Stay ahead of the headlines

Jan 30, 2024·Justice.gov

Russian national Vladimir Dunaev sentenced to over five years for developing, deploying malicious software Trickbot, causing massive harm to American businesses including hospitals. Despite residing overseas, cooperative international efforts brought Dunaev to justice. Involved in credential harvesting and ransomware development, victims deprived of over $3.4 million. Dunaev extradited from Korea, pleaded guilty to numerous cybercrimes. Case emphasized department's commitment to combatting global cybercrime.

Jan 30, 2024·The Hacker News

NSA admits buying internet browsing records from data brokers, despite requiring court order, says Senator Ron Wyden. Metadata exposes serious privacy risk as personal details could be inferred. Wyden pushes for only lawfully obtained data purchase. NSA claims minimized U.S. data collection and rejects U.S. location data use without court order. Disclosure follows FTC bans on companies selling precise location data without informed consent. Dubbed "shady", data broker practices operate in legal gray area and lack transparency, with third-party apps selling user location data without notification.

Jan 30, 2024·HealthTech Magazine

MemorialCare's IT VP, Kevin Torres, boosts cybersecurity by partnering with experts, concentrating on basics and updating defenses quickly. Torres benchmarks against peers using annual benchmarks and direct evaluations, following the NIST framework and monitoring systems using 24/7 SIEM systems to detect adverse events. They use CDW's insights for tool and process implementation. MemorialCare and CDW work closely through timely communication on cybersecurity issues. In their cloud journey, CDW aids with off-site backups and system recovery.

Jan 30, 2024·CNBC

Musk's Neuralink implants device in human; patient recovers. Aim: help severe paralysis patients control external tech with neural signals. Telepathy product could let degenerative disease patients communicate, type mentally. Commercialization requires intense safety tests, FDA approval. Undefined numbers in initial trial.

Jan 30, 2024·JAMA Network

Generative AI, specifically Large Language Models (LLMs), are advancing in the medical sector, aiding in summarizing patient data. However, without FDA oversight, they could reach clinics without safety and efficacy checks. Current EHRs' inefficient info access and excessive content lead to physician burnout and clinical errors, which LLMs could reduce. Variation in LLM-generated summaries might impact clinician decisions. These AI tools require comprehensive standards testing and more explicit FDA regulation given their capacity to alter clinical interpretations and promote potential errors. Existing FDA regulatory safeguards don't clearly cover the unique risks of language-based AI. Transparent standards development and clinical studies are crucial for safe LLM application in clinics.

Jan 29, 2024·Hit Consultant

2023 saw a shift in digital health from record-breaking funding to consolidation due to market cool, according to CB Insights. The pandemic had inflated innovative funding, which halved to $13.2 billion in 2023, a pre-pandemic level. Mega-rounds exceeding $100 million decreased, however, the median deal size remained high, suggesting resources being focused on fewer, promising ventures. The number of "unicorn" companies decreased, M&A deals nearly doubled, pointing to consolidation focus. Despite the downturn, opportunities for expansion and technology refinement exist in the reshaped ecosystem.

Jan 29, 2024·CIO

CIO priorities of 2024: data control, balancing innovation and operational excellence, cybersecurity, talent development, AI deployment, increasing digital acumen, addressing AI talent shortage, data governance, value creation, and cost optimization. Emphasis on talent, AI safety, achieving balance, and strategies to better inform and protect business.

Jan 29, 2024·News Medical

Study demonstrates large language models (LLMs) like GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 can simulate clinical reasoning with prompt engineering, improving integration into healthcare. Comparing traditional chain-of-thought (CoT) prompting to diagnostic prompts, GPT models use large volumes of text data for tasks like writing clinical notes and medical exams. Tested on revised MedQA and NEJM datasets, GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 exhibit improved reasoning but not accuracy. GPT-4 shows better accuracy overall, 78% with analytical reasoning prompts, Bayesian inferences and differential diagnostic reasoning. These findings help overcome 'black box' limitations of LLMs, improving user trust.

Jan 29, 2024·The Hill

Biden administration partners with Instacart, Rockefeller Foundation, and Feeding America for 'Food is Medicine' summit. HHS aims to leverage food for healthier living, focusing on nutrition to diminish health risks. Programs target marginalized communities' health improvement, access to nutritious food, and hunger issues.

Jan 29, 2024·Wendell Potter Substack

UnitedHealth Group, the largest for-profit healthcare company in the US, has intensively increased business transactions within its own divisions, sparking concerns of self-dealing and limited quality service offerings. The internal revenue of UnitedHealth grew over 25% in 2023, causing alarm over competition exclusion, quality assurance, and oversight evasion in the health care industry. Additionally, the dominance of its subdivisions, like Optum, might suggest financial engineering to bypass affordability requirements by the Affordable Care Act. Although legal, these practices offer few options and potentially reduce quality of care for patients.

Jan 29, 2024·DarkReading

Survey shows CISOs increasingly handle C-suite role responsibilities, but lack same regard; 75% seek job change. Role expectations evolve due to regulatory scrutiny, accountability demands for breaches. Regulators hold CISOs accountable for transparency, fraud; expect CISOs to serve business risk-management function, yet rarely viewed as C-Level or part of senior leadership. 63% CISOs have VP/director-level positions, 20% at C-suite, less for billion-dollar revenue firms; 90% distanced two/more organizational levels from CEO. CISOs desire clear risk guidance from boards, only 36% get it. CISO role concerns escalate amid unchanged ability to meet increased expectations, high-profile legal cases.

Jan 28, 2024·DarkReading

CISO roles evolving with increased accountability due to SEC charges against SolarWinds CISO. More involvement, proactive stance needed for CISOs despite fear of liability. Clorox's CISO exit after major cyberattack exemplifies changing landscape. Rules for accountability could expand to CEOs, COOs drawing them into cyber security issues.

Jan 27, 2024·Krebs on Security

Google struggles with cybercriminals exploiting its search platform with ads distributing malware-laced software applications. Despite a dedicated team and reductions in these threats, bad ads linked to malware persist. Search results often feature malicious ads, tricking users into downloading harmful software versions. The cybercriminals constantly evolve methods to evade Google's anti-abuse radar. Some malicious domains imitate popular software titles to deceive users. The malicious download sites regularly alternate between serving benign and harmful software. Google has removed violating ads and will continue to enforce its protections. Site-blocking by Google's Safebrowsing technology exists but has not been fully applied. Google removed 5.2 billion ads and suspended over 6.7 million accounts in 2022.

Jan 27, 2024·BankInfoSecurity

North Korea hackers employ AI for sophisticated cyberattacks; US-led sanctions fail to impede AI development. Cybercriminals use generative AI for phishing, vishing, disrupt infrastructure, disseminate disinformation, and sway elections. North Korea's increasing AI capabilities pose severe, targeted attack threat in 2024. Despite sanctions, North Korea collaborates with China for military AI development, raising sanction regime breach risks.

Jan 26, 2024·Rod Hochman MD

Providence's 2024 health predictions see transformation, collaboration, rapid change, AI, ethical considerations, new care models, shift in payment models, insurer pressures, health equity efforts, rural care solutions, big data utilization, administrative collaborations, and a green revolution.

Jan 26, 2024·Medical Futurist

2024 healthcare anticipates broader AI integration for patient care and diagnostics. Emergence of specialized generative AI tools to provide precise solutions, especially in diagnostics and patient interaction. Rise in AI-based tools designed for overall patient health. Hospitals await arrival of Multimodal Large Language Models (M-LLMs) for improved AI assistance in diagnosis and treatment. Expected growth in FDA-approved AI-based medical devices. Advancements in AI digital twins, creating personalized educational content. A surge in AI tools for patients in areas like wearable data summarization, lab tests analysis, nutritional advice anticipated. Forward-thinking medical universities may start teaching prompt engineering for efficient interactions with generative AI models.

Jan 26, 2024·Insurance Journal

Massachusetts' Anna Jaques Hospital faces class action lawsuit following a December 2023 cyber attack, differing disclosure on event extent and potential data breach alleged. The Money Message ransomware gang claims responsibility. The lawsuit brought by Salisbury resident Gary Cabozzi, alleges negligence, seeks $5.4 million, and unknown number of victims. The stolen data may include personal health information and personally identifiable information. The FBI investigation is ongoing.

Jan 26, 2024·aha.org

AHA warns of IT help desk scheme using stolen employee identities for security questions, resetting passwords, enrolling new devices, and bypassing multi-factor authentication. Scheme leads to payments being diverted to fraudulent US accounts and transferred overseas. Strict security protocols, in-person requests, immediate notification to FBI and financial institutions suggested to mitigate risks.

Jan 25, 2024·Beckers Hospital Review

MyChart message billing by health systems is on the rise; claims swelled in mid-2021 and e-visit billing is becoming a long-term revenue stream, according to a study. The impact on provider's digital workload and effect on patient care, cost, and live visit substituting needs further research.

Jan 25, 2024·LinkedIn

$16B spent on healthcare ads in 2018; poll reveals public skepticism towards healthcare organizations. 9% believe pharma companies prioritize patients, 16% for insurance, 23% for hospitals, and 36% for providers. Low trust levels present opportunity for new healthcare entities.