How to Measure Brand Awareness in 2025 (AKA the Year of the Brand)
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How to Measure Brand Awareness in 2025 (AKA the Year of the Brand)

Brand awareness is one of the “fuzziest” growth channels. And when things get fuzzy, you need concrete ways to prove your time and investment is paying off. Below I’ve laid out 11 workflows you can follow to measure the success of your brand awareness—including some little-known Ahrefs use cases. Tim Soulo on LinkedIn There’s no right…

PureCrypter Deploys Agent Tesla and New TorNet Backdoor in Ongoing Cyberattacks

PureCrypter Deploys Agent Tesla and New TorNet Backdoor in Ongoing Cyberattacks

A financially motivated threat actor has been linked to an ongoing phishing email campaign that has been ongoing since at least July 2024 specifically targeting users in Poland and Germany. The attacks have led to the deployment of various payloads, such as Agent Tesla, Snake Keylogger, and a previously undocumented backdoor dubbed TorNet that’s delivered…

GitHub Desktop Vulnerability Risks Credential Leaks via Malicious Remote URLs

GitHub Desktop Vulnerability Risks Credential Leaks via Malicious Remote URLs

Multiple security vulnerabilities have been disclosed in GitHub Desktop as well as other Git-related projects that, if successfully exploited, could permit an attacker to gain unauthorized access to a user’s Git credentials. “Git implements a protocol called Git Credential Protocol to retrieve credentials from the credential helper,” GMO Flatt Security researcher Ry0taK, who discovered the…

Bidding on Branded Terms Increases Clicks by 18.3%
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Bidding on Branded Terms Increases Clicks by 18.3%

Get the week’s best marketing content We ran this study to find out if running paid ads cannibalize organic traffic or not. Most SEOs are against bidding on branded terms because it is believed that buying paid ads cannibalizes organic traffic and it can also impact attribution for conversions and revenue. Paid advertisers believe there is…

Meta's Llama Framework Flaw Exposes AI Systems to Remote Code Execution Risks

Meta’s Llama Framework Flaw Exposes AI Systems to Remote Code Execution Risks

A high-severity security flaw has been disclosed in Meta’s Llama large language model (LLM) framework that, if successfully exploited, could allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code on the llama-stack inference server. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2024-50050, has been assigned a CVSS score of 6.3 out of 10.0. Supply chain security firm Snyk, on the…

RANsacked: Over 100 Security Flaws Found in LTE and 5G Network Implementations

RANsacked: Over 100 Security Flaws Found in LTE and 5G Network Implementations

A group of academics has disclosed details of over 100 security vulnerabilities impacting LTE and 5G implementations that could be exploited by an attacker to disrupt access to service and even gain a foothold into the cellular core network. The 119 vulnerabilities, assigned 97 unique CVE identifiers, span seven LTE implementations – Open5GS, Magma, OpenAirInterface,…

DoJ Indicts 5 Individuals for $866K North Korean IT Worker Scheme Violations

DoJ Indicts 5 Individuals for $866K North Korean IT Worker Scheme Violations

The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday indicted two North Korean nationals, a Mexican national, and two of its own citizens for their alleged involvement in the ongoing fraudulent information technology (IT) worker scheme that seeks to generate revenue for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) in violation of international sanctions. The action…

Cisco Fixes Critical Privilege Escalation Flaw in Meeting Management (CVSS 9.9)

Cisco Fixes Critical Privilege Escalation Flaw in Meeting Management (CVSS 9.9)

Cisco has released software updates to address a critical security flaw impacting Meeting Management that could permit a remote, authenticated attacker to gain administrator privileges on susceptible instances. The vulnerability, tracked as CVE-2025-20156, carries a CVSS score of 9.9 out 10.0. It has been described as a privilege escalation flaw in the REST API of…

PlushDaemon APT Targets South Korean VPN Provider in Supply Chain Attack

PlushDaemon APT Targets South Korean VPN Provider in Supply Chain Attack

A previously undocumented China-aligned advanced persistent threat (APT) group named PlushDaemon has been linked to a supply chain attack targeting a South Korean virtual private network (VPN) provider in 2023, according to new findings from ESET. “The attackers replaced the legitimate installer with one that also deployed the group’s signature implant that we have named…

I Reviewed the Best AI Image Generators for 2025
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I Reviewed the Best AI Image Generators for 2025

I tested the most popular AI image generators to discover their greatest strengths and weaknesses. At Ahrefs, we have a team of extremely skilled (and very human) designers, but not everyone has that luxury. I wanted to know: are AI image generators useful for spinning up quick social media posts, creating blog post graphics, or…

PNGPlug Loader Delivers ValleyRAT Malware Through Fake Software Installers

PNGPlug Loader Delivers ValleyRAT Malware Through Fake Software Installers

Cybersecurity researchers are calling attention to a series of cyber attacks that have targeted Chinese-speaking regions like Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China with a known malware called ValleyRAT. The attacks leverage a multi-stage loader dubbed PNGPlug to deliver the ValleyRAT payload, Intezer said in a technical report published last week. The infection chain commences…