Techstrong News Recap – May 30, 2023
On May 30, William Willis covered Microsoft’s revelation that state-sponsored Chinese hackers have been targeting critical infrastructure in the U.S., the European Central Bank’s plans to introduce a digital version of the euro and OpenAI’s claim that it could cease operations in the EU if it fails to comply with future AI regulation. He also talked about a ransomware attack on a major Massachusetts health insurer. Finally, he previewed articles from Digital CxO, Techstrong.ai and Cloud Native Now which covered a survey showing that now is the time to reduce online friction, AI use cases in the health care industry and how to build next-gen applications with serverless infrastructure.
Transcript
Hi again, everyone. Here are the headlines from May 30th. First up, Microsoft has revealed that state backed Chinese hackers have been targeting critical infrastructure in the United States, potentially laying the groundwork for disrupting vital communications between the US and Asia during future crises.
The hacking group known as Volt Typhoon has been active since mid 2021 and has targeted organizations and sectors such as communications, manufacturing, utilities, transportation, and education. Microsoft's announcements highlight the growing trend of hostile activity in cyberspace driven by geopolitical rivalries. The joint advisory from US and wide agencies, including the National Security Agency and FBI, shared technical details about this cluster of hacking activity.
While China has historically focused on intelligence gathering rather than disruptive attacks, this recent development raises concerns about the potential for cyber disruptions and the future conflicts. Next, the European Central Bank is preparing to introduce a digital version of the Euro aiming to respond to the changing landscape of technology and the evolving use of money. The ECB stated that a digital Euro could provide an alternative to payment service providers controlled by non-European companies like MasterCard, visa, apple Pay, and Google Pay.
The European Union's Executive Commission is expected to propose the legislation on the matter. While the e ECB will publish a detailed proposal for the digital currencies design in October, the move is in a response to a growing popularity of digital currencies and the potential threat they pose to national ones. The goal of the digital Europe is to enhance Europe's autonomy and resilience and payment systems, ensuring a diverse range of options for consumers.
However, there are challenges in providing a digital currency that offers the user experience comparable to existing solutions. Additionally, the banking industry has expressed caution citing potential risks to commercial banks. If digital euros draw deposits away, the proposal will undergo testing for three years before a decision is made.
While on the topic of the eu, Sam Altman, the CEO of Open AI, has expressed concerns about the EU planned legislation on artificial intelligence. If the legislation, which could be the first specifically regulating AI fails to comply with open AI's needs, the company may consider leaving the eu. The proposed AI Act may require generative AI companies to disclose copyrighted materials used to train their systems open.
AI is, Sam Altman believes that the current draft of the AI Act is overly restrictive, but expects it to be revised. Altman also discussed AI's risks in the necessary regulations with UK Prime Minister and heads of other AI companies. Zooming out, the G seven leaders have agreed on the importance of trustworthy ai, and the European Commission aims to develop an AI pact with Google's parent company.
International cooperation is seen as crucial in regulating AI with transparency and accountability being few key aspects. In other News Point 32 Health, the second largest health insurer in Massachusetts experienced the ransomware attack potentially compromising the sensitive personal and health information of current and past members. The incident was detected on April 17th, And an ongoing investigation revealed that member data, including addresses, phone numbers, social security numbers, medical history, and other details may have been compromised between March 28th and April 17th.
The not for profit company stated that there have been no indications of misuse of the information thus far and is working with cybersecurity experts to investigate the incident, enhance its cybersecurity measures. 1 million members across multiple states will notify individuals potentially affected by the breach. The company has also contacted the fbi, although no further details were provided.
Some systems used to service members, brokers and providers remain offline, but the restoration process is expected to occur in phases. In the upcoming weeks on Digital cxo, we have an article looking at a survey showing that the time to reduce online fiction has arrived. The survey conducted by Okta found that nearly 66% of a respondent said that they would spend more money with a simple login process.
Additionally, 65% said that they get overwhelmed with all the usernames and passwords they have to remember. com. ai, we have an article looking at AI use cases in the healthcare industry.
AI is seeing adoption in many industries and for healthcare with its need for high precision and fast responses could benefit greatly from it. ai. Finally on cloudnative.
Now we have an article looking at how to build the next gen applications with serverless infrastructure. Cloud is completely changed building applications, and this article looks at why legacy applications can be lackluster and how teams can upgrade the services they can offer. com, and that's today's text on news recap.
