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The Morning Download: Hospitals Ramp Up Cyber Scrutiny of Medical Devices
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Good day, CIOs. Health care, like other industries, sees in internet-connected devices the potential to get closer to customers. In this case, "closer" may be an understatement, with such devices used to monitor customers' vital signs.
But after a yearslong move to digital technologies and a slew of high-profile attacks, U.S. hospitals are displaying a new cyber maturity, conducting tests to detect weaknesses in specific devices, and asking manufacturers to reveal the proprietary software running the products in order to identify vulnerabilities. The WSJ's Melanie Evans and Peter Loftus report that requests have generated tensions between the sides.
Hospital-technology officials say. Gaining access to the software running inside devices—and knowledge of its vulnerabilities—would help them build firewalls and other defenses against attacks.
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Device makers say. Hospitals’ cybersecurity demands can be complicated and bog down sales negotiations. “These contracts are taking more time to negotiate,” said James Kinkela, corporate counsel at Boston Scientific.
The numbers say. The health-care companies, including hospitals, reported 148 hacks exposing personal-health information last year, up from five hacks in 2009. The Department of Homeland Security last year issued 30 advisories about cybersecurity vulnerabilities in medical devices, up from 16 the year before, according to MedCrypt, which makes security software for medical devices.
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A recent survey found 90% of C-suite executives said they paid attention to employee needs when introducing new tech. Only half their workers agreed. PHOTO: KRISZTIAN BOCSI/BLOOMBERG NEWS
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Insight Into Digital Workplaces
Working out of corporate tech hubs, how do CIOs identify the kinds of repetitive tasks across a workplace that can best be handled by digital tools? CIO Journal asked Stan Lequin, vice president and general manager of digital innovation at Insight North America, an investment management services firm. Edited excerpts below:
Good candidates for automatic processing tend to be areas with high rates of manual touch, with multiple people and systems involved. However, IT has an opportunity to do more if they gain visibility into the different business units in order to identify those ready for automation adoption, which means engaging with the business stakeholders to better understand current processes, calculate ROIs, key metrics, and to elect a manager to participate in the project.
Early engagement allows IT to educate professionals across the business on the value of automation. Part of the conversation includes allaying fears some employees may have by explaining how digital tools will free them up to focus on more meaningful work and the change management strategy in place to make it successful.
Insight implemented robotic processing automation to help our procurement teams refocus their efforts from performing backlog management tasks to working to reduce costs. Now, instead of time spent on backlog management and manually entering one client purchase order after another into the system, among a host of other repetitive tasks, they’re spending that time engaging clients in real conversations about what they need—cross-selling, upselling and, most importantly, providing the human touch that bots lack the capability to do.
—Angus Loten
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A display for facial recognition and artificial intelligence is seen on monitors at Huawei's Bantian campus oin Shenzhen, China, April 26. PHOTO: KEVIN FRAYER/GETTY IMAGES
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AI and the evolution of history. Up to now, we’ve applied technologies to automate processes within human-prescribed systems and objectives. Artificial intelligence, in contrast, is able to prescribe its own objectives, says CIO Journal Columnist Irving Wladawsky-Berger. While we tout AI's potential benefits for business and society, it's worth noting how little we really know about what comes next.
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Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, right, walks the floor of the New York Stock Exchange after the opening bell. PHOTO: SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES
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Uber skids on first day of trading. After dialing back valuation expectations in recent weeks, Uber Technologies Inc. chose a conservative approach to pricing its initial public offering, the WSJ reports. That strategy proved not conservative enough Friday as the company’s stock closed its first day of trading at $41.57 a share on the New York Stock Exchange, 7.6% below its IPO price of $45
Uber and Lyft face hurdle of finding and keeping drivers. By relying on a workforce of independent contractors, the companies are dealing with drivers who can simply turn off their app when they want to stop working, the WSJ reports. Drivers also can toggle back and forth between services—called “dual apping”—depending on which offers more money.
High churn. Among U.S. drivers in 2015 and 2016, 68.1% stopped driving within six months of starting. Standard driver pay is based on mileage and duration of a trip.
Low wages. Drivers earn on average between $9 and $16 an hour, after expenses such as gas and maintenance.
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During planting and harvest seasons, farmers can spend 18 hours a day in their tractor and combine cabs. PHOTO: JOHN DEERE
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Binge-watching while farming can be tricky. Movies and shows with complex plotlines get hard to follow when farmers have to hit pause to yank out a rock from the soil or refill a planter with seed. Since modern farm machinery often uploads several gigs’ worth of data on seeding and soil conditions to remote servers a day, heavy Hulu and Netflix use can seriously swell farmers’ data bills.
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San Francisco Supervisor Gordon Mar, who sponsored a proposed tax increase on stock compensation, is seen outside Uber’s head office in San Francisco on Wednesday. PHOTO: KATE MUNSCH/REUTERS
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San Francisco weighs ‘IPO tax’ to spread tech wealth. The so-called IPO tax would raise the levy on corporations for stock-based compensation to 1.5% from the current rate of 0.38%, the WSJ reports. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and The Silicon Valley Leadership Group, whose members include such tech giants as Facebook Inc., Apple Inc. and Alphabet Inc.’s Google, oppose the measure.
IPO economy. The city boasts the highest concentration of billionaires—one out of every 11,600 residents—than any city in the world, according to a recent report.
IPO housing. Housing prices in San Francisco, already one of the country’s least affordable markets, may rise between 0.5% and 1.9% in 2019 as wealth from new IPOs like Uber Technologies Inc., Lyft Inc. and Pinterest Inc. floods the city, according to an analysis by San Francisco’s chief economist, Ted Egan.
India investigates Google for suspected Android abuse. India’s antitrust watchdog is investigating whether Alphabet Inc.’s Google used its Android platform to block rivals.
Taking cues from the EU. An Indian government official tells the WSJ that the case is similar to when the European Union fined Google $4.87 billion for what it said was abuse of its dominant Android mobile operating system to boost its own business.
How many websites does the Defense Department run? Seriously, how many? When Army Col. Paul Haverstick, acting director of the Defense Media Activity at Fort Meade, Md., was asked that question last month his answer was “between 2,000 and 5,000.” DMA provides a service thats hosts public military websites. Stars and Stripes has more.
A blockchain for in-game goods. Virtual goods represent a $50 billion-plus market, says Wired. And if you are a parent of a Fortnite-playing child, chances are you have contributed to that market. The sad fact is that despite paying $10 to $20 for a "skin" of a pickaxe-toting fish stick, you (or your child) don't fully own that good. For example, there are no game mechanics to sell that good to someone else. Wired reports on an effort to bring a little more laissez faire to the market via a blockchain system, where gamers could trade virtual goods securely.
For the Apple fan who has everything. Christie's this week puts up for auction a working Apple-1 computer from 1976. Starting bid: $378,000. Apple Inc. co-founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built about 200 Apple-1 computers for the initial order, as well as for friends and family, Barron's reports. Eighty still exist.
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Everything Else You Need to Know
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Job growth at the smallest businesses has fallen to the lowest levels in nearly eight years as tiny companies struggle to attract and retain workers. (WSJ)
Recent swings in the stock market are threatening to unravel multibillion-dollar bets that rely on calm markets, potentially adding to investors’ jitters over the past week. (WSJ)
In case of a shooting situation, U.S. students are being taught to avoid, barricade, hide and, as a last resort, confront. But the recent deaths of two students who confronted shooters are prompting officials to question the last option. (WSJ)
National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre billed the group’s ad agency $39,000 for clothes in one day, $18,300 for a car, and had the agency cover $13,800 in rent for a summer intern, according to NRA documents. (WSJ)
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