A recent report authored by TrapX details three instances where hospitals were hit by data breaches. According to DarkReading’s Kelly Jackson Higgins, the digital intrusions occurred after certain medical devices had been infected with malware backdoors. “In all three cases, the hospitals were unaware that these devices – a blood gas analyzer, a picture archive and communications system (PACS) and an x-ray system – were infiltrated with malware,” writes Higgins.
The Evolution of Biometric Security: Part Two
Writing for SemiconductorEngineering, Ernest Worthman notes that while biometrics offer a plethora of potential security-based tools, there are currently only two in wide-scale deployment: fingerprints and facial scanning. Indeed, according to ABI digital security analyst Dimitrios Pavlakis, fingerprints account for 60% to 70% of all biometric applications. Additional technologies eyed by major industry players include iris, retina, face, palm and hand scans.
Is health care prepared for the Cyber Age?
Writing for SemiconductorEngineering, Ernest Worthman describes the health care industry as “woefully ill-prepared” for a digital Cyber Age. “This is a rather dismal assessment, considering that the volume of personal health-related data is an order of magnitude greater than the equivalent data in the financial segment and growing rapidly,” he opines.
Increasing crop yields with Big Data
The Farmers Business Network (FBN) is currently working on an initiative to break down agricultural data on millions of acres of U.S. farmland – while providing real-world results on the performance of various seed and crop strains as well as fertilizers. As Datanami’s George Leopold reports, the FBN, which recently announced a $15 million investment round led by Google Ventures, says the goal of the network is to tap into hard-won collective knowledge while making agricultural data more accessible. The goal? To produce larger crop yields at a lower cost.
U.S. Navy bolsters cyber security
The U.S. Navy is working to bolster the cyber security of its computer networks, weapon systems, and communications equipment while bracing for potential attacks against power grids and fuel supplies. “Cyber is in everything now,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus told participants at the Defence One conference in a statement quoted by Reuters.
Report: Intel Skylake Xeons could feature 28 cores, 6 memory channels
ExtremeTech’s Joe Hruska recently analyzed a set of leaked slides that suggest Intel’s plans for its upcoming Xeon cores may “stretch farther into the stratosphere” than originally predicted. “[The] new data purports to show Intel’s roadmap for 2015 and beyond, stretching all the way to 28 cores and 6 memory channels per CPU,” he explained.
