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Don’t Let Scammers Steal Your Holiday Cheer: New Norton Report Reveals Nearly Half of U.S. Consumers Were Targeted by a Scam While Online Shopping

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Norton’s Cyber Safety Sunday Helps Shoppers Stay Safe Ahead of the Peak Holiday Shopping Season

TEMPE, Ariz. and PRAGUE, Oct. 29, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Holiday shopping is in full swing, with over 60% of Americans ready to click “add to cart” for most of their purchases this holiday season. But it’s not just shoppers gearing up – scammers are, too. Nearly half (48%) of U.S. consumers report being targeted by a scam while holiday shopping online, according to the 2024 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Holiday. Additionally, more than half (53%) of Americans are worried about Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping scams. Norton, a consumer Cyber Safety brand of Gen (NASDAQ: GEN), encourages people to take time on Cyber Safety Sunday, December 1st, to prepare to safely shop online this holiday season and bolster their defenses against cybercriminals and scammers.

‘Tis the Season for Shopping and Scamming

Cyber Safety Sunday is observed the Sunday after Thanksgiving and is a day for shoppers to take proactive steps to prioritize their online safety ahead of shopping Cyber Week deals, booking holiday travel, and more. Nearly half of Americans (48%) will do most of their holiday shopping between Black Friday and Cyber Monday – making it not only the busiest time of the year for shoppers – but also scammers. Thirty percent of Americans say they have been targeted by a scam while holiday shopping online. Of the two fifths (43%) who fell victim, 30% report the scam happened on Black Friday, 11% on Cyber Monday and 30% on Christmas.

“The holidays can be a hectic time, and when we are busy or looking for ways to save money, sometimes we let our guard down,” said Leyla Bilge for Norton. “This Cyber Safety Sunday, we encourage everyone to take a few simple steps that will go a long way to help you stay safe online this season. Stick to sites you trust, stay educated on common scams, update passwords, set fraud alerts and always think twice before sharing your personal information. Give yourself the gift of peace of mind knowing you’re prepared.”

Rising Concerns Over Cyber Grinches

Of the 90% of Americans buying gifts to spread holiday cheer, 60% will be clicking “add to cart” for most of their presents this season. While online shopping is fun and convenient, the rise in online crime has made shoppers feel less merry and more wary about their online safety. In fact, 62% are concerned about becoming victims of cybercrime this season, with 47% specifically worried about falling for a sophisticated holiday shopping scam. A look deeper into Norton’s data reveals concerns rising from last year:

71% of US consumers are concerned about their personal details being compromised, up 8% YoY. 59% are concerned about being scammed by a 3rd party retailer, up 9% YoY. 59% are concerned about AI shopping scams, up 11% YoY. 

Decking the Halls with Discounts

With the costs of many goods on the rise, everyone’s looking to stretch their holiday budgets a little further, resulting in 87% of U.S. online shoppers spending extra time to look for discount codes. However, it is important to be aware of the information you offer to gain access to these deals, as it can lead to significant privacy risks.  When you enter personal details, such as your name, email or payment information to redeem a discount code, that data could fall into the wrong hands if the website is not secure. Some scammers also create fake promotions or clone legitimate retailer websites to trick consumers into submitting their information, which they can then use for identity theft, financial fraud or to sell on the dark web.

Norton discovered that two thirds (67%) of people have taken some action to receive a discount code. Of these deal seekers, 57% signed up for a mailing list, 39% answered a survey and 30% liked a post or posted on social media. Nearly two-thirds (65%) of people were willing to give personal information including their email (91%), phone number (52%) or home address (35%).

It’s no coincidence that while shoppers are keen for discounts, malvertising and adware are the cyber threats that increase the most dramatically during the holiday season. During last year’s holiday shopping season, Gen data reveals a 53% increase in malvertising attacks – malicious ads often seen by consumers when searching for something such as sales. Adware – malicious software often distributed via malvertising – increased by 227% over the same period.

To stay safe, try to find codes directly from the retailer and not third-party providers. Consider using an alternative email address that you don’t typically use for daily, personal life. Products such as Norton AntiTrack can create these emails for you in a single click. Think twice: Is the discount worth potentially compromising your digital safety or identity?

Enlisting AI Holiday Helpers

Both retailers and consumers are using AI tools to help ease the stress of holiday shopping. Nearly a quarter of people (23%) have interacted with an AI chatbot or assistant and 43% have noticed AI-enhanced search results with personal recommendations while shopping.

While 36% of Americans say that AI recommendations are helpful and could enhance their online shopping experience, most shoppers are still resistant to AI. Fifty-seven percent of people say they would abandon their carts if they could only speak with a chatbot rather than a real customer service representative. Only 26% of shoppers trust AI to handle their personal information securely, and 37% who have interacted with an AI chatbot while holiday shopping online report receiving inaccurate information.

Sleighing Suspicious Social Media Ads

Despite general distrust in social media sites, shoppers continue to click on social ads to purchase holiday gifts. Thirty-seven percent of Americans have purchased a holiday gift from a social ad, with these buyers mainly purchasing through Facebook (60%), Instagram (48%) and TikTok (40%).

Clicking on social media ads can expose people to unnecessary risks such as phishing attacks, malware infections and privacy breaches. Fraudulent ads may lead to fake websites that steal personal information or payment details, and some may download harmful or malicious software onto your device. Despite these risks, 20% of people are still willing to click on a social media ad or email claiming to offer a gift—reminding us all that some “holiday deals” belong on the naughty list.

This Cyber Safety Sunday, take control of your Cyber Safety by using AI to spot scams. Norton Genie is an AI-powered app that provides a fast, easy and free way to check if a message, like an email offering a holiday discount, is a scam. Genie can also review social media links and other suspicious web links, such as those that direct people to track deliveries for holiday gifts, offer gift cards or steer people to fake third-party websites and confirm whether the information or offer is malicious.

Visit Norton.com this Cyber Safety Sunday and throughout the holidays to learn how you can prepare for a safe shopping season and find out about the top scams and more holiday shopping insights in the 2024 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Holiday.

About the 2024 Norton Cyber Safety Insights Report: Holiday 

The study was conducted online within the United States by Dynata on behalf of Gen from August 30th to September 11th, 2024 among 1,000 adults ages 18 and older. Data is weighted where necessary by age, gender and region, to be nationally representative. 

About Norton

Norton is a leader in Cyber Safety, and part of Gen™ (NASDAQ: GEN), a global company dedicated to powering Digital Freedom with a family of trusted consumer brands. Norton empowers millions of individuals and families with award-winning protection for their devices, online privacy, and identity. Norton products and services are certified by independent testing organizations including AV-TEST, AV-Comparatives, and SE Labs. Norton is a founding member of the Coalition Against Stalkerware. Learn more at https://us.norton.com/.

Malea Lamb-Hall
Gen 
Press@GenDigital.com 

Courtney Rowles
Edelman for Gen
Courtney.Rowles@Edelman.com

 

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Nanalysis Announces Board Transition and Appointment of Three New Directors

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CALGARY, AB, May 1, 2026 /CNW/ – Nanalysis Scientific Corp. (the “Company”, TSXV: NSCI, FRA: 1N1), a leader in portable NMR spectrometers and MRI technology for industrial and research applications, is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Ladd, Werner Maas, and Steve Feick to its Board of Directors effective May 1, 2026.

Mr. Ladd is an experienced technology executive and former Chief Executive Officer of NovAtel Inc., a Nasdaq-listed GPS technology company acquired by Hexagon AB. He has a track record of scaling global technology businesses and brings extensive experience in capital markets, corporate governance, and strategic execution within advanced technology companies. He currently serves on the following boards: Takemetoit Inc., AgriRobot, Litus Inc., and is an advisor at Tall Grass Ventures. Mr. Ladd earned a bachelor’s degree with distinction in engineering and is a member of Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society.

Dr. Maas is a senior executive in the analytical instrumentation sector, having previously served as President of Bruker BioSpin Corporation and currently serving as Chief Executive Officer of Hudson Lab Automation. He brings deep expertise in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technologies, as well as global sales, marketing, and commercialization of scientific instrumentation. Dr. Maas holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Radboud University in The Netherlands, as well as several executive management designations from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Mr. Feick is President of Manvest Inc., part of the Mancal Group. He has a track record of developing and growing a portfolio of investments in agriculture, finance, supply chain, infrastructure technology, energy efficiency, and data analytics. As a former entrepreneur, he ensures that his operational and investor experience elevates the growth of the portfolio. He is an experienced investor and brings expertise in capital allocation, governance, and long-term strategic planning across private and public market investments. Mr. Feick holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Queen’s University.

In connection with these appointments, Martin Burian and Jennifer Stubbs will be stepping down from the Board of Directors, effective May 1, 2026. The Company thanks Mr. Burian and Ms. Stubbs for their contributions and service and wishes them continued success in their future endeavours.

“On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Martin and Jennifer for their contributions to Nanalysis and dedicated service to the Company and wish them continued success in their future endeavours.” said Sean Krakiwsky, Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased to welcome Jonathan, Werner, and Steve. Their collective experience across instrumentation, global commercialization, and capital allocation will support the Company as we focus on scaling our core NMR platform and executing on our services growth strategy.”

About Nanalysis Scientific Corp. (TSXV: NSCI, OTCQX: NSCIF, FRA: 1N1)

Nanalysis Scientific Corp. develops and manufactures portable Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectrometers used worldwide in pharma, biotech, energy, food, materials, and security industries, as well as in academic and government labs. The Company also operates a growing services division that maintains both its own products and third-party imaging equipment, anchored by a $160 million long-term contract with the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to maintain security scanners at more than 80 Canadian airports.

Notice regarding Forward Looking Statements and Legal Disclaimer

This news release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of such statements under applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as “anticipates”, “plan”, “continue”, “expect”, “project”, “intend”, “believe”, “anticipate”, “estimate”, “may”, “will”, “potential”, “proposed”, “positioned” and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions “may” or “will” occur. These statements are only predictions. Various assumptions were used in drawing the conclusions or making the projections contained in the forward-looking statements throughout this news release. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company is under no obligation, and expressly disclaims any intention or obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as expressly required by applicable law.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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SOURCE Nanalysis Scientific Corp.

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PCIS Emerges as Leading Risk and Claims Provider in Mid-Atlantic with Three Major Wins

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SEPTA, City of Baltimore, and Maryland Department of Transportation MTA adopt ClaimsVISION to modernize risk and claims operations

NEW YORK, May 1, 2026 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ — PCIS, a leading provider of Risk & Claims Management Information System (RMIS), today announced a series of new and expanded client engagements across the Mid-Atlantic region, further solidifying its position as a trusted partner for transit agencies and public sector organizations.

“The biggest barrier to innovation in the public sector isn’t a lack of tools—it’s the weight of legacy data environments that were never built for real-time intelligence. You can’t layer AI on top of fragmented, batch-driven systems and expect results.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has selected PCIS ClaimsVISION RMIS to enhance its risk management capabilities and support more efficient claims oversight. The City of Baltimore has chosen ClaimsVISION Claims and RMIS to modernize its claims administration and enterprise risk management operations. In addition, the Maryland Department of Transportation Maryland Transit Administration (MDOT MTA) has entered into a new five-year agreement with PCIS, extending a long-standing partnership and continuing its use of the ClaimsVISION platform.

These engagements reflect a broader trend among public entities seeking modern, configurable platforms to improve visibility, streamline workflows, and strengthen compliance across increasingly complex risk environments.

“The biggest barrier to innovation in the public sector isn’t a lack of tools—it’s the weight of legacy data environments that were never built for real-time intelligence. You can’t layer AI on top of fragmented, batch-driven systems and expect results. Organizations like SEPTA and Baltimore are rethinking the foundation—moving toward continuous, streaming data models that actually enable AI to deliver value”, said Michael Loizou, CSO of PCIS.

Across these implementations, PCIS will deliver a unified platform designed to:

Centralize claims and risk data for improved decision-makingEnhance BI and intelligent analytics capabilitiesStreamline workflows and reduce manual processesSupport regulatory compliance and audit readinessEnable scalable, configurable solutions tailored to public sector needs

The continued expansion of PCIS within the Mid-Atlantic region underscores the company’s growing presence among transit agencies and public entities seeking proven, purpose-built risk and claims management solutions.

Media Contact

Helene Quinn, PCIS, 1 2124051625, hquinn@pcisvision.com, www.pcisvision.com

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Private Equity’s AI Moment: The Greatest Value Lever in Decades — and the Hardest to Pull

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The following article is authored by Neil Dhar, Senior Vice President, IBM Consulting Americas

ARMONK, N.Y., May 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Next week at Think 2026, we’ll outline the forces shaping the Enterprise AI Race, forces that apply with particular urgency to private equity. The organizations gaining ground today are not the ones betting on a single model. They are the ones redesigning how their businesses operate, building hybrid architectures that give them control, and deploying AI in ways that orchestrate value that compounds over time. 

The private equity industry understands this better than most. The days of pilots and promises are over, and the demand for hard proof (a.k.a. ROI) has begun. Is your revenue accelerating? Can you drive efficiency and profitability at the same time? What does long-term growth look like? These are the questions sitting across the table at every board meeting and investment committee, and the pressure is only intensifying.  

This pressure has forced major PE firms to move aggressively to formalize their AI strategies, including exploring joint ventures with leading LLM companies. They’re making a calculated bet on AI as the most powerful value‑creation lever the industry has seen in its history, and they recognize that the window to move is now. 

The logic is unmistakable. PE firms don’t run single businesses, they run portfolios. Which means AI playbooks that work don’t just transform one company; they compound across ten, twenty, fifty, hundreds. A workflow reinvented once becomes a repeatable asset. A governance framework built once becomes portfolio infrastructure. That multiplier effect is native to how PE creates value, and it’s what makes the intersection of private equity and enterprise AI one of the most consequential arenas in business right now. 

The bet is a no-brainer. Execution is where it gets hard.  

Here’s what we know to be true: competitive advantage won’t come from betting on a single LLM. It will come from building AI tailored to your business, shifting to a hybrid strategy that combines custom models, foundation models, and smaller specialized models, all grounded in an architecture that connects your data, your workflows, and your intelligence. In private equity, where the same playbook has to work across an entire portfolio, that distinction isn’t academic. It’s the difference between value that compounds and value that stalls. 

We know this because we lived it. We turned our own operations into the proving ground, analyzing nearly 400 operational workflows and deploying AI solutions across more than 100 so far, coupled with AI governance and enablement.

The result was $4.5B in productivity gains from AI, hybrid cloud, automation and consulting expertise, and proof of what works.

We then took that proof and productized those validated workflows into IBM Enterprise Advantage, a first-of-its-kind asset-based consulting service that enables clients to build and operate their own tailored internal AI platform at scale.

With digital workers, prebuilt tools, and native governance, clients have a headstart rather than a blank slate. And because it’s multi-model, they retain the freedom to shift as technology evolves. For private equity, that flexibility determines whether a company is an asset or a liability at exit. 

We’re bringing this same approach to private equity-backed companies, where the defining question is what changed and can you prove it.

A major U.S. telecommunications provider is deploying digital workers and prebuilt AI tools from Enterprise Advantage to accelerate the migration of more than 150 critical applications, delivering measurable savings within two quarters.Working with a leading insurance administrator, IBM is using agentic AI to overhaul end-to-end claims processing, a function where a single claim can involve dozens of tightly regulated steps across multiple systems. AI agents now read and structure claim documents, perform compliance checks, assess eligibility, and route cases automatically, resulting in faster cycle times, fewer bottlenecks, and an operating model built to scale. 

What private equity does here will ripple far beyond its own portfolios. When PE-backed companies deploy production-ready AI across the business, they reset competitive expectations for entire industries, forcing every competitor to respond. That is the Enterprise AI Race playing out in real time.

The choices made today will define portfolio performance for the next decade. Move too slowly and you’re handing the advantage to every competitor who didn’t. Move without discipline and you’re betting the portfolio on a foundation that hasn’t been proven. The firms that win will be the ones who understood that distinction early enough to do something about it.

About IBM 

IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.

Media contact: 

IBM
Lily O’Brien
lilyobrien@ibm.com

SOURCE IBM

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