January 20, 2023
Security: T-Mobile hacked to steal data of 37 million accounts in API data breach
BleepingComputer
T-Mobile disclosed a new data breach after a threat actor stole the personal information of 37 million current postpaid and prepaid customer accounts through one of its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).

T-Mobile revealed on Thursday that the attacker started stealing data using the impacted API around November 25, 2022. The mobile carrier detected the malicious activity on January 5, 2023, and cut off the attacker's access to the API one day later. Read More
Healthcare IT: It’s time to cement telehealth’s place in U.S. health care
Harvard Business Review
One of the few positive side effects of the deadly and catastrophically disruptive Covid-19 pandemic has been the blossoming of telehealth. Though useful telehealth technology has been available for several years, adoption was slow until providers had to scale it up in a matter of weeks as a safe way to see and treat patients when clinics were closed. At the peak of pandemic usage, telehealth accounted for 13% of total outpatient encounters, up from just above zero in early 2020. Medicare telehealth utilization showed a 63-fold increase during the pandemic. Read More
Homeland Security: ISIS and its regional affiliates remain persistent and pervasive threat worldwide
Homeland Security Today
ISIS and its regional affiliates continued to threaten regional and global security in 2022. They have opportunistically aimed to take advantage of recent trends worldwide since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2019. First, ISIS-affiliated groups saw the Taliban’s takeover in 2021 as a success story of jihadism. They considered it a model to achieve their goals in the fight against the western world. Second, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has changed the world agenda, and it has become a priority for the West to support Ukraine. Overfocusing on Ukraine has created opportunities for ISIS-affiliated groups to operate securely in the jihadist regions. Third, the retreat of western troops from the areas where jihadist groups have been active has resulted in security vacuums. These groups have successfully operated under the weakness of current local governments. Fourth, the prison breaks provided opportunities for ISIS militants in 2022. For example, ISIS targeted the al-Sina prison in the al-Hasakah region in Syria. The eight-day battle recorded the death of 500 people; about three-quarters of them were ISIS militants. Although ISIS failed and lost many militants in its prison break attempt, it showed the group’s capacity to fight in multi-day battles. Read More
Transportation: Switching to EVs would reduce money spent on transportation energy in 90 percent of households
Transportation Today
More than 90 percent of vehicle-owning households in the United States would see a reduction in the percentage of their income spent on transportation energy if they switched to electric vehicles (EVs) and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases they generate, according to a recent University of Michigan study.

The reductions would be seen the most on the West Coast and in parts of the Northeast because of lower electricity prices and cleaner energy grids. Read More
Human Resources: ‘Flexible, but stable’ jobs top 2023 worker wishlist
HR Dive
About half of job seekers (45%) wouldn’t accept a job that didn’t offer accommodating hours, according to Randstad’s 2023 Workmonitor report. Additionally, about half of workers (48%) said they’d quit a job if it “prevented them from enjoying their life.” These findings and more are unpacked in the research firm’s report, which paints a picture of worker priorities in markets across the North and South Americas, Europe, Asia and Australia: Employees want stability in their career overall, but flexibility in their day-to-day lives. Read More
Business & Technology: The essential check list for effective data democratization
CIO
Truly data-driven companies see significantly better business outcomes than those that aren’t. According to a recent IDC whitepaper, leaders saw on average two and a half times better results than other organizations in many business metrics. In particular, companies that were leaders at using data and analytics had three times higher improvement in revenues, were nearly three times more likely to report shorter times to market for new products and services, and were over twice as likely to report improvement in customer satisfaction, profits, and operational efficiency.

But to get maximum value out of data and analytics, companies need to have a data-driven culture permeating the entire organization, one in which every business unit gets full access to the data it needs in the way it needs it. Read More