Here are a few I have come across the last week or so. Note: Each link is followed by a title and a few paragraphs. For the full article click on the link above title of the article. Note also that full access to some links may require site registration or subscription payment.
General Comment
-----
All sort of bits and pieces this week with cyber-security being a bit of a theme.
Does anyone know more about what went / goes on at NSW Health?
-----
Personal information accessed after cyber attack on NSW Health
Authorities are working to contact people whose personal health information was accessed in a worldwide cyber attack.
Staff writers
NCA NewsWire
June 4, 20218:23pm
NSW Health says it is working to contact people whose personal information – including health details – was accessed in a global cyber attack earlier this year.
A special NSW police strike force investigation was launched after it was realised NSW government agencies were caught up in the cyber attack on US-based software provider Accellion.
NSW Health was one of the 100 organisations around the world affected by the breach that occurred over December and January.
A statement on Friday night confirmed that identity information and, in some cases, health-related personal information was accessed in the attack.
“To date, there is no evidence any of the information has been misused,” it said.
-----
https://www.innovationaus.com/covidsafe-hasnt-found-any-contacts-this-year/
COVIDSafe hasn’t found any contacts this year
Denham
Sadler
Senior Reporter
2 June 2021
The federal government’s COVIDSafe contact tracing app has not found any new contacts this year and has still identified just 17 people in total, with the agency behind it being forced to issue a correction over incorrect figures provided to a Senate Estimates hearing last week.
At the hearing, Digital Transformation Agency (DTA) chief executive Randall Brugeaud told senators the COVIDSafe had been used to identify 567 close contacts of confirmed Covid-19 cases.
This was a sharp jump on the 17 contacts previously reported, and confused some of the Labor Senators.
It was later confirmed that this figure included the 544 contacts identified by manual contact tracers in NSW after COVIDSafe helped to identify a new exposure time at a pub in the state.
-----
https://www.thebigsmoke.com.au/2021/06/01/the-covidsafe-app-just-another-expensive-fail/
The COVIDSafe app is just another expensive fail
There has been a litany of problems with the Government’s app, leading many to question whether the millions of taxpayer dollars spent has been worth it.
There were initial concerns about the collection and use of data and privacy, and given the great failure that was the 2016 online Census and the widescale privacy breaches associated with My Health Record, these concerns certainly continue.
Then there were the hoax messages that the Australian Federal Police were called to investigate after many users reported receiving a text when they were further than 20 kilometres from home.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that an early version of the app accidentally informed several users that they had ‘tested positive for Covid-19’, causing members of the public to attend testing clinics in an anxious and distressed state, only to find out the app’s information was totally incorrect.
-----
Telstra readies Health-y bid for MedicalDirector; BofA on board
Sarah Thompson, Anthony Macdonald and Tim Boyd
Jun 3, 2021 – 9.35pm
Telecommunications giant Telstra is considering doubling down in the healthcare technology sector via the acquisition of medical practice software company MedicalDirector.
Street Talk can reveal Telstra is one of a handful of shortlisted parties running due diligence on MedicalDirector, with a view to lobbing a binding offer when the auction hammer falls in the first week of July.
Sources said Telstra had assigned a hefty M&A team to study MedicalDirector and prepare the bid, and was also taking advice from Bank of America’s investment banking team.
A deal would be a huge endorsement of Telstra’s healthcare technologies strategy only a few years after shareholders expected the unit, dubbed Telstra Health, to be tossed out as part of CEO Andy Penn’s T22 strategy.
-----
Infant pain-monitoring device gains international approval
Friday, 28 May, 2021
PainChek’s pain-assessment tool for infants has received several regulatory clearances that now allow sales and marketing in Australia, Europe, the UK, Canada, Singapore and New Zealand.
The regulatory clearances — including those from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) and the UK MHRA as well as the CE mark — follow completion of PainChek’s Infant Face-Only study, which supports the clinical indication for use of the device in procedural pain assessment. PainChek Infant is now cleared for use with infants aged between one and 12 months.
The smartphone-based pain assessment and monitoring application has potential for use in children’s hospitals and postnatal wards, and among parents and other healthcare professionals.
The PainChek Infant Face-Only study was developed to test the feasibility of using PainChek Infant’s face domain alone as an indicator of pain, and to evaluate it using video recordings of infants undergoing painful procedures. The study involved PainChek Infant face domain scores being compared with assessments conducted using the Revised Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS-R) and the Observer Visual Analogue Scale (ObsVAS). Both NFCS-R and ObsVAS are well-known and validated scales used in assessing procedural pain in infants, such as vaccinations, finger and heel pricks, dressing changes or more invasive procedures such as biopsies. Findings from the study supported the validity and reliability of PainChek Infant for procedural pain assessment. Procedural pain represents a significant problem as it can have both short-term and long-term negative consequences on children’s health if not managed effectively.
-----
https://www.itwire.com/health/painchek-smartphone-ai-app-approved-to-detect-pain-in-infants.html
Wednesday, 02 June 2021 00:09
PainChek smartphone AI app approved to detect pain in infants
PainChek’s smartphone-based pain assessment and monitoring application has regulatory approval to release its infant offering in Australia, meaning the app can help healthcare professionals and parents diagnose pre-verbal children with ease and accuracy.
PainChek is the world's first smartphone-based pain assessment and monitoring application and has now received Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) approval for its infant offering in Australia. The app uses facial recognition and artificial intelligence to detect and decipher micro-expressions that indicate pain in those who cannot self-report. Every parent knows the struggle and distress of trying to understand their young one’s suffering and PainChek can give a voice to those who cannot otherwise verbalise their pain.
Currently, the PainChek app is available for free on the AppStore, albeit targeted to clinics and healthcare professionals and requiring a clinical subscription. The regulatory clearance now paves the way for PainChek to sell and market its PainChek Infant capabilities in Australia and follows the company’s clinical study of infants undergoing painful procedures.
As well as TGA approval in Australia, PainChek received the CE Mark and UK MHRA allowing for sales and marketing in Europe, the UK, Canada, Singapore, and New Zealand. The company’s research and the product is cleared for use with infants aged between one and 12 months.
-----
Electronic nose inches closer to sniffing out COVID-19
Jill Margo Health editor
Jun 4, 2021 – 4.01am
If Israeli researchers are correct, testing for COVID-19 could be radically changed. Rather than rolling down their windows to confront a nurse with a swab, drivers at testing stations could come face-to-face with a plastic electronic nose.
Just as dogs sniff each other, so the e-nose would sniff their nose. Unlike the swab test, this would be non-invasive and the result would be instant.
The researchers’ proof of concept study, just published in the journal PLOS ONE, relied on the e-nose identifying volatile organic compounds. While viruses alone do not produce these compounds, virus-infected cells do.
Although dogs could sniff out these compounds and identify COVID-19 patients, the scale of the pandemic would make animal deployment challenging.
-----
How the right data storage can help drive digital transformation in health care
Pure Storage Inc
By Mark Jobbins, VP & Field Chief Technology Officer, Asia Pacific &
Japan, Pure Storage
Friday, 28 May, 2021
Like most industries, health care has been transformed by data.
The ability to gather, store and analyse massive amounts of data can help organisations achieve a competitive advantage and improve the patient experience through more personalised treatment. Health-related data can be used to identify patterns and trends that could lead to treatment and prevention breakthroughs. The value of data in the healthcare setting can’t be overstated.
Data comes from a variety of sources in a healthcare environment. From patient intake forms and online bookings to clinicians’ notes, prescriptions, lab test results and diagnostic imaging, every patient amasses a sizeable electronic health record. This will only continue to grow as physicians increasingly embrace wearable devices and the Internet of Things (IoT) to gather yet more data about patients. The end result will be a better healthcare experience; however, the immediate challenge is how to store and manage so much data.
Managing and storing data used to be simple; healthcare facilities relied on locked filing cabinets and air-gapped computers to maintain data privacy. However, this created cost and complexity, especially when it came to archiving paper-based data, which takes up a significant amount of physical space. In today’s connected world, the vast amount of data being generated digitally every day requires a more sophisticated approach. Data doesn’t just need to be put somewhere; it needs to be secured while remaining easily accessible to the right people.
-----
App creation sparks innovation at Austin Health
Microsoft Pty Ltd
Monday, 31 May, 2021
Austin Health is bringing its operations into the digital age, using Power Apps to create efficiency-boosting solutions.
Melbourne-based Austin Health is one of Australia’s leading health service providers. Serving one of the city’s fastest-growing areas, the organisation has a 10,500-stong workforce and routinely handles more than 110,000 patient admissions each year.
To ensure efficiency and effectiveness, Austin Health has increasingly turned to digital solutions to support its personnel and the wider community. Last financial year, telehealth consultations conducted by Austin Health clinicians rose 1100%. Austin Health also rolled out 9500 licences for Office 365 in two weeks to support new ways of working for all its people in response to the pandemic.
Among those people is a small team of patient services assistants (PSAs) who navigate the corridors of the hospital — getting patients to and from different locations. In the past PSAs would pick up a job by collecting a slip of paper from a central office, which told them which patient had to be taken where and when. Once one patient had been delivered, the PSA would return and collect another slip of paper, collect another patient and the whole process started over. It was a cumbersome process ripe for improvement according to Alan Pritchard, the hospital’s Director of EMR and ICT Services.
-----
Thursday, 03 June 2021 09:22
92% of Australians admit using telemedicine, 79% would use it again after pandemic: report
Capterra examined how patients experienced remote healthcare and outlined what benefits they see in future use.
Capterra has revealed the results of a study that more than 1,000 respondents, over half of them had used telemedicine, and most (92%) admitted they first used it after COVID-19 hit. Almost 4 out of 5 Aussies said they would use it again, with 15% actually saying they would now only use telemedicine regardless of the pandemic.
Respondents benefitted in saving time waiting for appointments (27%), lowering contagion risks (25%), and being able to access diagnosis and prescriptions from anywhere (15%). Others reported positively on saving time on distance and travel and being able to consult with a doctor from another state. While COVID-19 plays an important role in boosting the use of telehealth, saving time are arguments to suggest that virtual doctor’s appointments are here to stay.
Survey participants used teleconsulting for a range of medical appointment types, but the most common was to consult with their GP (43%). The large majority (72%) reported their medical problem was solved via teleconsultation. Only 12% needed an in-person appointment for a physical examination. During the start of the pandemic, a shift of in-person to virtual consultations helped relieve pressure on the Australian healthcare system.
-----
Does telehealth in Australia have a promising post-pandemic future?
Thiru Gunasegaran | 03 Jun 2021
B2B software comparison website Capterra has published the results of a study with over 1,000 Australians, detailing their perspectives and considerations about telehealth.
Data was collected in April 2021 from Australians aged 18 and over, who had visited the doctor at least once a year, and had had a healthcare appointment within the last 12 months.
The findings predominantly indicate that the use of telemedicine is likely to extend beyond the pandemic, with reduced waiting times and general efficacy of end-to-end processes cited as contributing factors.
FINDINGS
According to Capterra’s survey findings, 92% of telemedicine users in Australia had experienced telemedicine for the first time during the pandemic. While the surge in usage of telemedicine may be owed to COVID-19 restrictions, 84% of first-time users stated that they used telemedicine for consultation unrelated to symptoms of the virus itself.
-----
Australian university researchers to create AI-powered tool predicting risk of heart disease
Thiru Gunasegaran | 03 Jun 2021
A team of researchers at the University of Western Australia is coming up with an artificial intelligence-based risk assessment tool to better detect plaque in heart computed tomography scans.
WHY IT MATTERS
The research team comprising AI and cardiac imaging experts was recently awarded a grant worth AU$896,606 (about $695,000) from the government's Medical Research Future Fund to develop a tool predicting the risk of coronary heart disease from heart CT scans.
In a statement, UWA said the tool could "determine if plaque build-up has narrowed the coronary arteries", identifying patients most at risk of adverse cardiovascular events. It veers from traditional methods which are said to be "cumbersome, time-consuming and may have limited accuracy".
This approach, UWA claimed, will enable "more accurate diagnosis and faster reporting across all aspects of healthcare, improving the quality and consistency of patient care".
-----
University of Adelaide tech team taken to task over bogus vaccine email
The University of Adelaide has dressed down its IT security team after it sent a bogus phishing email to all staff offering Covid vaccines, which sparked a rush on the university’s health service.
An estimated 40-50 per cent of staff clicked on the link in the simulated phishing email, which contained spelling errors and purported to come from the address “COVID ”.
The university’s chief operating officer, Bruce Lines, emailed all staff on Friday afternoon offering his “deepest apologies” for the email, which he said was “was totally inappropriate and in the worst possible taste” during a pandemic when people were “under significant stress and anxiety”.
“It should never have been sent, regardless of the requirements of the simulation exercise. I know many of you will be feeling upset and that this does not at all accord with our values, including that of ‘respect’,” Mr Lines wrote. “While these simulated exercises are a vital part of the university’s security activities, more attention must – and will – be given to the subjects of future emails.”
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/tas-govt-selects-oracle-to-help-manage-covid-vaccine-rollout-565271
Tas govt selects Oracle to help manage Covid vaccine rollout
By Kate Weber on May 31, 2021 12:14PM
From booking to digital record.
The Tasmanian government has set up a digital platform to manage its Covid-19 vaccine rollout to the state's 541,000 residents.
Through a digital platform powered by Oracle's health management system, residents can booking online appointments or call a Covid-19 hotline.
They then receive a QR code to fast-track check-in procedures on the day of their jab.
Healthcare workers can update patient vaccination details and use the system to create - or update - an electronic health record for the vaccine recipient.
-----
Monday, 31 May 2021 11:50
Tasmania adopts Oracle Health Management System for COVID-19 vaccinations
Oracle is providing the Tasmanian Government with free use of the Oracle Health Management System to manage its COVID-19 vaccination program.
The Oracle Health Management System supports vaccination appointment bookings online or through the hotline.
People receive a QR code that confirms their identity and speeds vaccination check-in.
Healthcare workers use the system to record the type of vaccination administered and create or update each person's electronic health record.
-----
Cyber attack shuts down Australia’s biggest meat processor
Brad Thompson Reporter
May 31, 2021 – 4.18pm
A cyber attack has shut down Australia’s biggest meat and food processing company and raised concerns about supply to both domestic and export markets.
It is understood the attack has affected JBS Foods operations across Australia as well as in the United States, Canada and other countries.
Cattle and lamb processing was cancelled at all JBS meatworks in Australia on Monday after the weekend attack on information systems at the company’s headquarters.
Farmers and food retailers remain in the dark about how long JBS will be out of action and, in addition to the supply chain disruption, thousands of meatworkers fear being left out of pocket.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/australian-meat-processor-jbs-foods-hit-by-cyber-attack-565310
Australian meat processor JBS Foods hit by cyber attack
By Ry Crozier on Jun 1, 2021 7:49AM
Impacts IT systems in several locations.
Meat processor JBS has warned it could take the company some time to recover from an “organised cyber security attack” that has impacted servers in its Australian and North American operations.
The attack was first reported by industry news website Beefcentral, which quoted JBS Australia CEO Brent Eastwood saying that the full impact of the attack was still being assessed.
Reuters reported that JBS’s Primo Smallgoods business in Queensland has also been impacted by IT system outages as a result of the incident.
In a statement on Tuesday morning, JBS USA confirmed it had been targeted and that “some of the servers supporting its North American and Australian IT systems” were offline.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/cyber-attack-on-meatpacker-jbs-foods-is-ransomware-565357
'Cyber attack' on meatpacker JBS Foods is ransomware
By Tom Polansek and Jeff Mason on Jun 2, 2021 6:33AM
Disrupts Australian and North American operations.
The White House said that Brazil's JBS SA has informed the US government that a ransomware attack against the company that has disrupted meat production in North America and Australia originated from a criminal organisation likely based in Russia.
JBS is the world's largest meatpacker and the incident caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday and has stopped livestock slaughter at its plants in several US states.
White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said the United States has contacted Russia's government about the matter and that the FBI is investigating.
"The White House has offered assistance to JBS and our team at the Department of Agriculture have spoken to their leadership several times in the last day," Jean-Pierre said.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/jbs-foods-workers-returning-as-revil-blamed-for-infection-565418
JBS Foods workers returning as REvil blamed for infection
By Nandita Bose and Tom Polansek on Jun 3, 2021 6:24AM
Company claims "significant progress" made in its recovery.
JBS SA employees were returning to US meat plants on Wednesday, a day after the company's beef operations stopped following a ransomware attack.
The REvil/Sodinokibi ransomware group is behind the cyber attack against JBS that disrupted meat production in North America and Australia, a source familiar with the matter said.
Brazil's JBS controls about 20 percent of the slaughtering capacity for US cattle and hogs, so the plants starting to reopen should prevent a severe supply chain disruption although it was unclear when all plants would be operating as normal again.
Plants in the US are expected to return to full capacity in the next couple days, said officials with the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) International Union, which represents over 25,000 JBS meatpacking workers.
-----
Thursday, 03 June 2021 00:56
Telcos Dodo, iPrimus hit with hefty penalties for misleading claims on NBN broadband speeds
Telcos Dodo and iPrimus have been ordered to pay $1.5 million and $1 million respectively in penalties for making misleading claims about their NBN broadband speeds.
The penaties were imposed by the Federal Court following an investigation by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).
The ACCC said in a statement on Wednesday that Dodo and iPrimus admitted that their ‘typical evening speed’ claims made between March 2018 and April 2019 were misleading because they were not based on an appropriate testing methodology.
“Accurate information about broadband speeds, particularly during the busy period when consumers are most likely to use their services, is essential for consumers to be able to compare broadband offers and pick the best service for their needs,” ACCC Chair Rod Sims said.
-----
https://www.itnews.com.au/news/vocus-owned-dodo-and-iprimus-to-pay-25m-over-nbn-speed-claims-565377
Vocus-owned Dodo and iPrimus to pay $2.5m over NBN speed claims
By Ry Crozier on Jun 2, 2021 11:13AM
ACCC wins case.
Vocus has been penalised $2.5 million by the Federal Court over the evening peak speeds quoted for NBN services offered by its Dodo and iPrimus brands.
The telco was hauled before the courts by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last year over concerns that advertised speeds were largely unachievable.
The speeds were advertised between March 2018 and April 2019, and both Dodo and iPrimus admitted the claims were “misleading.”
Dodo will pay $1.5 million and iPrimus will pay $1 million.
Justice Murphy said that through their parent company Vocus, Dodo and iPrimus “chose not to adopt the methodology proposed as industry best practice by the ACCC and instead developed and applied the Vocus Methodology, which as it eventuated had a number of deficiencies”.
-----
Tuesday, 01 June 2021 10:45
NBN Co says no date for resumption of new HFC services as yet
NBN Co, the company rolling out Australia's national broadband network, says it has not set a date for resumption of new HFC connections, despite having planned to do so from 24 May onwards.
The problem was due to the shortage of cable modems, which, in turn, was due to a worldwide shortage of semiconductors and supply chain issues.
The company said on Tuesday it had informed retail service providers on 17 May that the recommencement date would "be determined by NBN Co's readiness to support Internet retailers and new customers".
When NBN Co last spoke about the HFC issue on 30 March, its chief customer officer Brad Whitcomb said: "We are confident that we will receive regular deliveries of new HFC modems in the weeks and months ahead to enable the resumption of new HFC connections from 24 May.
-----
NBN service failure laid bare as telcos count the cost
Paul Smith and Natasha Gillezeau
Jun 1, 2021 – 5.00am
NBN Co says it is making progress to solve the technology problems that have caused chaos for internet service providers, including Telstra, Optus and TPG, which say unhappy customers unable to get appointments are directing their anger towards them.
The Australian Financial Review can reveal that the problems with a new workforce scheduling application, caused largely by a bungled shift to a new service operating model, have left 19,600 customers unable to secure connection or service appointments.
Retail service providers (RSPs) said they remained unhappy with NBN’s efforts to manage the crisis, feeling they had been hung out to dry as their customers blamed them for NBN’s problems and saying NBN engineers were often not performing the services they were assigned to complete.
In addition to the problems with the system change, NBN services have been disrupted by a “cease sale” order on all new HFC (or cable internet) connections since February and extreme weather in March.
-----
NASA announces two new missions to Venus, its first in decades
By Steve Gorman
June 3, 2021 — 6.39am
Los Angeles: NASA on Wednesday announced plans to launch two new scientific missions to Venus between 2028 and 2030 - its first in decades - to study the atmosphere and geologic history of Earth’s closest planetary neighbour.
The US space agency said it was awarding about $US500 million for development of each of the two missions, dubbed DAVINCI+ (short for Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble Gases, Chemistry and Imaging) and VERITAS (an acronym for Venus Emissivity, Radio Science, InSAR, Topography and Spectroscopy).
DAVINCI+ will measure the composition of the dense Venusian atmosphere to improve the understanding of how it evolved, while VERITAS will map the planet’s surface to help determine its geological history and why it developed so differently than Earth, NASA said.
-----
Enjoy!
David.
No comments:
Post a Comment