May 14, 2021
Security: Colonial Pipeline ‘Ransomware’ Attack Shows Cyber Vulnerabilities of U.S. Energy Grid
Washington Post
A major fuel pipeline that was shut down after a brazen cyberattack will probably come back online by week’s end, officials said Monday, as security experts warned that the nation must take more seriously persistent vulnerabilities in America’s aging energy infrastructure.

The Colonial Pipeline running from Houston to New Jersey, supplying the East Coast with 45 percent of its fuel, was taken offline Friday after a hacker group known as DarkSide infiltrated the Georgia-based company’s servers and encrypted its data, demanding a fee to restore access in what is known as a “ransomware” attack. It also stole a copy of the data, possibly to later release it publicly unless Colonial paid an additional fee. Read More
Healthcare IT: Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Put $100M Toward Hospital-at-Home Care
Healthcare IT News
The two health giants say they're seeking to expand access to the in-home acute care model and encourage other providers to adopt it.

Mayo Clinic and Kaiser Permanente announced this week that they will collaborate to build capacity for hospital-at-home care.

The partnership will begin with a reported $100 million combined investment in Medically Home Group, which provides a technology platform aimed at allowing providers to address a range of acute clinical conditions safely in a patient's home. Read More
Homeland Security: Cybersecurity Executive Order Includes New Contractor Requirements, FedRAMP Overhaul
Homeland Security Today
President Biden signed an executive order Wednesday outlining actions to strengthen cybersecurity including requiring baseline security standards in software purchased by the government and requiring compromised companies that contract with the federal government to report breaches for the benefit of others potentially vulnerable in government or industry.

A senior administration official told reporters on a call shortly before the White House announced the order that the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be leading the effort to define the details of reporting requirements, which would be on a sliding time scale based on the severity of the incident with the most severe cyber incidents needing to be reported within three days. Read More
Transportation: Keeping Automated Electric Vehicles Safe
Forbes
On May 13, Elon Musk said Tesla would no longer accept bitcoin because of bitcoin’s heavy energy consumption. Yet the company ranks well behind General Motors and Ford in reporting carbon emissions and setting carbon-reduction targets. So how green is Tesla, really?

Those concerned with the fate of the planet have long lauded Tesla for its efforts “To accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” The company says that “the faster the world stops relying on fossil fuels and moves towards a zero-emission future, the better.” Read More
Human Resources: A Data-Driven Approach to Identifying — and Retaining — Top Employees
Harvard Business Review
The so-called “war for talent,” bandied about in the media since it was coined by McKinsey & Company in 1997, is taking on a whole new meaning post-Covid. The competition to find and retain talent has only been exacerbated as workplaces have moved to virtual and hybrid configurations, held tenuously together by remote collaboration. The expansion beyond brick-and-mortar operations essentially nullifies many former practices for identifying and nurturing talent, and “management by walking around” just doesn’t work anymore.

At the same time, mountains of new data are suddenly available to help companies answer key questions about their workforce and its needs. The rise of digital collaboration platforms and new methods for harvesting data, along with new technologies and novel approaches for finding and managing talent, are redefining how companies will build their workforces going forward. Read More
Business & Technology: New AI Regulations Are Coming. Is Your Organization Ready?
Wired
When you walk 10,000 steps in a day, your Fitbit rewards you with a jiggle and some virtual fireworks, giving you a reason to pause and smile with pride. When you practice a foreign language on Duolingo multiple days in a row, you earn a “streak” and are encouraged to maintain it, giving you an extra reason to strive for repetition. When companies, teachers, coaches, or apps add features such as symbolic rewards, competition, social connections, or even just fun sounds and colors to make something feel more like play, they’re relying on “gamification” to enhance an experience that might otherwise be dull. I’d wager that most of the apps on your phone use some element of gamification, but we also see gamification in our workplaces and from our health insurers.

Gamification first took off more than a decade ago. At the time, there wasn’t much evidence for its value; Read More