A long-known weakness in an authentication protocol shipped in millions of routers, surveillance devices and satellite antennae is being used in attempts to compromise accounts at popular web services, according to new research from Akamai. The research findings add to concerns that hackers increasingly are using internet of things devices to stage attacks, a situation that experts say could be difficult or in some cases impossible to fix (see How an IT Pro Kicked Hackers Off Surveillance Cameras).

[Editor’s note: Ah, the ever-popular Gartner Hype Cycle. Love it or hate it, it’s always interesting. Customer Data Platforms appeared for the first time this year, positioned as just starting the climb to inflated expectations. I’d say CDPs a bit further along than that, but agree that we haven’t seen too much hype yet.]

Publicis Groupe has acquired Capitiv8, the influencer platform that boasts 15 million creators, including 95% of all influencers with over 5,000 followers. This follows last year’s acquisition of Influential, itself a huge influencer network which works alongside Publicis-owned connected identity platform Epsilon. Adding Captiv8 gives Publicis the biggest influencer network in the world.