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digitalization of transportation industry

Digitalization of Transportation Industry : The Impact

IT Outsourcing, ThoughtsMindfire Solutions

The transportation industry has experienced significant changes in recent years due to the impact of digitalization. The integration of digital technologies has brought about new opportunities and challenges for the industry, affecting everything from logistics and supply chain management to customer experience and safety. In this blog, we will explore the impact of digitalization on the transportation industry, highlighting the opportunities and challenges that come with this transformation.

 

Opportunities

1. Improved Efficiency and Productivity

Digitalization has enabled the transportation industry to improve its efficiency and productivity significantly. The integration of digital technologies such as GPS tracking, real-time data analytics, and automation has made it possible to optimize routes, reduce fuel consumption, and improve delivery times. This has resulted in cost savings for transportation companies and improved customer satisfaction.

2. Enhanced Customer Experience

Digitalization has also improved the customer experience significantly. Customers can now track their shipments in real-time, receive notifications about delivery times, and provide feedback on their experience. This has increased transparency and accountability in the industry, leading to improved customer satisfaction.

3. Increased Safety

Digitalization has also improved safety in the transportation industry. The integration of technologies such as collision avoidance systems, driver monitoring, and predictive maintenance has reduced the risk of accidents and improved the safety of drivers and passengers.

4. New Business Models

Digitalization has also enabled the transportation industry to develop new business models. The rise of ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft has disrupted the traditional taxi industry, while the emergence of on-demand delivery services such has transformed the logistics and supply chain management landscape.

5. Data-Driven Decision Making

The collection and analysis of data from various sources, such as sensors, GPS tracking, and customer feedback, can help transportation companies make informed decisions about route optimization, fleet management, and customer service. This data-driven approach can lead to improved efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced customer satisfaction. However, the effective use of data requires the development of robust data management systems and the implementation of data privacy and security measures.

6. Intermodal and Multimodal Transportation

The seamless integration of different modes of transportation, such as road, rail, air, and sea, can improve the efficiency and flexibility of the transportation industry. Digital technologies, such as real-time data analytics and IoT devices, can help transportation companies coordinate and optimize the use of different transportation modes, leading to reduced transit times and improved customer satisfaction. However, the development of intermodal and multimodal transportation systems requires collaboration between various stakeholders, including transportation companies, infrastructure providers, and regulatory authorities.

7. Smart Cities and Intelligent Transportation Systems

The integration of digital technologies, such as IoT devices, sensors, and data analytics, can help create connected and intelligent transportation systems that improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and enhance safety. These intelligent transportation systems can also contribute to the development of smart cities, where transportation systems are integrated with other urban systems, such as energy, waste management, and public services. However, the development of smart cities and intelligent transportation systems requires significant investments in infrastructure and the development of supportive policies and regulations.

8. Real-Time Information and Communication

The use of digital technologies, such as GPS tracking, mobile applications, and social media, has made it possible for transportation companies to provide real-time updates on traffic conditions, delays, and route changes. This real-time information can help customers make informed decisions about their travel plans and improve their overall experience. However, the effective use of real-time information and communication requires the development of robust communication networks and the implementation of data privacy and security measures.

9. Predictive Maintenance and Asset Management

Digitalization has also facilitated the implementation of predictive maintenance and asset management in the transportation industry. The use of digital technologies, such as IoT devices, sensors, and data analytics, can help transportation companies monitor the condition of their assets, such as vehicles, infrastructure, and equipment, in real-time. This real-time monitoring can enable companies to identify potential issues before they become critical, allowing for proactive maintenance and reducing the risk of downtime and costly repairs. However, the implementation of predictive maintenance and asset management requires significant investments in digital technologies and the development of skilled personnel to analyze and interpret the data.

10. Collaboration and Information Sharing

The use of digital platforms, such as cloud-based systems and data-sharing networks, has made it easier for transportation companies to collaborate with their partners, suppliers, and customers. This increased collaboration can lead to improved efficiency, cost savings, and enhanced customer satisfaction. However, the effective use of digital platforms for collaboration and information sharing requires the development of standardized data formats and the implementation of data privacy and security measures.

11. Autonomous Vehicles and Drones

The integration of digital technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and computer vision, has made it possible for vehicles and drones to navigate and operate without human intervention. This has the potential to revolutionize the transportation industry by improving efficiency, reducing the risk of accidents, and enabling new business models, such as drone-based delivery services. However, the widespread adoption of autonomous vehicles and drones requires significant investments in research and development, as well as the development of supportive policies and regulations.

12. Environmental Sustainability

Digitalization has the potential to contribute to environmental sustainability in the transportation industry. The use of digital technologies can help optimize routes, reduce fuel consumption, and minimize emissions. Additionally, the integration of electric vehicles and the development of smart charging infrastructure can further reduce the industry’s environmental impact. However, the transition to more sustainable transportation systems requires significant investments and the development of supportive policies and regulations.

Challenges

1. Cybersecurity Risks

The integration of digital technologies has made transportation systems more vulnerable to cyber-attacks, which can result in significant financial losses and reputational damage.

2. Workforce Disruption

The integration of automation and artificial intelligence has led to concerns about job displacement and the need for re-skilling and up-skilling of the workforce.

3. Infrastructure Upgrades

Digitalization has also highlighted the need for infrastructure upgrades in the transportation industry. The integration of digital technologies requires significant investments in infrastructure, including the installation of sensors, communication networks, and data centers.

4. Regulatory Challenges

Digitalization has also created regulatory challenges for the transportation industry. The integration of new technologies has raised questions about data privacy, liability, and safety regulations, which require new policies and regulations to be developed.

Wrapping Up

In this age of rapid digital transformation, the transportation industry faces a pivotal moment. The potential benefits in terms of efficiency, cost reduction, and customer satisfaction are abundant, yet so are the hurdles, notably in security and data management.

To navigate this complex landscape successfully, transportation and logistics companies must embrace innovative solutions tailored to their unique needs. At Mindfire Solutions, we specialize in developing custom software solutions that can assist companies that operate in the transportation and logistics industry. Our solutions are designed to optimize operations, improve visibility, and ensure a seamless transition into the digital age. Embrace the opportunities, tackle the challenges, and partner with us on your journey towards a digitally transformed future.

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Beginner’s guide to learn golang: Your first steps to get started

Software Outsourcing, ThoughtsLakin Mohapatra

Google created Go programming language, also known as Golang, to address some of the shortcomings and inefficiencies they were experiencing with existing languages and tools. In this article, we discuss the key features of Golang and provide steps and resources to help you learn Golang and master it.

Why Google created Golang

Compile time: Google has historically struggled with long compile times for its projects having large codebases. This problem has been so significant that Google has developed build tools to separate the dependency analysis and compiling, just to gain a few percent in build time using conventional languages. In an effort to address this issue, Google created the programming language Go, which is designed for faster compilation without the need for dependency checking.

String processing: Google frequently processes and analyzes large amounts of text data in the form of web pages, requiring efficient manipulation of strings. To meet this need, the company incorporated a comprehensive set of string functions into the Go programming language, which also uses garbage collection to make working with strings more efficient compared to some other languages like C++.

Concurrency: The rise of multicore CPUs in the past argued that a language should provide first-class support for some sort of concurrency or parallelism. And to make resource management tractable in a large concurrent program, garbage collection, or at least some sort of safe automatic memory management was required. To address the complexity and difficulty of concurrent programming, where multiple parts of a program run simultaneously, is challenging to do well. Go was designed to make it easier to write concurrent programs by providing built-in support for concurrency and synchronization.

Learning curve: Go is a relatively simple language with a straightforward syntax and a small set of core features. This makes it easy for programmers to learn and use, even if they are new to programming.

Modern software development practices: Go was designed to support modern software development practices such as agile development, continuous integration, and test-driven development. It includes features such as built-in testing and support for dependency management.

Go = C + strings + garbage collection + concurrency.

Curious about Golang’s rising popularity? Our article: Golang: A Hype or the Future? ,  delves into the potential of this powerful programming language. Explore its benefits, real-world applications, and whether it truly represents the future of software development.

Key features of Go

Some of the key features of Go include:

Concurrency: Go is built with concurrency in mind and provides a number of features to make it easy to write concurrent code.

Garbage collection: Go includes a garbage collector that automatically manages memory, making it easier for developers to write code without having to worry about memory management.

Static typing: Go is a statically-typed language, which means that variables are explicitly declared with a specific type and the type of a variable cannot be changed during its lifetime. This can help catch errors at compile time and improve the overall reliability of the code.

Lightweight: Goroutines take only 8 kilobytes and you can have thousands of them.

Fast compilation: Go has a fast compiler that can quickly build large programs, making it suitable for building scalable applications.

Zero dependency: Since the language does not rely on any external libraries or frameworks, you do not need to worry about installing those dependencies on the target machine. This can simplify the deployment process and reduce the risk of issues caused by missing or incompatible dependencies. This can be particularly useful for building applications that need to be deployed in a variety of different environments.

Built-in support for testing: Go includes built-in support for writing and running tests, making it easy to test and verify code.

Strong community: Go has a strong and active community of developers who contribute to the language and its ecosystem, including libraries and tools.

Overall, Go is a versatile and powerful programming language that can be used in a wide range of projects. Whether you’re building a web application, a network server, or a command-line tool, Go is a good language to consider.

As more and more companies and people began to realize Go’s potential, it became a mainstream language to build following kinds of products.

  1. World-class system tools like Docker and Kubernetes
  2. Advanced databases like CockroachDB and InfluxDB
  3. Decentralized Blockchain platforms like Ethereum
  4. To separate configuration into infrastructure layer like Istio
  5. Faster continuous deployment like Drone.
  6. More performant messaging systems like NATS.
  7. Widely used CLI tools like Cobra

Some good resources to learn golang

  1. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 provides comprehensive documentation, tutorials, and other resources for learning the language.
  2. “𝐆𝐨 𝐛𝐲 𝐄𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞” website provides a collection of short, easy-to-understand examples of how to use various Golang features.
  3. “𝐀 𝐓𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐆𝐨” website provides an interactive, in-browser tutorial that teaches the basics of Golang.
  4. “Effective Go” is a free resource to learn the Go programming language and it is available on the official website of Golang. This course provides an explanation of all the key concepts in the Go programming language, how to use them, and their syntax.
  5. “GopherCon UK 2022 Conference” YouTube playlist includes a series of talks and presentations on various topics related to Golang.
  6. 𝐆𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬 — a FREE course by John Calhoun of calhoun.io.
  7. Golang Crash Course by Traversy Media — This Go language crash course explains all the fundamentals of Golang.
  8. Learn Go Programming by Building 11 Projects — Course by FreeCodeCamp — This Golang course is completely free and published on freeCodeCamp’s YouTube channel.
  9. “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞” book by Alan A. A. Donovan and Brian W. Kernighan is a comprehensive guide to the language, with detailed explanations and examples.
  10. “𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐍𝐞𝐰𝐬” website provides the latest news, articles, and resources related to Golang.
  11. “𝐆𝐨 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐮𝐦” is an online community where you can ask questions and get help from other Golang developers.
  12. “𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤” is an online community where you can join channels and discuss Golang with other developers.

Although the design of most languages concentrates on innovations in syntax, semantics, or typing, Go is focused on the software development process itself. Go is efficient, easy to learn, and freely available, but we believe that what made it successful was the approach it took toward writing programs, particularly with multiple programmers working on a shared codebase.

If you’re ready to turn your software development vision into reality, look no further than Mindfire Solutions. As a trusted industry leader, we are dedicated to delivering excellence in software development, innovation, and reliability. Let’s bring your ideas to life. Contact us today to start your next project with confidence.  Explore Lakin’s original article and discover a treasure trove of trending tech articles on Medium.

 

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UPI (Unified Payments Interface) – The Game Changer

Fintech, ThoughtsMindfire Solutions

Phenomenal growth may be the exact term to describe the increased volume of digital payments in India in 2022. If you inspect the March data of the current year, it shows that this payment ecosystem grew by 216% compared to the same period in 2019. The Unified Payments Interface (UPI), an initiative of the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has been a critical driver of cashless transactions since its launch in 2016. The idea behind introducing UPI was to enable fast, secure, and seamless digital payments with the Immediate Payment Service (IMPS) infrastructure.

The immense popularity of this system is evident from the fact that UPI transactions exceeded USD 110 billion in January 2022.

NPCI has launched several innovative payment systems for developing the digital payment space and tied up with foreign companies like Japan Credit Bureau, China Union Pay, Discover Financial Services, etc. The international coordination would provide support by payment acknowledgment through RuPay cards.

Starting with IMPS and NFS in 2010, there have been RuPay cards, NACH, Aadhaar Payments Bridge System (APBS), Aadhaar-enabled Payments System (AePS), NETC, BBPS, UPI, and the USSD based *99#.

What makes UPI the game changer in digital payments?

Convenience

For using debit or credit cards online, you need to enter several details related to the card holder’s name, card number, CVV, and expiry dates. For UPI, you just key in the UPI ID, login, and complete the payment after putting in the PIN.

If you are using net banking, you must first add the beneficiary to your bank account. You require the beneficiary’s name, bank account number, branch address, and IFSC code. The process takes time to get activated, and then you can make the payment. To make a UPI payment, you can transfer funds to a peer account even if they do not have UPI access.

Besides, there are advantages over other existing payment methods. For instance, UPI allows you to make payments directly from your bank account without any third-party wallet or a card. Thus, making it much more convenient and secure than using a debit or credit card for online payments.

Moreover, UPI transactions happen in real-time. There is no waiting period for the funds to be credited or debited from the user’s account. This feature makes UPI an ideal choice for digital payments.

Simple

UPI is also very simple to use. You just need a smartphone with an active internet connection. You can then download a UPI-enabled app from your bank’s website or the Google Play Store. After installing the app, simply link your bank account and start making payments.

Versatile

You can also use UPI to request money from others or to send money to them. All in all, UPI is a very convenient and secure way to make digital payments. It is fast and easy to use.

UPI is particularly beneficial as a non-cash payment instrument when it involves person-to-person (P2P) fund transfers and transactions related to small-value person-to-merchant (P2M) payments.

Interoperable

With interoperability technology between different payment systems and UPI, and more people using digital payments, the costs of transactions are expected to decrease further.

India’s most prominent technology firms like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, etc., and fintech companies in various fields like insurance, payment, agriculture, microloans, crowdfunding, and wealth management are some of the major factors behind the growth of UPI. The role of an open Application Programming Interface (API) is also worth mentioning. 

How does UPI’s rise affect the Indian economy?

All the above factors have pegged the volume of UPI transactions at approximately 9 times that of debit and credit card transactions in FY22. But this is just the initial phase. UPI is forecasted to grow manifold and comprise around 73% of the total volume of digital transactions by the financial year 2026.

UPI transactions beyond borders

The tie-up between NIPL (NPCI International Payments Limited) and others like Liquid Group – Singapore, Mashreq Bank – UAE, Lyra Network – France, and PayXpert – UK, are significant steps toward enabling QR-based UPI payments in countries across the globe. Nepal and Bhutan became the first countries to adopt UPI.

RBI’s latest move entails linking RuPay credit cards with UPI. The decision to implement such a change has come at the perfect hour since credit card transactions are rising. A Goldman Sachs report states that the volume of transactions was around $130 Bn in FY22. The forecast is that it may reach $285 Bn by FY26 while the UPI volume growth in August 2022 was more than Rs. 6500 Mn with 346 banks going live on the platform.

An important point is the MDR (merchant discount rate) on transactions by RuPay credit cards. Like other credit cards, the rate will likely be around 2%, as specified by the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI).

What can be the impact of this MDR on BFSI?

Payment companies like PayU, Razorpay, Billdesk, etc., would be able to acquire more transactions as credit cards would be an additional payment instrument on the UPI platform.

The proposed MDR of 2% (1.5% for the issuing bank and 0.5% for the payment company) on credit cards for payments through the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), would generate a revenue stream for the payment companies.

Currently, the MDR on UPI merchant transactions is zero, which is a deterrent for the payment companies as there is no direct income available for them on UPI transactions. This MDR would help the payment companies to manage and maintain the infrastructure for UPI volume growth.

For smaller merchants, providing a subsidy for MDR will mean the payment companies would lose their revenue percentage by an amount equivalent to the subsidy amount. In that scenario, the Government can incentivize the payment companies to maintain their payment infrastructure (technology, etc.) and operating costs.

Conclusion

With the RBI’s decision to allow credit cards for payments through UPI, the central bank is enabling access to digital payments for those who do not have a debit card or a bank account. It would help to expand the reach of digital payments to a wide demographic besides bringing in higher revenue for the payment companies. If you are looking for a game changer in the digital payments space, UPI it is.

If you want to develop a mobile payment solution application that offers a top-notch user experience and data protection, team up with Mindfire Solutions.

Mindfire Solutions is a trusted software service provider that can assist you in developing robust and secure fintech products. With our two decades of experience, we have learned to leverage modern technologies to offer customized solutions for your business needs. To know more about us, visit Mindfire Solutions.

 

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Effective Learning image

Thoughts on Effective Learning

ThoughtsPankaj Chanana
Learning – Reality!

Whether it is today or in the past, learning is inevitable. If you want to grow in whatever work/business you are in, learning has to be your primary focus all the time. Whoever you are as a professional – Physician, Lawyer, CA, Architect, Engineer, IT professional….. people who excel in their field of work are the ones who constantly indulge in effective learning. They make themselves disciplined, focused, and build their learning habits over time.

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But what if one doesn’t have the urge to adapt to the changing needs and keep up the pace! Needless to say, more likely than not, they will have to deal with some harsh realities. But what is that reality in effective learning? It is this:

Development or Survival or Life for that matter will become more difficult for those:

Who stop growing and learning:

If you look around you will definitely see people who never make an effort to grow, at times they even think that they will grow automatically as time passes by. Such are the people for whom life is more difficult than it would have been if they were learning effectively and continuously. Imagine what would have happened if noble laureates had stopped learning and growing! And if famous scientists we know had done the same as well. I am sure you will agree this world would have been a very different place than what we are witnessing today. It just doesn’t matter how successful you are at the moment. If you stop effective learning, trust me, you are surely going down the road to failure.

Who don’t think effectively?

Have you ever wondered why one person succeeds more than the other, even if they had the same upbringing/schooling/academics/opportunities etc. The simple answer could be in the way a successful person thinks. It is really important how do we think – whether it is effective thinking or just some involuntary action. In learning, it is very important to think effectively. Your thoughts will determine whether you will be a successful person or just another guy. There is an age-old story, where 3 people were working at the construction site. When the supervisor came in and asked the first person about what he was doing, he said: “I am mixing material that is to be used by the other person”. The second guy responded saying “I am laying the bricks to create a wall”. The last person said, “ I am building a Mansion”. So although all 3 were doing something related to that construction, only one had a different perception. I am sure you must have read this story earlier as well. Your effective thoughts/vision holds true when it comes to succeeding or not succeeding. Learning also requires effective thinking. You should never think that only when a certain requirement or tech-stack is needed, that I will learn. That will never happen, my friend.

Remember this: it is always good to showcase what you know instead of “only saying” what you know 🙂

Who don’t face reality?

Facing and accepting reality is another crucial aspect of effective learning. People sound miserable when they keep saying that Someday I will do this or someday I will do that….and that day never arrives.

Author Alex Haley had remarked and I quote him here “Either you deal with what is reality, or you can be sure that reality is going to deal with you.”

In my opinion what a perfect quote. If you want to climb a mountain then it will never happen overnight or it will never happen without the proper training and conditioning that is needed to climb. But one has to be proactive in seeking them, and not postpone matters to a later time.

Isn’t it the same with learning? Learning MEAN or MERN or PWA or for that matter AI or Data Science or Blockchain all requires those steps and actions, otherwise it will always be a mountain that someday you will.

Who are slow to make proper adjustments?

This always reminds me of the stock market. How many times have we seen that people who don’t put stop-losses and make proper adjustments in their portfolio lose more consistently. Making proper adjustments with time always proves to be more effective. If you have accepted the reality and have begun taking the required action then the intent has to be to stay on the track and not let anything distract you. There might be situations that demand your attention. But those should only lead you to recalibrate your action plan. Your commitment to your goal should persist.

A perfect example would be – You are idle and you start learning how to climb a mountain in the form of Machine Learning (it could be anything though), but as you get more work, instead of adjusting to the same you get distracted and start telling yourself that when I get the time, I will resume… which may or may not happen. Overall a vicious loop to get into.

It doesn’t mean you focus on your learning only, client/works is always a priority, but adjusting your time to learn is equally important.

Who don’t respond correctly to challenges?

Challenges or adversities always provide an opportunity for growth. All great ideas emerge out of adverse situations or problems. People who ignore the problem don’t solve it, whereas those who face the problems by taking them head-on are the ones who more often than not come out of it successfully. How true with the context of learning. Isn’t it right that when you face a challenging /complex task you end up learning more from it than otherwise! What if you had never faced any complex or challenging situations ever? I am sure you would have been a rotten lemon, else you would have made lemonade out of the same already 🙂

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So, go out and learn more, think effectively, face reality, make the right adjustments, and face the challenges. You will see a different person sooner than later. Don’t be a victim of your own mindset.

Quote: Victim mindset causes people to focus on what they cannot do instead of what they can do, it is a recipe for continued failure.

Happy Effective Learning.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions.  For over 20+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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The Impact of AR on Retail

The Impact of Augmented Reality on Retail

Software Outsourcing, Thoughts,

Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows overlaying digital content like images, videos and 3D objects onto the real world, thereby give the illusion of being a part of it. One of the most famous examples of AR is Pokémon Go, which overlays a virtual Pokémon (a 3D cartoon character) onto the real world. AR also offers tremendous possibilities outside of the Gaming Industry, especially in Retail.

The adage “Customer Is God” is a golden rule. It isn’t surprising, therefore, that any business that solves its customer’s problems effectively, gets rewarded with the customer’s loyalty, money, and trust. AR is fast becoming an invaluable tool in the hands of Retail businesses that aim to constantly impress their customer base and stay ahead of the competition.

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Let’s look at some of the issues that concern the customers of this industry.

Customer Problems

With Online Retail:

  • High Time Consumption – Let’s say you order cloth from an e-commerce website. Typically it will take a few days for the product to reach you. You then gauge it on all the parameters that matter – size, color, texture, etc. If the product does not meet your expectations, you are likely to exchange the item, triggering the cycle to repeat.
  • Return Costs – If the business doesn’t bear the shipment cost of returns, customers are likely to pay for it.
  • Problems with large items – It requires a very vivid imagination to see how a new couch would look in a room. Will it look good with the rest of the furniture? Or will it even fit in the first place?

With Offline Retail:

  • Too much work – It takes a lot of time and energy going around dozens of stores and looking for the right items and then trying various permutations and combinations to check if they look well together.

With both Online and Offline Retail:

  • Un-try-able Products – Some products can’t be tried on. For example, It’s hard to imagine how a particular hair color would look on you, or if that dragon tattoo would be too much for you to carry.
  • Un-personalized Shopping Experience – Currently the preferences of a customer are unknown to the business. Consequently, the suggestions given to the customers are un-personalized and work on a hit-and-trial basis.
  • Hygiene Issues – Whether you have germophobia or otherwise, there is always a risk of contracting a disease owing to the dress being tried on earlier by an infected person.
  • It ain’t fun – Going from store to store, from one website and mobile app to another and trying on or imagining how every product would look like on you is an exhausting experience and is not fun for most. And in online retail, even after so much effort, one can never know if the product will turn out to be expected.

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Let’s look at some of the issues that concern the businesses of this industry.

Business Problems

With Online Retail:

  • Shipment Costs – The trade-off between bearing the shipment costs of product-returns vis-a-vis making the customers pay for it is a tough choice for any business.

Doing Offline Retail:

  • Compensation for salespeople – Since the whole process is very manual, from the salesperson showing the items to the customer to making the sale, a constant involvement is needed.

Problems common to Online and Offline Retail:

  • Conversion Rates – Due to a lack of personalized suggestions and ads, and a tiring shopping experience, conversion rates of businesses are lower than they can be.
  • Brand Awareness – Extensive marketing is needed for businesses to create awareness of their brands, and it is invariably a very expensive matter.
  • Customer Acquisition – Customer Acquisition costs eat up a big portion of a business’s profits. These are mainly un-targeted advertisements having low conversion rates.

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How AR helps solve these problems

Try And Buy Functionality:  AR can overlay any item onto the real world to make it seem like it is a part of it. Powerful Machine Learning (ML) algorithms can detect the face and body of a person in an image or even in real-time. An application using a combination of AR and ML can allow its users to try on a virtual version of any item they would like to buy, from the comfort of their houses. Another possible feature is the placement of virtual 3D models of furniture inside a user’s house. Such features will reduce the number of returns the buyer makes which helps save time and reduce the return.

Saves User’s Time and Energy:  as now they have the whole inventory of products available to them and they can try anything on with a click rather than manually trying every item on.

Eliminate Hygiene-related Problems: Trying items in this new way is much efficient and can be made as aesthetically appealing as needed, making the whole process a joyous experience for the user.

Increase Brand Awareness: Users can click a picture of them trying on an item and can share it on social media. This will lead to free marketing and increased brand awareness.

Automated Processes: For offline retail, the need for a salesperson is heavily reduced. A user will enter a fitting room with a screen instead of a mirror and a camera attached to the screen. Users can touch and select their choice of clothing from the screen and can try a virtual version of it instantly. If they like the item they can ask to try the real item on. Hence the need for a salesperson is reduced considerably.

Attracting Customers and Increasing Conversion Rates: A screen mounted with a camera-enabled with AR can show how someone standing in front of the mirror would look like wearing a certain item. Such a setup outside a retail store will attract flocks of customers who after seeing them trying on a virtual item would want to buy it if it looked good.

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Things To Know Before Introducing AR Into A Business

Accuracy: An AR experience that isn’t accurate will not be useful for the customers or the business. For example, a user won’t like if the sunglasses they’re trying on, fits on their forehead instead of eyes, or if the virtual couch they are trying to place doesn’t rest on the ground properly.

Speed: An AR experience must be fast and lag-free. Long loading time and high latency always drive the user away.

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 20+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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DevOps

The Impact of DevOps Adoption on Teams

Thoughts,

Companies operating in the field of software development have ushered into an era of stiff challenges and expectations, unprecedented till now. Possessing the qualities of agility, accuracy and speed simultaneously are becoming imperative for survival rather than a means of maintaining a competitive edge. Under the circumstances, a DevOps culture provides a flexible, efficient approach of standing up to the demands. It does so by following a model that delivers results leveraging the dependencies that exist between the software development and operations aspects of software delivery. It balances responsibilities more evenly than in a traditional waterfall model, where developers simply turn completed code over to those in charge of operations. DevOps also establishes procedures to ensure that all team members have insights into application performance, which provides benefits such as greater collaboration and engagement between team members.

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Improved Collaboration

Traditional software development happens in phases. There are teams mapped to each phase and each team is entrusted with the responsibility of playing its part in the successful completion of the phase it is involved in or responsible for.  The result of this approach is that the ownership of a team gets too confined only to the successful execution of the part it deals with. Thus, each team tends to be most concerned with achieving its own objectives instead of meeting the organization’s ultimate business goals. As long as projects get executed successfully, the fissures that exist beneath do not come to the forefront. It is only in the moments of crisis that the lack of synergy becomes apparent and sometimes takes gigantic proportions resulting in the partial or complete derailment of projects.

DevOps neutralizes this possibility completely. The approach requires all team members to be equally dedicated in meeting the broad goals while also focussing on their individual ones. This leads to improving collaboration between people across the development and operations teams. This model eliminates the possibility of working in silos. Members across teams remain fully committed to the software throughout its development life cycle to ensure that their project’s overall goals are met. Accountability for successful delivery lies with all. This compels employees to get more involved in working together.

More Engagement

One of the primary goals of DevOps is to shorten the development life cycle while still delivering software that meets business objectives. The shorter development cycle essentially means a higher frequency of code releases followed by exposing these releases to scrutiny for the detection of bugs within the code, infrastructure and configuration. The pace at which things get done is brisk. There are no slack periods for teams anymore waiting for their phases to begin. All this brings about a high degree of engagement for all the members involved in a project. And it can be intense at times. The results are equally impressive. Industry reports have indicated that the failure rate of organizations with a DevOps culture is 60 times lower than those that don’t.

Higher Efficiency

DevOps uses a workflow that emphasizes on continuous delivery (CD) and continuous integration (CI). The efficiency that gets infused results in software getting delivered faster and with a higher frequency. Automated testing and integration tools are also key elements in DevOps practices. It makes the IT staff more efficient by eliminating the need for them to perform repetitive tasks. Developers no longer need to wait for code integration processes to complete, which can otherwise get quite time-consuming.

DevOps platforms offer opportunities for improving efficiency and increasing the predictability of cloud-based solutions like Azure and Amazon Web Services (AWS). These platforms use a scalable infrastructure to reduce testing and deployment times by increasing available hardware resources during this period. They also provide DevOps as a service, such as Azure DevOps. AWS also provides a set of services specifically intended to help organizations implement DevOps practices.

Exposure & Learning

Employees are generally happier and more productive under the DevOps model, largely because it focuses more on performance than anything else. There are fewer administrative obstacles and greater sharing of risk, which allows individuals to blossom. Members in both development and operations teams prefer DevOps because they get exposed to multiple roles, resulting in their getting a better understanding of project execution and the business as a whole. This experience is more rounded, fulfilling and increases job satisfaction considerably.

Better Results

The improved collaboration between teams and the ensuing efficiency has a direct impact on reducing the time needed to build software. Collaboration encourages a proactive approach amongst team members in putting their act together. All this eventually reduces the time needed to bring a product to market. This benefit is particularly important in competitive markets where the ability to deliver software on time has a direct impact on the revenue and market share. With the DevOps approach not only is the speed looked after but also the quality of the outcome. It also increases customer satisfaction when they receive a comprehensive product sooner than expected, with all the promised benefits delivered quality-wise. To achieve this end goal can be a highly fulfilling experience for all the members involved in giving shape to the software.

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A DevOps culture improves the collaboration between groups with historically distinct roles, especially people in software development and operations. This practice provides many other benefits that generally result in the faster delivery of software. DevOps practices also improve the engagement of team members by making them responsible for projects throughout their entire life cycle, rather than a specific phase of the project. The increasing availability of tools is making it easier for organizations to implement DevOps practices, allowing team members to automate many of the tasks needed to develop, test and maintain code.

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 20+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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NLP Image

Impact of NLP on Healthcare Industry

Healthcare IT, Thoughts,

Natural language processing (NLP), along with machine learning, deep learning, computer vision, and image recognition, are all branches of artificial intelligence (AI). The goal of NLP software is to build computer systems that will accept input in the form of spoken or written language and will provide spoken or written output i.e. communicate as if the computer system were a human.

Thanks to devices and applications like Alexa, Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana, much of the world’s population has at least a passing familiarity with NLP. It is being used today to perform a wide range of tasks across many industries. Until recently though, healthcare organizations have lagged behind others in capturing the benefits NLP delivers. However, it’s beginning to catch up.

Here are several use cases for NLP in healthcare that are already enhancing the field. Each of these will contribute to the larger digital transformation of healthcare as technology continues to advance.

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Medical Coding and Billing

NLP streamlines the way medical coders extract diagnostic, procedural and other clinical information. Rather than a coder reading documents and converting them to alphanumeric codes, NLP reads them and submits the codes to the coder for verification. This allows the human coder to work on documents that NLP cannot process accurately, and reduces the overall expense of coding medical information. In the end, more accurate and thorough coding results in more accurate and timely billing.

Virtual Nursing Assistants

The rise of virtual nursing assistants capable of communicating with patients using NLP is underway. Regular communication between patients and the nursing bot extends care beyond the walls of the clinic room without burdening existing resources. Adherence to the patient’s care plan can be monitored, and triggers can notify providers of issues that need human attention. Patients can receive round-the-clock access to support and answers, including help with medication. Researchers in this field estimate virtual nursing assistants will reduce U.S. healthcare costs $20 billion by 2026.

Robot-Assisted Surgery

Some surgical robots use AI to apply information obtained from prior surgeries to the current case, leading to progressively better outcomes. Beyond the many well-known advantages, robotic surgery delivers, adding an NLP component allows surgeons to query the system and to direct its actions verbally.

Reducing “EHR Burnout”

Recent studies have indicated that healthcare providers spend nearly half of each day updating electronic health records and doing other administrative work, which is a matter of concern. It leaves them with very less time to perform their core functions of examining and discussing clinical, diagnostic and treatment information with patients in a face-to-face environment.

Entering and managing patient information is a major contributor to physician burnout. More than half of physicians surveyed in a Physician’s Foundation 2018 study, reported entering data into the EHR reduces their efficiency and detracts them from their interaction with patients. Systems that use NLP allow physicians to enter notes into the EHR by speaking to it. This saves time versus having to type. Besides, it also allows patients to amend or correct what the doctor is entering into the EHR.

Other Important Use Cases

While improving the clinical value of EHRs and reducing physician burnout is one of the most pressing challenges among healthcare organizations, NLP is contributing to the digital transformation of healthcare in several other ways. For example, NLP is helpful in

While improving the clinical value of EHRs and reducing physician burnout is one of the most pressing challenges among healthcare organizations, NLP is contributing to the digital transformation of healthcare in several other ways. For example, NLP is helpful in

  • Comforting patients who become confused and anxious because they do not understand the data being presented to them through a portal website. For instance, NLP can explain the meaning of abbreviations and medical terminology. Rather than leaving the patient to worry or call the physician to explain the report, NLP can educate and possibly also calm the patient.
  • Offering summarized updates of key ideas, concepts, and conclusions contained in large volumes of clinical notes, journal articles and other narrative texts gives practitioners quick access to volumes of information that would otherwise require a lot of time to read through.
  • Easy extraction of data from free-form text and insertion into fixed-field data files, such as the structured fields in an EHR.
  • Handling a physician’s free-form spoken or text query, which is especially useful for queries that require gathering and organizing data from multiple sources.
  • NLP and other AI components can also accelerate the movement away from fee-for-service models and toward value-based healthcare by organizing unstructured health data derived from EHRs and other sources. Much of that “hidden” big data can shed light on health outcomes for entire populations of patients, which has been impractical until recently.

 

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If you have any queries in this field, talk to Mindfire Solutions. For over 20+ years now, we have been the preferred Software Development Partner of over 1000+ Small and Medium-sized enterprises across the globe.

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Image for Habit

What is a HABIT?

Thoughts

The easy definition would be something that you do daily without being forced or pushed. For e.g. as simple as brushing your teeth. But do you remember how tough it was when you were a small kid and learning to develop this habit, am sure that is not even a matter of thinking today.

Another good and simple example of a HABIT is cycling. Remember when you started cycling/biking the first day! That feeling of imbalance, falling off or getting hit with no hand-eye coordination and then slowly and steadily you become the cyclist in your neighborhood doing all kinds of stunts.

There are many such examples that happen in our daily lives where the beginning looked as difficult as climbing the Everest may be, but as you start taking those steps forward, it becomes simpler and later a maybe even a “cake-walk” to perform those.

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Why I am talking about HABIT? Because as we grow older and get into our daily chores, we forget to adapt to new habits or develop new changes or even attempt to do something new, simply because we feel that we do not have the time, there’s always too much work in the plate, professional or personal. Whenever you think of doing something new, you always push it to a later date convincing ourselves that we will do it when we have the time for it.

My friend where is that time?…the fact of the matter is NOW is the time.

Remember, everyone has 24hrs in a day and utilizing the same, some became people like the Tendulkars, the Steve Jobs and the Bill Gates to name a few, and many are still searching for that time to begin.

Here I present the new definition of H.A.B.I.T – “[H]aving [A]bility [B]uild [I]ntense [T]ricks” – obviously this is not mine, taken up from the internet, but it very well fits our bill here.

What does it take to build a habit? Answer is “decision” and then taking “action” in the form of small steps daily at the same time every day for the next 21 days (an idea introduced by Dr. Maxwell Maltz ), but I will suggest, if you can do that for 1-Day and then repeat the same for the next 30 days, trust me you will be rolling. But the trick is it has to be continuous, if you break for 1-Day then the cycle has to begin again from Day 1 🙂 that is why its Intense Tricks ;).

So, go out and pick up that Guitar which is hanging in your bedroom and staring at you or start reading that new Tech Area or Buzz Word on which you always wanted to get your hands on and just do it for 1-Day and then repeat the same cycle for next 30-Days.

The exception is, there are still no guarantees of success. It all depends from person to person and on his or her burning desire to make something work. But it is much better than not having tried at all, isn’t it? Roger Bannister was the first man to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. It was his persistence and practice that enabled him to cross what had otherwise seemed like a barrier meant to stay forever until then.

Do put your comments, if you really got into a habit 🙂

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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How Bitcoin Solves the Double-Spending Problem?

Fintech, Thoughts, , ,

Many of us probably already have heard of Bitcoin. We know what innovation it has brought into this world – the blockchain technology. As of this writing, it has been almost a decade since its inception and it has long thrived without any central control over the network.

Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system, has inspired many other projects and can be seen as a pioneer of the underpinning blockchain technology. That said, it would be worth exploring how Bitcoin solves the double-spending problem. Instead of delving into theoretical exposition we will experience a transaction process in this pioneering innovation. We will be making a transaction on a real network and analyzing what a Bitcoin transaction looks like. A transaction in the Bitcoin network is a bit complex than a conventional digital transaction.

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Comparison with Fiat Currency Transaction

In a transaction that involves currency notes, we can easily envisage two parties exchanging some goods or services in exchange for the money. One party receives the goods/services and the party pays in currency notes. Let us say the transaction was costing $50 and the payer has $100 currency note. The payer would pay $100 and would receive in change $50 (as shown below). Both the currency notes are legal tender that is supplied by a central bank. A Bitcoin transaction also involves paying and may too involve receiving back change and in this respect is quite similar to our day-to-day transaction.


Comparison with Conventional Digital Transaction

A conventional digital transaction, say the online transfer of money, involves two parties and a mediator (the bank). So, there is a “From address” (A/C No.), a “To address” (A/C No.) and the amount (value transfer). There is no concept of change in a conventional digital transaction. If you want to transfer $1050 then you can transfer the exact amount and this is a mere process of debiting from sender’s account and crediting to the receiver’s account with the help of the mediator who validates the transaction. However, a Bitcoin transaction may involve multiple From addresses and multiple To addresses without any mediator. We will explore how this is possible.

As it is with any traditional transaction, ours will have the following attributes: a “From entity”, a “To entity” and the value to transfer. Let us send an amount of 0.1 BTC to a Bitcoin user as follows:

From: n2FSwa6DsMsbJgNknB64ThR3pHPUQ79bxL
To: msqdPeF7KeEqcWUNAFMm8JQijVB3cnLi4N

Amount: 0.1 BTC

The transaction has been done and the transaction details can be seen here

Bitcoin Transaction

Now, what looks legitimate is the From address (left) and the one of the To addresses with 0.1 BTC sent. However, two things look contradictory. Firstly, we sent 0.1 BTC but it says 1.0 BTC being transferred. Secondly, there is one more To address to which some amount has been sent.

Is something wrong with this transaction? Not really! You can check the above transaction in block explorer and verify yourself that it is indeed the same transaction. But this is the way Bitcoin works. Let us explore.

What is a Bitcoin Transaction made up of?

A transaction in Bitcoin consists of inputs and outputs. The input is like a “From address” which is in Bitcoin terms an unspent transaction output. When you want to make a transaction you will always spend an unspent transaction output as a whole. That said, you end up paying the entire amount. However, you receive the remaining amount in a different address called change address. This change address is your own address where you collect the change, which in turn is an unspent transaction output. This is quite common in Bitcoin transactions. For instance, someone sent you 1.0 BTC. Now you want to send 0.5 BTC to your friend. You cannot break the 1.0 BTC but you will spend the entire 1.0 BTC in a transaction and get the change in your change address.

Transaction Fee

Back to our transaction. Now, let us verify that the amount in input and outputs are balanced. So, 1 BTC – (0.1 BTC + 0.89432145 BTC) should be 0. But it turns out to be 0.00567855. So, where did this amount go?

Well, this is the transaction fee that is paid to the miner who helped you in validating the transaction, adding it into a block, mining the block, and broadcasting to the network. The miner is given this amount as a mining fee for the work he has done.

The mining fee is charged in satoshi per byte. Our transaction has a size of 225 bytes and we were charged 2523.8 satoshi per byte. So, 2523.8 x 225 = 0.00567855 BTC.

The Concept of UTXO

Note that the two outputs here are mentioned as “unspent”. This is how bitcoin keeps track of balances. The sum of all unspent transaction outputs is what constitutes your balance. Bitcoin network does not have any database or global state of balance amount rather it uses the concept of UTXO.

So, how is a UTXO represented in the bitcoin protocol? Perhaps in the bitcoin protocol, there is no concept of “From address”. Yes, there is no concept of From address in Bitcoin. The Bitcoin addresses are used to receive payments. A transaction in Bitcoin never encodes a From address but only has a reference to a previous unspent transaction output. That said, the input of a Bitcoin address is actually a previous unspent output. Bitcoin refers to a previous unspent transaction output using a combination of transaction ID (or transaction hash) and an index. Once an unspent transaction is spent you cannot spend it again and thus prevent the double spending.

A Transaction with Multiple Inputs

So, how will a Bitcoin user transact an amount for which he has no unspent transaction output equal to or above that value? Say, a user wants to transfer 5 bitcoins but none of his unspent transaction output has that much amount although the user has multiple unspent transactions that add up to a value greater than 5.  Bitcoin allows you to combine unspent transaction outputs. A transaction with multiple inputs would sound new to a person doing a conventional digital transaction. This is because a conventional digital transaction always has only one sender (or From address). Let us analyze a bitcoin transaction with multiple inputs. In this case, the Bitcoin user wants to send 1.02 bitcoins but he has no unspent transaction outputs of that value. So, the user combines two inputs and then transacts (see below).

Bitcoin Transaction

The above transaction (ac194c19201a20cdd26bbb8d696588370c06261148fd20a96b3330b0bcb03207 ) has two inputs and two outputs and it is absolutely a valid transaction in Bitcoin. The total amount of BTC of these two inputs, which is 1.04997424 BTC, is sufficient to send a transaction of 1.02 BTC. And the remaining value has been collected in a change address with 0.02997013 BTC.

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How are transactions validated in Bitcoin?

Let us take an example of a transaction that involves one input and one output (as below). Here,  the input is a reference to a previous unspent transaction at index 0. The previous transaction is referred by a transaction hash: f5d8ee39a430901c91a5917b9f2dc19d6d1a0e9cea205b009ca73dd04470b9a6
The output sends 50 bitcoins to a bitcoin address. When the recipient wants to spend this 50 bitcoin he will reference output 0 of this transaction as an input of his own transaction.

Input:

Previous tx: f5d8ee39a430901c91a5917b9f2dc19d6d1a0e9cea205b009ca73dd04470b9a6
Index: 0
scriptSig: 304502206e21798a42fae0e854281abd38bacd1aeed3ee3738d9e1446618c4571d10

90db022100e2ac980643b0b82c0e88ffdfec6b64e3e6ba35e7ba5fdd7d5d6cc8d25c6b241501

Output:

Value: 5000000000

scriptPubKey: OP_DUP OP_HASH160 404371705fa9bd789a2fcd52d2c580b65d35549d

OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG

Bitcoin uses a scripting system to verify a transaction. There are two script components that can be seen in the above transaction: scriptPubKey and scriptSig. So, the scriptSig refers to the sender’s signature and the public key. The scriptPubKey is the script that will be evaluated using bitcoin protocol and if the execution of the script returns true then the transaction is valid.

scriptSig: <sig> <pubKey>
scriptPubKey: OP_DUP OP_HASH160 <pubKeyHash> OP_EQUALVERIFY OP_CHECKSIG

Let us see how this script is executed on the stack:

Step 1: Combine scriptSig and scriptPubKey in that order
Step 2: Push <sig> and <pubKey> to stack
Step 3: Execute the operation OP_DUP which will duplicate top item, which is <pubKey>
Step 4: Execute the operation OP_HASH160 which will create hash of the <pubKey> and this hash will be pushed to the stack.
Step 5: Execute the operation OP_EQUALVERIFY to ensure the hash generated matches with the <pubKeyHash>
Step 6: Execute the operation OP_CHECKSIG for the two hashes on the stack.

In summary, a Bitcoin transaction involves one or more inputs and one or more outputs, has no concept of From addresses in its protocol, uses a concept of unspent transaction output, and verifies the transaction using a scripting architecture.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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WordPress Malware Infection

What is WordPress Malware Infection? How do you deal with it?

Security, Thoughts, , , ,

WordPress is the most popular content management system on the web. Besides the popularity, it has many advantages. But unfortunately, it comes with certain downsides as well. if you go by statistics, more than 70% of WordPress installations are vulnerable to hacker attacks.

In WordPress websites, we generally install third-party plugins/themes for integrating additional features. But most of the time, we are not aware of the inherent security vulnerabilities of these plugins/themes which act as critical loopholes that are targeted by hackers/malware botnets, etc. Some plugins provide regular updates for patching those issues. But if we fail to do them, it leads to the exploitation of the vulnerabilities and severe malware infection.

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Why secure WordPress websites before enabling SEO?

We know that bots crawl websites. But nowadays, bots make more visits to websites than human traffic. Malware Bots attack by trying a set of tentative URLs on websites. If a website has a vulnerability, and it gets figured out by the malware through this approach,  the website becomes a candidate for exploitation. So, before enabling SEO on a website, we need to make sure that the website is secure; otherwise, you are at the mercy of bad bots which will take advantage of it. In some cases, malware can damage a site’s relationship with leading search engines by injecting malicious contents.

Effects of Malware Infection:
  • WP-admin will not be accessible due to unwanted 302 redirects to third-party malicious websites.
  • .htaccess file content will be changed even though it has proper file permission.
  • Files with extension .php.suspected will be created along with many duplicates of stylewpp.php.
  • Random posts will be created in WP DB.
  • Unknown admin users may have been created.
Steps to prevent Malware Infection :
  1. Take a regular backup of codebase and database.
  2. Restore content of .htaccess file and set proper file permission.
  3. Check crontab for any suspicious entries.
  4. Kill suspicious processes on the server.
  5. Check the access log and find suspicious HTTP calls.
  6. Block suspicious IPs which are making malicious attacks.
  7. Most core WordPress files should never be modified. You need to check for file integrity issues in the wp-admin, wp-includes, and root folders. Remove unknown files & folder with cascade delete [Suspected from access log]
  8. Analyze malicious PHP code which is injected into WP folders. It would be great if you can analyze malicious PHP script and decode their intention which will help you to remove infection easily.
  9. Prevent random article creation. We found “content-main.php” file to be executed by malware botnet from access log. It was injected in path “/wp-content/content-main.php”.
  10. Remove suspicious admin users
  11. Update WordPress to the latest version
  12. Change all credentials of cpanel , FTP and DB.
  13. Stop the brute force attack. Even if you will remove all files, folders, kill all malware processes & change passwords, malware will never sit idle. Because it has already entered your site domain name, IP & malware file locations in its database. So it will try to make continuous HTTP calls to malicious PHP script locations which will return 404 error which is fine. You also cannot block all IPs of malware botnet because it keeps on changing IPs.
    It tries the bruteforce login page with breached admin user names against a global database of pawned passwords.
  14. Block xmlrpc
  15. Prevent bad bots
    Modify the robots.txt file to prevent crawling core directories along with themes/plugin directories. Also, identify bad bots and prevent them from crawling website pages.
  16. Use SFTP instead of FTP
  17. Change default wp-login, wp-admin, wp-content urls. Below are some of the WP plugins which you can use for changing url of wp-login, wp-admin, wp-content, plugin urls.
    WPS Hide Login
    Protect Admin
  18. Install any of blow WP security plugins.
    Securi
    Quttera Web Malware Scanner
    Wordfence
  19. Add proper file & folder permissions.
  20. Check for known vulnerabilities in existing installed plugins.
    https://wpvulndb.com/
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Conclusion

Nowadays, malwares are getting injected by botnets instead of humans. They crawl for vulnerable urls and exploit them one by one.

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author. Lakin enjoys sharing his thoughts on computing and technology in his personal blog.
To know more about our company, please click on Mindfire Solutions. 

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