June 23, 2023
Security: US energy department, other agencies hit in global hacking spree
Reuters
June 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Department of Energy and several other federal agencies were hit in a global hacking campaign that exploited a vulnerability in widely used file-transfer software, officials said on Thursday.

Data was "compromised" at two entities within the energy department when hackers gained access through a security flaw in MOVEit Transfer, the department said in a statement.

A DOE official said those entities were the DOE contractor Oak Ridge Associated Universities, and the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant - the New Mexico-based facility for disposal of defense-related nuclear waste. Read More
Healthcare IT: How heightening patient engagement can reap financial rewards
Healthcare IT News
Patient engagement is a hot topic among healthcare provider organization executives. Especially as people have begun approaching providers more as consumers than patients, it is critical that providers be able to engage with their patients as effectively as possible.

In healthcare, systems of record like EHRs can help providers standardize data intake and automate aspects of the patient journey. But a “one-size-fits-all” approach quickly becomes a “one-size-fits-none” approach when it comes to truly engaging with patients – our research tells us that the majority of patients want to customize their experience with their provider as to how they pay their bills or communicate. Read More
Homeland Security: Congress aims to strip 'Trojan horse' Chinese drones from all levels of government
Washington Examiner
A bipartisan initiative in the House to ban federal, state, and local governments from using Chinese drones is the latest move by Congress to distance itself from the hostile nation.

Reps. Dave Joyce (R-OH) and Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) partnered this month to introduce the Securing Our Airspace from Reconnaissance Act out of concern that the Chinese Communist Party could be using intelligence and data from unsuspecting drone users nationwide for unfriendly purposes.

"They may seem innocent, surveilling traffic, or another machine could be programmed, for all we know, to be looking at other things, as well as sending that information back to China. We still know nothing," Joyce said in an interview with the Washington Examiner, calling them no more than a "modern-day Trojan horse." Read More
Transportation: High-tech pavement markers support autonomous driving in tough conditions, remote areas
Homeland Security Today
Self-driving electric vehicles still face steep hills on the road to reliability. Researchers from the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Western Michigan University are working together to drive solutions from outside the car: sensors and processing embedded in road infrastructure.

Working with partners, ORNL engineers are placing low-powered sensors in the reflective raised pavement markers that are already used to help drivers identify lanes. According to a paper in IEEE Sensors by ORNL researcher Ali Ekti with lead author Sachin Sharma of WMU, microchips inside the markers transmit information to passing cars about the road shape. They are effective even when vehicle cameras or remote laser sensing called LiDAR are unreliable because of fog, snow, glare or other obstructions. Read More
Human Resources: Only 42% of tech interns would recommend their internship to others
HR Dive
Less than half of interns in the tech industry would recommend their experience to a friend, according to a June 15 report from Glassdoor.

The percentage has remained low in 2023, reaching a record low of 41% during the first quarter and hovering at 42% for the second quarter. In 2019, IT internship recommendations surpassed 70%.

“The interns are not OK, according to internship reviews on Glassdoor,” the Glassdoor Economic Research Team wrote. “Near-record low shares of interns say they would recommend their internship to a friend.” Read More
Business & Technology: Companies that replace people with AI will get left behind
Harvard Business Review
Companies are integrating AI into their operations so quickly that job losses are likely to mount before the gains arrive. White-collar workers might be especially vulnerable in the short-term.

The speed of this adoption presents an opportunity for companies to step up their pace of innovation, however — and if enough companies to go on offensive, then we won’t have to worry about AI unemployment. Adopting a bias for boldness and a startup mentality will help companies find the agility to make the most of this moment, and protect jobs as a result. Read More