Latest news with #alertfatigue
The Guardian
11 hours ago
- The Guardian
Rise in ‘alert fatigue' risks phone users disabling news notifications, study finds
It has become a feature of modern life – millions of phones simultaneously buzz or sound the alarm as users are notified of breaking news deemed too important to miss. Now evidence is mounting that the prevalence of news alerts is giving rise to 'alert fatigue', with some mobile phone users peppered with as many as 50 notifications a day. The rise of news aggregators such as Apple News and Google on mobile devices means some users can receive more than one alert about the same story. Analysis by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism found that 79% of people surveyed on the subject around the world said they did not currently receive any news alerts during an average week. Crucially, 43% of those who did not receive alerts said they had actively disabled them. They complained of receiving too many or not finding them useful, according to the research, which covered 28 countries. The use of news alerts has grown over the last decade. Weekly use of alerts in the US has grown from 6% to 23% of phone users since 2014 and from 3% to 18% in the UK, according to the analysis. The extraordinary power of the BBC News alert was underlined in the research, which suggested almost 4 million people in the UK will be notified every time the broadcaster sends one. Researchers found news companies are acutely aware they are walking a delicate line between notifying users about crucial information and causing them to unsubscribe by sending them too many updates. The study discovered that some publishers are less retrained than others. In the UK, the Times sends no more than four alerts each day. The Financial Times sends a number of general news alerts to everyone and then a personalised notification at the same time each day for those who opt in. Elsewhere, the Jerusalem Post and CNN Indonesia were found to be typically sending up to 50 alerts each day, and some news aggregator apps were sending even more. A research tool used to monitor news alerts found that the New York Times averaged 10 a day, Tagesschau in Germany averaged 1.9, NDTV in India sent 29.1, while BBC News averaged 8.3 a day. The Guardian sends about seven a day, according to the same research tool. 'It is a tightrope that publishers have been walking,' said Nic Newman, the report's lead author. 'If they send too many, people uninstall the app, which is obviously a disaster. The classic problem is publishers know they shouldn't send too many individually. But collectively, there are always going to be some bad actors who are spoiling the party. 'It is definitely alert fatigue. That's partly to do with news avoidance. [Users] want to protect themselves during the day, so they are not distracted and they can get on with other things. It doesn't mean to say they're not interested in news, but they just don't want news all the time, 24 hours a day, coming at you like an express train.' The research comes amid a huge battle for the smartphone lock screen, seen as a prime location as companies seek to build a closer relationship with their audiences or customers. News alerts jostle for position alongside messages from social media companies, games and other entertainment apps. Too many alerts could cause problems for the whole industry. The big smartphone software operators such as Apple and Google have routinely warned publishers about sending too many alerts. This has led to concerns that these platforms could further restrict or mediate their notifications in the future.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
The AI revolution that's quietly transforming cyber-security operations
Sekoia is a Business Reporter client How artificial intelligence is rescuing overwhelmed security teams from alert fatigue – and why your organisation needs to pay attention. In the windowless rooms of corporate security operations centres across Britain, a quiet revolution is taking place. Where analysts once drowned in thousands of daily alerts – 99 per cent of them false alarms – artificial intelligence is now stepping in to separate genuine threats from digital noise. The numbers tell a stark story: the average security operations centre (SOC) processes over 10,000 alerts daily, yet fewer than 100 represent real threats. Meanwhile, the UK faces a cyber-security skills shortage of 2.9 million professionals, leaving existing teams stretched beyond breaking point. When human expertise meets machine speed 'We were haemorrhaging talent,' admits one CISO at a Fortune 500 Group. 'Brilliant analysts were leaving because they spent 80 per cent of their time chasing false positives rather than hunting real threats.' His team's transformation began 18 months ago with AI-driven SOC technology. Today, instead of manually sifting through thousands of alerts, his analysts receive just 10-15 high-priority cases daily – each one enriched with context, threat intelligence and recommended actions. The change has been dramatic. Response times have dropped from hours to minutes, while job satisfaction scores have soared. 'Our people are finally doing what they trained for. Strategic threat hunting, not digital paperwork.' The SMB paradox: enterprise threats, startup budgets The challenge isn't limited to large corporations. Small and medium-sized businesses face the same sophisticated threats but lack the resources for dedicated security teams. Recent data shows 60 per cent of SMBs that suffer a cyber-attack go out of business within six months. Stark reality: Sixty per cent of SMBs that suffer a cyber-attack go out of business within six months (Sekoia) Enter the partnership model that's reshaping the industry and democratising cyber-security. Managed security service providers (MSSPs) are now leveraging enterprise-grade AI-powered SOC platforms to offer Fortune 500-level protection to companies with fewer than 100 employees. 'With Sekoia's AI-SOC platform, we've built a scalable and efficient model in France. We are now ready to replicate this success across Southern Europe to protect local businesses from all types of cyber-threats,' said Romain Queïnnec, Director Southern Europe at Orange Cyberdefense. Beyond human versus machine: the collaboration model Contrary to headlines about AI replacing jobs, the most successful implementations put humans firmly in control. AI agents handle routine tasks – isolating infected devices, gathering forensic evidence, updating tickets – while analysts focus on strategic decisions and complex investigations. The technology learns continuously from human feedback. When analysts mark alerts as false positives or adjust detection rules, the AI adapts, becoming more accurate over time. It's less robot takeover, more digital apprentice. The business case: numbers that matter Early adopters are seeing remarkable results: A 70 per cent reduction in false positive alerts 60 per cent faster incident response times A 40 per cent decrease in analyst burnout rates ROI typically achieved within 12 months For CISOs facing budget pressures, these aren't just operational improvements – they're survival metrics in an increasingly hostile digital landscape. Ready to transform your SOC operations? Download comprehensive AI-Driven SOC whitepaper for practical implementation frameworks and real-world case studies. Time to act: Cyber-criminals are already using AI to accelerate their attacks, creating more sophisticated phishing campaigns and automating vulnerability exploitation (Sekoia) Racing against time The urgency is real. Cyber-criminals are already using AI to accelerate their attacks, creating more sophisticated phishing campaigns and automating vulnerability exploitation. Organisations that don't modernise their defences risk being left behind. 'The question isn't whether to adopt AI in your SOC,' warns a cybersecurity researcher in a major academic institution. 'It's whether you'll do it before or after a major breach forces your hand.' Looking forward: the 24/7 digital guardian The vision emerging from industry leaders is compelling: SOCs that operate continuously without human exhaustion, scaling automatically during attacks and freeing security professionals to focus on strategic initiatives such as risk assessments and proactive threat hunting. For organisations ready to explore this transformation, the first step is understanding how AI-native platforms can integrate with existing security infrastructure while maintaining the human oversight that remains crucial for complex threat analysis. The cyber-security landscape is evolving rapidly. To learn more about implementing AI-driven SOC operations and access detailed implementation guidance, security leaders can download comprehensive AI-Driven SOC whitepaper , which provides practical frameworks for modernising security operations while maintaining strategic human oversight.
