeds a certain threshold. Jumio’s initial studies show that this approach improves its existing, highly accurate fraud detection rate by at least 30% — without increasing the false rejection rate. Business users can audit the reasons behind the decision in the Jumio Portal or via APIs.

“Because explainability is a key requirement when using automation, we provide insights on why the identity transaction was rejected,” said Philipp Pointner, Jumio chief of digital identity. “We also provide a graphical representation of the high-level linkages we found, which makes it easy to see connections between people, documents, devices and more. The combination of sophisticated analytics and easily consumable insights makes this new technology a game-changer for fighting fraud.”

Key features include:

• Graph database technology and machine learning classify identity transactions into clusters based on behavioral similarities, which is especially powerful for identifying fraud rings
• AI-driven predictive analytics determine the likelihood of fraud risk for each identity transaction based on its cluster association
• The predictive fraud score can be used to automatically reject identity transactions, stopping fraudsters from accessing your platform in real time
• Dashboards provide transparency and help you visualize connected data

Integrating Advanced Identity Verification to Increase Digital Safety and Improve User Experiences

Centific, a global provider of AI and Data Services, and Prove Identity, the global leader in digital identity solutions, have partnered to bridge the gap between cybersecurity and fraud protection. This initiative will redefine the digital security landscape by offering a holistic solution for ensuring data privacy, identity verification, and digital fraud protection that protects businesses and their customers while also enhancing customer experiences.

This joint effort by Centific and Prove Identity aims to provide a one-stop-shop for businesses looking to enhance digital security while providing safe and seamless customer experiences. As a result of this partnership, organizations will be able to stay ahead of rapidly evolving fraud tactics and protect their customers from identity theft and cyberattacks.

"Centific's partnership with the premier identity verification and authentication platform at Prove allows us to seamlessly integrate those insights into our offerings," said Sanjay Bhakta, Centific's VP and Head of Solutions. "This synergy enables us to combat fraud at an unprecedented scale, frequency, and efficiency—drastically reducing risks for both businesses and consumers."

By leveraging insights from Prove Identity's streamlined identity verification solutions, Centific is poised to deliver safer online buying experiences for consumers and advanced fraud protection services for businesses.

"We are excited to partner with Centific to bring next-generation identity verification and authentication solutions to even more businesses," said Scott Greenhut, Senior Vice President, Channel and Partnerships at Prove. "Together, we're not only addressing common vulnerabilities and fortifying defenses against fraud—we're also making customer experiences faster and easier."

Centific's unique security offering couples its partnership with premier identity verification and authentication platform Prove, its vast experience in digital fraud protection, and a proprietary blend of Generative AI to accelerate the insight-to-action timeline, allowing for rapid threat signal analysis.

The integration of Gen AI with advanced fraud protection services helps ensure that the platform is dynamic enough to adapt to new threats and evolving customer needs. The result is a series of AI-generated security rules and policies that overlay thorough fraud protection capabilities to Prove Identity's already expansive digital identity solutions.

While this improved functionality will empower organizations across industries with greater cybersecurity, fraud protection, and identity verification, businesses in the retail and ecommerce spaces stand to experience the greatest improvements to their security posture.

Online marketplaces will be able to leverage the advanced threat intelligence analytics of Centific's platform to achieve compliance with regulations like the INFORM Consumers Act, fortifying both business identities (KYC) and consumer identities (KYC) and addressing the multifaceted challenges that online marketplaces face today.

Extensible architecture based on real-world testing with industry-leading security vendors

Veritas Technologies, the leader in secure multi-cloud data resilience, today announced Veritas 360 Defense, the first extensible architecture in its space that brings together leading data protection, data governance, and data security capabilities. Veritas 360 Defense delivers a unique set of cyber resilience capabilities integrated with leading security vendors, such as CrowdStrike, CyberArk, Qualys, Semperis and Symantec by Broadcom. Veritas 360 Defense has been battle tested against real-world ransomware variants in the Veritas REDLab.

Recent research* has shown that it takes 73 days, on average, to identify and contain a ransomware attack. Matt Waxman, senior vice president and general manager, data protection at Veritas, said: “When malware hits data that’s spread across today’s complex, heterogenous, multi-cloud environments, the response is typically managed by multiple teams using disparate tools. This can prolong the time it takes to recover – or even make recovery impossible. Veritas 360 Defense uniquely addresses these challenges by unifying data security, data protection and data governance with our security ecosystem so organizations can recover quickly, know who accessed data and proactively mitigate threats.”

A 360 Degree Blueprint for Cyber Resiliency

Built on a proven foundation of Veritas native security capabilities across data security, data protection and data governance, the Veritas 360 Defense reference architecture takes cyber resiliency to the next level by adding REDLab Validation, new product capabilities and integrations with leading security partners:

Veritas REDLab

A unique program for Veritas offerings and integrated security partner solutions, REDLab tests and documents product integrations providing organizations with validated best practices and deployment blueprints to mitigate risk. By purposefully subjecting the integrated solutions to real-world ransomware attacks in the Veritas state-of-the-art, isolated, REDLab test environment, customers can be assured that the Veritas validated solution will protect their data, detect threats and allow them to recover with confidence.

New Cyber Resiliency Features in the Veritas Portfolio

Veritas is bolstering its cyber recovery capabilities by adding malware scanning for new workloads, including Kubernetes, anomaly detection of administrator actions and data entropy, simplified recovery malware scanning workflows and additional support for Azure Active Directory. In addition, multi-person authorization for critical operations has been added to further harden backup and recovery infrastructure.

Expanded Ecosystem of Security Partner Capabilities Integrated With 360 Defense, Including:

• Advanced threat protection during pre- and post-incident recovery with the discovery of compromised systems and critical vulnerabilities for restoration, leveraging powerful attack-surface visibility and AI-powered vulnerability management capabilities of the CrowdStrike Falcon platform.
• Advanced privileged access management with best-in-class credential management to enable security teams to securely access, administer and configure the various solutions and workloads across the Veritas partner ecosystem for 360 Defense. The partner integrations leveraged CyberArk’s API-first approach, developer friendly tools and utilities to simplify securely adding new partners to the ecosystem.
• Assessment, prioritization and remediation of ransomware-causing vulnerabilities and backup storage through Qualys, so recoveries are always free of misconfigured or ransomware-causing vulnerabilities.
• Automated, malware-free Active Directory forest recovery and forensics to cut AD downtime by 90% and eliminate backdoors, attack paths and other vulnerabilities attackers left behind in the environment – through Semperis.
• Protection from threats to primary and secondary data sets through Symantec.

Bill Driver, vice president, information technology, Rio Hotel & Casino, a Dreamscape Companies property, said: “We trust Veritas, with solutions like the Veritas Alta cloud data management platform, to help us protect our data as a key part of an overall security posture that includes a variety of security vendors. Knowing that Veritas is extending its relationships with other vendors that we rely on will enable us to follow simple validated designs to ensure that solutions interoperate. With Veritas and its partners taking on this role, our team is free to focus on transformational activity, confident that we’re protected against cyberattacks.”

Krista Macomber, data protection, security and cyber resiliency analyst, The Futurum Group, said: “An expanding threat landscape means that enterprises are having to introduce more security solutions than ever before to stay ahead of bad actors. But these tools don’t always work well together, which can lengthen the time to contain, and recover from, an attack. Selecting products from an ecosystem that have been pre-tested to ensure security and interoperability can give enterprises the confidence to bounce back faster from a cyberattack and lower the costs associated with a breach in their defenses.”

Additional Industry and Partner Statements

Joe Nocera from PwC said: "PwC sees significant value in organizations being able to remove the confusion and complexity associated with protecting their data against security threats using industry leading solutions from multiple industry leading vendors. We work with the world's largest organizations who are undertaking transformation projects that span global networks. Being able to deploy pre-tested solutions from a tightly knit ecosystem of vendor partners, using validated designs, can vastly simplify the protection process and helps establish their overall security posture."

Daniel Bernard, chief business officer at CrowdStrike, said: “Organizations need a robust IT hygiene practice to help security teams respond faster and ensure business resilience in the face of threats. By partnering closely with other industry leading players, like Veritas, we can help customers pinpoint the most critical exposures with prioritized insights and extended visibility to stop breaches and rapidly rebound from adversarial threats.”

Clarence Hinton, chief strategy officer and head of corporate development at CyberArk, said: “Securing identities, both human and machine, is the best way to minimize business risk, improve productivity and guard against malicious cyberattacks. The CyberArk Identity Security Platform secures both standing and just-in-time privileged access across the entire organization using intelligent privilege controls. By participating in a strong security ecosystem with partners, like Veritas, we’re helping customers rapidly achieve their compliance objectives and safeguard all lines of defense.”

Shailesh Athalye, senior vice president, product management at Qualys, said: "We are thrilled to partner with Veritas to help common customers proactively assess and prioritize with TruRisk and remediate the risk of ransomware-causing vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before they become the cause of the cyber attacks. Integrated with Veritas™ 360 Defense, Qualys Vulnerability Management, Detection and Response (VMDR) with Integrated Patch Management capabilities delivers the best cyber resilience on-prem and across the cloud."

Darren Mar-Elia, vice president of products at Semperis, said: “Semperis is on a mission to be a force for good in the fight against ransomware operators and other bad actors. We’re constantly innovating to deliver the industry’s most comprehensive protection for hybrid identity environments, and Active Directory forest recovery is a critical component of our layered defense approach. Partnering with data protection and backup leaders, like Veritas, means our joint customers benefit from integrated and holistic ransomware response capabilities across multiple specialties.”

Alex Au Yeung, chief product officer at Symantec Enterprise Division, Broadcom, said: “Reducing threats to data requires working together with key partners, like Veritas, so that we can minimize the risk of accidental data exposure, loss or malicious breach. Symantec provides technology to ensure an organization has a full, accurate inventory of their sensitive data and provides solutions to increase the security posture relating to user access and device security to reduce the risk of a successful ransomware attack. Partnering with a data management company, like Veritas, means our customers can be assured of a clean cyber recovery.”

Integrating Advanced Identity Verification to Increase Digital Safety and Improve User Experiences

Sappington, a leading technology marketing firm headquartered in Seattle, WA, has launched a new approach to expedite technology companies' marketing and sales results: The Sappington Value-based Methodology™.

Unlike traditional tech marketing, which leads with the capabilities of a product, solution, or platform, the Sappington Value-Based Methodology directly maps tech company solutions to the outcomes and value that business and technical decision makers expect. It creates clarity and understanding within a company's customer base about a technology's value, generating more leads, opening doors for executive-level sales conversations, and shortening the sales cycle.

"This is a marketing revolution," says Sappington CEO Tim Goggin. "Our innovation turns traditional marketing on its head to improve sales and marketing results significantly. It's now the foundation of all our executive-level creative work."

There's third-party validation that a new approach is needed. A recent Gartner survey showed that 43 percent of leaders in tech companies have observed a significant shift in customer preferences from buying solutions to purchasing outcomes. A new MIT CISR study similarly found that organizations focusing on customer outcomes outperform companies still focused on products and solutions.

"Products and capabilities no longer suffice to capture the attention and loyalty of today's discerning buyers—especially in today's competitive business landscape and unyielding economy," observes Goggin. "Customers expect specific business value and tangible outcomes from their tech investments. Reviewing capabilities is still valid but no longer the right way to start the conversation."

The Sappington Value-Based Methodology utilizes the proprietary Sappington Outcome Engine to help tech vendors' customers make faster, more confident buying decisions. The approach was made available to existing Sappington clients in August 2023 and is now generally available for new client accounts.

New Solutions Extend CCC’s Advanced AI to Claims Handlers and Deliver Actionable Intelligence for Early Decision-Making

CCC Intelligent Solutions (CCC), a leading cloud platform for the P&C insurance economy, today announced the next generation of its AI-based photo analysis capabilities, including its first solution that extends into claims handing and ahead of the appraisal process to help users identify potential indemnity amounts earlier. The offerings deliver actionable intelligence following FNOL, enabling insurers to pull forward key decisions that work to optimize and accelerate downstream processing across APD and casualty claims.

“With its new offerings, CCC is significantly increasing the power of digital photo analysis and delivering meaningful insights across the life of a claim,” said Andrew Schwartz, analyst at Celent Research, a leading research and advisory firm focused on technology for financial institutions globally. “Using its established AI capabilities, CCC can now help insurers make better determinations and decisions earlier, which are essential steps on the path to systematically improve claims cycle times and achieve more straight-through processing.”

New CCC Offerings

CCC® First Look, the company's first solution specifically for claims handlers can help insurers capture accident information sooner on more claims and is designed to ingest photos from various sources – including consumers and salvage providers. AI is applied to validate photos for use with other CCC products and inform optimal routing for each claim, which can support initiating multiple workflows simultaneously, including determining total loss potential, and triaging casualty claims.

CCC® Impact Dynamics applies AI to photos of vehicle damage to predict impact severity, which enables insurers to spot injury potential early and inform a series of important decisions including casualty claims segmentation and routing, early settlement opportunities, and reserve management. Impact Dynamics can help insurers pay what they owe more quickly and efficiently while achieving quicker speed to resolution for injured parties.

"The underlying facts of the accident are the basis for effective claims management," said John Goodson, chief product and technology officer for CCC. "With our new photo AI capabilities, CCC can help carriers know more sooner, ushering in a new, more intelligent claims process from the start. First Look and Impact Dynamics are just the beginning of CCC’s next generation offering designed to transform consumer experiences and optimize business outcomes for our customers."

Stellar Cyber, the innovator of Open XDR technology, has been included as a Sample Vendor in the Gartner report, Hype Cycle for Security Operations, 2023. The report offers detailed analyses of software technologies available to SecOps teams, including XDR and others. In assessing the Business Impact of XDR, the report says, “The simplicity of XDR to detect common threats reduces the need for internal skill sets and could reduce the staff needed to operate a more complex solution, such as security information and event management (SIEM). XDR can also help reduce the time and complexity associated with security operations tasks through a single centralized investigation and response system.”

One of the User Recommendations offered by XDR analysts Eric Ahlm, Thomas Lintemuth, and Franz Hinner was that users “favor security products that provide APIs for information sharing, and that allow automated actions to be sent from an XDR solution.” Stellar Cyber is the industry leader in providing APIs to other security tools, and is committed to creating new ones in less than two weeks upon customer request.

“Our founders saw from the beginning that unifying and analyzing information from across the infrastructure is essential to spotting and responding to complex attacks, which is why we pioneered Open XDR technology,” said Steve Garrison, SVP of Marketing at Stellar Cyber. “We believe this recognition by Gartner helps validate our approach.”

Buy-Side Representation of FVLCRUM, a Renowned Private Equity Investment Firm

JFS Partners, a specialized M&A Advisory and Consulting firm facilitating transactions in the MSP, cloud, colocation, and communications industries, announced today the acquisition of Advanced IT Concepts (AITC), an Orlando, Florida, area award-winning technology solutions provider, by FVLCRUM Partners (FVLCRUM).

JFS Partners served as buy-side advisor to FVLCRUM, a lower middle market buyout firm based in the Washington, D.C. Metro Area focused on investing in diverse companies to generate sustainable opportunity for underserved communities while simultaneously driving strong investor returns.

AITC is a leading player in the technology industry and has been recognized for its fast growth. The company earned a spot on the 2022 Washington Technology Fast 50 list of the fastest-growing government contractors nationwide. The acquisition of AITC represents a strategic move to expand FVLCRUM's portfolio and presence in the government contracting and technology sectors.

"JFS Partners provided an invaluable support throughout the AITC acquisition," said Chijioke Asomugha, Partner at FVLCRUM. "We are excited to align FVLCRUM's equity capital, experience, and network access to drive accelerated growth for AITC. JFS Partners' deep industry knowledge and commitment to delivering exceptional results were instrumental throughout the deal process."

"We are pleased to have advised FVLCRUM on this acquisition," said Jim Farrell, CEO of JFS Partners. "AITC is a remarkable company with a strong track record of delivering cutting-edge technology solutions. We are confident that this strategic move will unlock new opportunities and drive growth for FVLCRUM."

The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.