Nothing remains static within the world of technology, and cybersecurity is no different. All around the world, developers and engineers at tech companies – or in IT and information security departments of other businesses – continually work on methods to safeguard valuable personal, financial and professional data. Methods such as encryption, multi-step verification and others have been implemented to protect vulnerable systems. The problem, however, is that while they think they draw a bead on cyber criminals by researching past and present crimes and attempt to act preemptively – and sometimes they do so, successfully – the opposite also occurs. […]

Modern society, in the U.S. as well as around the world, now relies on technology more than ever before, and there are no clear and present signs that this trend is going to slow down by any significant degree anytime soon, let alone pause in the near future. By extension, it stands to reason that cybersecurity would rise exponentially in importance. To some extent, that’s exactly what has happened during the past several years. Despite the occurrence of quite a few high-profile cyber attacks within the last decade, information security occupies a role of considerable importance to many, even on […]

Network security breaches wreak havoc on healthcare organizations. One hole in a hospital’s cybersecurity network can expose sensitive patient data for those with malicious intent to take and use to their advantage. Electronic health records (EHRs) can be encrypted and made useless by hackers who often demand a ransom in exchange for their encryption key. And sensitive data can be sold all over the world. For a healthcare business to remain compliant with the guidelines and requirements set forth by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), it must safeguard its patients’ and clients’ personal information. An integral policy of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), HIPAA is a federal law that protects sensitive health information […]

In 2011, former Apple CEO and pancreatic cancer victim Steve Jobs paid about $100,000 to Illumina, one of the world’s leading genomics firms, to sequence his DNA in an effort to further the fight against cancer. A mere three years later, the same company offered a complete DNA sequence for only $1,000. In 2017, sequencing costs less than $200, and the price includes a laundry list of data analytics results that are both fascinating and incredibly insightful. Such a dramatic price drop in such a short period of time has resulted in a massive influx of genomics requests. Consumer-facing companies […]