In 2016, 328 individual healthcare breaches occurred, surpassing the previous record of 268 in 2015, according to Bitglass’ recent Healthcare Breach Report. As a direct result of the breaches, records of approximately 16.6 million Americans were exposed due to hacks, lost or stolen devices, unauthorized disclosure and more.The good news, however, is that the overall number of compromised records has declined for the second year in a row, and early indications suggest that those numbers will continue to decline in 2017.+ Also on Network World: Healthcare records for sale on Dark Web +
The report aggregates data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Wall of Shame—a database of breach disclosures required as part of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)—to identify the most common causes of data leakage.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
April may not have been the busiest month for security breaches, but what it lacks in volume it made up for in variety. The month began loudly when a hacker set off all of Dallas’s 156 emergency tornado alarms for 90 minutes in the wee hours of the morning on the seventh.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
It seems that not a week goes by without social media hitting a new high — or, as United Airlines might attest, a new low. Whatever your perspective, there’s no denying that social networks and online connections can shape how we work, think and interact to a dramatic degree.High-tech analyst and consultant Scott Steinberg offers guidance on how to get along in this digital world with his new book, Netiquette Essentials: New Rules for Minding Your Manners in a Digital World, which was released in February. This is Steinberg’s seventh book about business or technology. Here he discusses why manners matter on social media, and why CIOs should care.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
JavaScript is used for many different kinds of applications today. Most often, JavaScript works with HTML5 and CSS to build web front ends. But JavaScript also helps build mobile applications, and it’s finding an important place on the back end in the form of Node.js servers. Fortunately, JavaScript development tools—both editors and IDEs—are rising to meet the new challenges.Application lifecycle management (ALM) integration in Visual Studio 2017 is very good. I would happily use Visual Studio 2017 as my IDE for JavaScript if I were working primarily on Windows-based computers on projects using Microsoft technologies, especially ones that included Azure deployments and those of enterprise scale.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here(Insider Story)
IBM’s cybersecurity division has hired nearly 2,000 professionals to its security team since 2015. Leaders recognize that the skills needed to succeed don't always come in the form of a traditional degree, but “the sheer volume of new certifications being created does pose challenges,” says Diana Kelley, global executive security adviser.It’s a growing problem for many employers. Increasingly, hiring companies must sift through resumes that tout cybersecurity-related degrees, certificates, industry certifications, apprenticeship credentials, digital badges, micro master’s degrees, nanodegrees and other credentials – trying to determine what a candidate really knows and how those credentials fit together.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It is commonly referred to as information overload. An infosec professional throws out a wide net in hopes of stopping malware before it gets too deep into the network, but like a motion-sensor light, sometimes the alert catches a squirrel instead of a burglar.Rob Kerr, chief technology officer at Haystax Technology, cited the 2013 breach at Target, as an example in which thieves stole some 40 million Target credit cards by accessing data on point of sale (POS) systems. Target later revised that number to include theft of private data for 70 million customers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Welcome to ITSM and Beyond, a new blog inspired by honest conversations with CIOs and the fundamental way they have pursued transformative information technology and IT Service Management (ITSM) strategies.It must be human nature to attempt to be a prognosticator, since it seems we are constantly trying to predict the future. Sometimes it’s something simple and immediate, such as predicting tomorrow’s weather. Other times we look farther into the future, like trying to predict where our careers will take us. Regardless of what we are trying to predict, if we can do so accurately, then we will make good decisions and be successful in meeting our goals and objectives.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
To consistently deliver business outcomes in a dynamic digital landscape where priorities, scope and urgency are in constant flux, IT teams need a project management workforce that can rapidly adapt to change. In response, many have made concentrated efforts to identify, attract and develop Entrepreneurial project managers. These Entrepreneurs are nearly twice as effective at delivering business outcomes than their low-performing peers because they possess a set of critical skills, including judgment, stakeholder partnership and learning agility.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Developers have a new tool to help mobile apps understand text, thanks to a Facebook open source project update on Tuesday. The social networking company’s AI research group released a new version of FastText, a programming library that’s designed to make it easier for developers to deploy text-focused machine learning systems.Using a technique the researchers are calling FastText.zip, developers can compact a language recognition model so that it takes up two orders of magnitude less memory while maintaining much of the accuracy they would get out of a non-compacted model. It’s a move that allows those models to be deployed on less powerful devices like smartphones and Raspberry Pis, making them more useful for a broader variety of applications.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Verizon has begun warning customers that it’s getting out of the email game and that you need to act soon if you want to keep your Verizon.net email address.One alternative is to actually keep that Verizon.net address, but have Verizon acquisition AOL manage it for you. So your address would be [email protected] on the surface, but AOL underneath due to Verizon ending its email service. (See also: "How to keep your Verizon email account from being killed off")But if this whole situation might be prompting you to make a clean break from your carrier’s email system, here are a few free messaging services that you might want to consider, some more obvious than others. I’ve taken a fresh spin through each of the email systems to collect the latest info on them, figuring at least a good chunk of the 4.5 million email accounts controlled by Verizon will be moving elsewhere sooner than later.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
There's now a new tool that could allow companies to quickly block communications between malware programs and their frequently changing command-and-control servers.Threat intelligence company Recorded Future has partnered with Shodan, a search engine for internet-connected devices and services, to create a new online crawler called Malware Hunter.The new service continuously scans the internet to find control panels for over ten different remote access Trojan (RAT) programs, including Gh0st RAT, DarkComet, njRAT, ZeroAccess and XtremeRAT. These are commercial malware tools sold on underground forums and are used by cybercriminals to take complete control of compromised computers.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Microsoft for years has been trying to tackle the growing threat of Google's Chrome OS, which is siphoning PC market share away from Windows.The company's new Windows 10 S operating system, announced on Tuesday, will be Microsoft's latest attempt to tackle Google's surging Chrome OS. The OS is targeted at the education market, which in the U.S. is dominated by Chromebooks.Even with the new Windows OS, worldwide Chromebook shipments are expected to grow by double digits this year, analysts from IDC and Gartner said. The market share of Chromebooks has been growing up consistently since 2015.The new Windows OS is built like Chrome OS. PCs with Windows 10 S will be able to download apps only from the Windows App store. The OS is more like a "container" that will run apps secured and verified by Microsoft. A version of Microsoft's Office Suite will also come to Windows 10 S.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
On top of being optimized for extended wear, the Razer Kraken Pro is outfitted with a fully retractable microphone, in-line volume controls and mute toggle, giving you easy access to all its features. Powered by large, high-quality drivers, this full-sized headset provides you with immersive gaming audio for hours on end. The 3.5mm combined audio jack and splitter cable ensure that you have mic support on your mobile devices as well as full connectivity to any gaming setup.This gaming headset currently averages 4 out of 5 stars from over 1,400 people (read reviews) on Amazon, where its typical list price of $79.99 has been recently dropped 46% to just $42.99. See this deal now on Amazon.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
I'm not much of a ChromeOS user these days. Almost every aspect of Google's services has been removed from my life (Google Search, GMail, etc.), and, well, I just don't have much need for a system centered entirely around Google at this point.But I had the chance to use the Acer Chromebook R11 (the CB5-132T-C9KK model), so I decided to see just how useful it could be for someone like me—someone who really doesn't use Google other than for YouTube and the occasional Hangouts video chat (for the friends I can't seem to persuade to use anything else).To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Last week, I posted a blog about the move toward cybersecurity vendor and technology consolidation along with a growing emphasis on technology integration in the enterprise. Here’s some additional data that reinforces these conclusions. As part of a recent ESG research project, 176 cybersecurity and It professionals were presented with several statements and asked whether they agreed or disagreed with each one (note: I am an ESG employee). Here are the results:
82% of survey respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” with the statement: ‘My organization is actively building a security architecture that integrates multiple individual product.’ This is likely part of a SOAPA (i.e. security operations and analytics platform architecture) project.
81% of survey respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” with the statement: ‘Cybersecurity product integration has become an important consideration of our security procurement criteria.’ In other words, stand-alone point tools don’t make the purchasing cut in most cases.
78% of survey respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” with the statement: ‘The security products my organization buys are regularly qualified on their integration capabilities. This aligns with the previous point.
73% of survey respondents “strongly agree” or “agree” with the statement: ‘My organization Continue reading
NetOps focuses on the philosophies, practices and tools in building and operating the network to deliver and respond quickly to application and user service needs. In my previous post, I described NetOps and why you should care. Ties from NetOps to agile software development and DevOps are essential, as these practices are now the source of many of the requests for network changes.The methods of NetOps can help you to create a network that is not only available with high levels of reliability, performance and security, but is also agile in configuration, capacity and operations. In short, NetOps enables the network to be both available and agile.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s no secret that Microsoft’s Edge browser, the revamped browser that shipped with Windows 10 as a replacement for Internet Explorer, is struggling to gain any sort of traction. As IE fades rapidly, Google Chrome has been picking up share, while Edge remains stubbornly at 5 percent share.As I illustrated last week, Edge doesn’t really have one. It’s painfully slow. I should not be able to watch a website load piece by piece in 2017 on a broadband connection.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Red Hat’s annual summit opened today with the announcement of three new products aimed with uncharacteristic directness at developers, rather than the company’s usual target of IT operations staff.Openshift.io is the company’s free SaaS development environment, specifically designed for cloud-native apps, that lets geographically far-flung teams work together and automatically containerizes code for easy deployment. The environment builds on open source projects like Kubernetes-focused development platform fabric8, IDE Eclipse Che, and automation server Jenkins.+ALSO ON NETWORK WORLD: Red Hat CEO: Open-source innovation is always user-led + Which Linux distros should newbies use?To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
The month of May has been dedicated “Better Sleep Month” by the Better Sleep Council. If you don’t like that group and you prefer to follow the guidelines of the National Sleep Foundation, you just celebrated Sleep Awareness Week (April 23-29, 2017). Either way, there’s no better time to look at some new products that want to help you get a better night’s sleep.I’ve previously written about two other devices – the ASTI Sound+Sleep SE sound machine, which provides 64 different sounds to help provide a white-noise-like effect; and the LIVE sensor by EarlySense, which tracks your heartbeat, breathing, stress levels and sleep stages to give you data about how much (or how little) you’re sleeping.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
A bill introduced Monday by some U.S. senators aims to repeal net neutrality rules under the Federal Communications Commission’s 2015 Open Internet Order, and ban the agency from issuing similar regulations in the future.The legislation aims to give some permanence to recent moves by the Republican-dominated FCC to repeal provisions of the 2015 order. There are concerns that if the FCC at some point comes under the control of Democrats, it will promptly restore the rules under the 2015 Open Internet Order.The Restoring Internet Freedom Act was introduced by Senator Mike Lee, a Republican from Utah, and is cosponsored by eight other Republicans including Ted Cruz, senator for Texas, and Rand Paul, senator for Kentucky.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here