Tag: Google

Google Struggles with Ad Revenue as Crypto Firms Reduce Spending

by Blockchain News

Alphabet said that reduced advertising spending by crypto companies has undermined Google’s revenue growth during the third quarter of 2022.

shutterstock_2031053153 o.jpg

The ongoing crypto winter has brought a slowdown in ad spending, as the overall market sentiment has turned negative since the beginning of 2022. Many companies have gone bankrupt, such as Celsius Network, and other crypto companies have become hesitant to invest during this market downturn period.

According to Google’s chief business officer Philipp Schindler, other financial firms have also become hesitant in spending on ads.

“In the third quarter, we did see a pullback in spend by some advertisers in certain areas in search,” Schindler said. “For example, in financial services, we saw a pullback in the insurance, loan, mortgage, and crypto subcategories.”

According to Alphabet’s third-quarter earnings call, Google saw a 6% slowdown in revenue growth from 41% a year earlier. Besides the one quarter at the beginning of the pandemic, this result was the weakest for any period since 2013.

CEO Sundar Pichai stated that the “challenging macro climate” has affected Google’s ad business.

However, Schindler did not specify how ad pullback from crypto companies has affected Google’s revenue.

But the overall drawback of investors from the crypto industry is the plausible reason. As the crypto industry struggles, many investors are fleeing from risky assets and selling out digital coins and related stocks.

Popular digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have both lost about 60% of their value in 2022. While popular crypto exchange Coinbase is down by 70%.

Google, however, believes that the ongoing crypto winter is a short-term crisis and opportunities for growth shall rise again in the future.

In early October, Google teamed up with Coinbase to allow some of its clients to pay for cloud services using cryptocurrencies.

The strategic partnership also seeks to cater for the needs of the growing Web3 ecosystem. For instance, developers will have the chance to reliably and instantly operate Web3 networks, eliminating the need for complex and expensive infrastructure. 

The collaboration will also see Google Cloud serve as Coinbase’s strategic cloud provider to boost enhanced exchange and data services. Per the report: “Coinbase will use Google Cloud’s powerful compute platform to process blockchain data at scale and enhance the global reach of its crypto services by leveraging Google’s premium fibre-optic network.”

Furthermore, Coinbase’s clients will leverage Google Cloud’s data and analytics technologies for machine learning-driven crypto insights.

Google set the ball rolling in Web3 after it assembled a team to create services for developers earlier this year. 

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

US Senator Challenges Apple and Google about Fraudulent Crypto Apps

by Blockchain News

U.S. Senator. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is requesting Apple and Google to clarify how they prevent fraudulent cryptocurrency apps on the Apple Store and Google Play Store.

On Wednesday, July 27, the U.S. lawmaker sent two letters addressed to Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai, respectively.

Senator Brown is concerned about scams that continue to rob millions of dollars from innocent investors.

The lawmaker wrote in the letters to the two firms: “Cyber criminals have stolen company logos, names and other identifying information of crypto firms and then created fake mobile apps to trick unsuspecting investors into believing they are conducting business with a legitimate crypto firm. Alarmingly, far too many investors have fallen victim.”

Brown mentioned that it is essential for these app stores to have the proper measures in place to prevent fraudulent mobile application activity.

In the letter, Sen. Brown asked for details about these firms’ safeguards to prevent fraudulent activity in their app stores.

Senator Brown wrote: “In recent years, crypto trading platforms and exchanges have experienced a surge in popularity with millions of investors downloading mobile apps to trade and invest in digital assets. Millions of Americans use mobile apps to invest in unregulated digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.”

Brown further asked Apple and Google to provide details about their app review processes that these firms take before approving cryptocurrency apps to operate in their app stores, including steps they take to prevent fraudulent crypto apps, and other information.

The lawmaker has requested both companies to provide responses to the letters by 10th August.

On Thursday, the Senator’s committee held a hearing examining scams in the crypto industry.

New Crypto App Scams

The senator’s letter comes after an FBI report last week, providing details of fraudulent cryptocurrency apps and wallets that purport to be sound investment opportunities.

In the report published on 21st July, the FBI disclosed that 244 investors, within a year, have been scammed out of $42.7 million through fraudulent mobile applications that claim to be legitimate crypto investment platforms.

The FBI report stated that cyber fraudsters are trying to cash in and take advantage of the rising interest in both cryptos investing and mobile banking.

The agency said since last October, it has witnessed scammers contacting U.S. investors with fraudulent offers of crypto investment services and convincing these investors to download fake mobile apps.

Such bogus apps often use the names and logos of legitimate US firms and fraudsters who create fake websites with this information to lure and swindle investors.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / / /

“What is Cryptocurrency” is the Most Googled Question in the Digital Asset Space, Study Shows

by Blockchain News

Since cryptocurrency is changing the personal finance adoption, questions about what it entails have been going through the roof on Google, according to a study by Crypto Wallet, an end-to-end crypto banking and commercial solution.

Per the report:

“What is cryptocurrency is by far the most asked question, with 121,000 average monthly searches, followed by “what is crypto” with 31,000 average monthly searches, for a total of 152,000 searches each month made by people wondering about this “mysterious” asset.”

 















Top 10 most googled questions about cryptocurrency

Rank

Keyword

Volume

1

what is cryptocurrency

121,000

2

what is crypto

31,000

3

how to buy cryptocurrency

24,000

4

why is crypto crashing

23,000

5

what is crypto mining

22,000

6

why is crypto down

19,000

7

why is crypto down today

16,000

8

how to mine cryptocurrency

16,000

9

how does cryptocurrency work

16,000

10

how to invest in cryptocurrency

14,000

Source: CryptoWallet

With cryptocurrency being a decentralized digital asset whose transactions are registered on an open ledger, the study noted that people were willing to learn about this cutting-edge technology.

A Crypto Wallet spokesperson commented:

“As the world enters a new era of personal finance and crypto is changing the way we might see money and spending, people want to be as informed as possible, either to keep up with changing times, investing actual time and effort into crypto, or just due to curiosity towards a relatively new and fascinating phenomenon.”

“How to buy cryptocurrency” was the third most googled question with 24,000 monthly searches, showing the urge for people to enter the crypto space. Based on the current bearish run in the crypto market, “why is crypto crashing” emerged fourth with 23,000 average monthly searches. The study noted:

“This question can be more topical and time-sensitive, as people might wonder what is happening within the crypto market at given times, and the reasons why a certain cryptocurrency might be crashing can vary.”

For instance, the 28-year interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve (Fed) has been one of the factors triggering a downtrend in the Bitcoin market. 

The study also acknowledged that the other common curiosities were around crypto mining and declining cryptocurrency. 

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

Google Creates Web3 Team to Take Advantage of Growing Crypto Popularity

by Blockchain News

To set the ball rolling in Web3, Google is assembling a team to create services for developers in this ecosystem through its cloud unit, according to CNBC.

Webp.net-resizeimage (23).jpg

Through an email, Amit Zavery, the vice president at Google Cloud, noted that the objective was to make the Google Cloud Platform the most preferred by developers in Web3. He wrote:

“While the world is still early in its embrace of Web3, it is a market that is already demonstrating tremendous potential with many customers asking us to increase our support for Web3 and Crypto related technologies.”

Therefore, Google seeks to tap the potential presented by the crypto space, given that Web3 Pioneers have developed peer-to-peer and decentralized systems intended to transform the internet.

 

As a new iteration of the World Wide Web-based on blockchain technology, Web3 aims to incorporate token-based economics and decentralization concepts. 

 

With Google battling for market share in cloud infrastructure against Amazon, Alibaba, and Microsoft, the tech giant intends to provide back-end services to developers eyeing their own Web3 software. 

 

Zavery pointed out:

“We’re not trying to be part of that cryptocurrency wave directly. We’re providing technologies for companies to use and take advantage of the distributed nature of Web3 in their current businesses and enterprises.”

Therefore, the in-house team shows Google’s commitment to the crypto market.

 

Steve Cooper, Warner Music Group CEO, opined that Web3 would revamp the music industry. He added:

“From collectibles to music royalties, Web3 represents an exciting future for the music industry that will help our artists reach millions upon millions of new fans in interesting and innovative ways.”

Crypto exchange KuCoin recently rolled out a $100 million “Creators Fund” to propel the Web3 ecosystem and support early-stage non-fungible token (NFT) projects, Blockchain.News reported. Concerted efforts like these are crucial toward the development of the Web3.0 space which at present is still in its nascent stages.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / /

Google Cloud Introduces Threat Detection System against Crypto-mining Malware

by Blockchain News

Google has announced the release of a new threat detection system for Google Cloud Platform customers against crypto-mining malware.

Webp.net-resizeimage - 2022-02-08T114230.192.jpg

Google Cloud’s new Virtual Machine Threat Detection (VTMD) protects Google Cloud Platform customers against growing attacks like coin-mining, data exfiltration, and ransomware.

Additionally, to safeguard users, VTMD helps provide agentless memory scanning.

“VMTD is a first-to-market detection capability from a major cloud provider that provides agentless memory scanning to help detect threats like crypto-mining malware inside your virtual machines running in Google Cloud,” Google said in a blogpost.

The measure is being rolled out as a “public preview,” and Google will integrate VMTD with other parts of its service over the next few months.

VMTD is the newest layer of threat detection in Google’s Security Command Center (SCC), the internet company noted.

“The economy of scale enabled by the cloud can help fundamentally change the way security is executed for any business operating in today’s threat landscape,” Google added.

Security solutions built into cloud platforms have been playing a critical role in safeguarding companies from cyber threats as cloud technologies are increasing in adoptions.

According to the latest Google Cybersecurity Action Team Threat Horizons Report, 86% of compromised cloud instances were used to perform cryptocurrency mining. 

Google also announced a steady release of new Google Cloud detective capabilities and integrations over the following months as VMTD moves towards general availability.

Image source: Shutterstock

Source

Tagged : / / / / / /

Google Cloud to detect crypto-mining malware on virtual machines

by Cointelegraph

It’s a shot in the arm for Google Cloud users at risk of cryptocurrency mining attacks. The Google Cybersecurity Action Team (GCAT) has created a threat detection service to shield “poorly configured” accounts that attackers use to mine cryptocurrency. 

In a blog post, Google Cloud announced the Virtual Machine Threat Detection (VMTD) release in its Security Command Center (SCC) area. A means of scanning compute engines in Google Cloud, the VMTD successfully detects threats, including crypto-mining malware used inside virtual machines.

Crypto-mining malware attacks, sometimes called “cryptojacking,” are an ongoing nuisance in the industry. While browser-based cryptojacking activity spiked in the 2019 bear market, cloud-based crypto mining continues to beleaguer the space.

Cointelegraph reported in November last year that of 50 analyzed incidents relating to compromised Google Cloud Protocols, 86% were related to crypto mining. The Google “Threat Horizons” report highlighted hackers may seek to hijack GPU space to mine crypto as it is a “cloud resource-intensive for-profit activity.”

Upon receiving the data, the Google Cybersecurity Action Team sought to remedy the situation, building better protections for its virtual machine users.

The result is VMTD, a program that provides agentless memory scanning to help detect threats like crypto-mining malware. As well as delivering protections from coin mining, the VMTD also secures users from data exfiltration and ransomware.

Ransomware attacks flourished in 2021, reaching highs in April 2021. Some commentators suggest that the rise in ransomware attacks went hand in hand with crypto’s meteoric rise; regulators and industry players have made efforts to blunt the malpractice.

Related: Crypto miner in Texas shuts down 99% of operations as winter storm approaches

Regarding crypto-mining malware attacks, Google has made a concerted effort to stem the onslaught of malicious actors taking advantage of unknowing internet users’ CPU power and electricity in order to mine cryptocurrencies. In 2018, over 55% of businesses were reportedly affected worldwide, including Google’s Youtube.

The VMTD will steadily integrate with other parts of Google Cloud over the coming months, benefitting further Google Cloud users.