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This weekly blog is to explore the news around the larger issues around Digital Health, data security, data privacy, AI / ML. technology, social media and any related matters.
I will also try to highlight ADHA Propaganda when I come upon it.
Just so we keep count, the latest Notes from the ADHA Board were dated 6 December, 2018 and we have seen none since! It’s pretty sad!
Note: Appearance here is not to suggest I see any credibility or value in what follows. I will leave it to the reader to decide what is worthwhile and what is not! The point is to let people know what is being said / published that I have come upon, and found interesting.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/was-health-innovation-fund-grows-by-70-per-cent/
WA’s health innovation fund grows by 70%
Brandon
How
Reporter
19 December 2022
Western Australia’s Future Health Research and Innovation Fund will award 70 per cent more money than originally forecast over the forward estimates following the mid-year review.
The state’s Investment Attraction Fund, which aims to support economic diversification in sectors including energy, METS, defence, space, and health and medical life sciences, also received a $105 million top-up for 2022-23 in the review, released last week.
The Future Health Research and Innovation Fund is a $1.6 billion sovereign wealth fund that finances grant programs from its yearly investment income. According to the review, the additional 2022-23 funding is the result of a “once-off $16.7 million top-up”.
Overall, “after a review of the fund’s investment profile and returns”, the fund will award an additional $84 million from 2022-23 to 2025-26. The state Budget initially estimated around $120 million would be awarded over the same period.
The fund has awarded $63.6 million since programs began in financial year 2020-21.
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https://www.innovationaus.com/privacy-act-review-complete-after-three-years/
Privacy Act Review complete after three years
Brandon
How
Reporter
20 December 2022
After three years, the Privacy Act Review commissioned under the Coalition government has been completed and the final report handed to Attorney General Mark Dreyfus.
The Attorney General will now consider the review over the summer and is expected to release it publicly alongside the government’s response in the first half of 2023.
The completion of the review comes a full year after the Attorney General’s Department originally expected to finish.
In July, Mr Dreyfus promised the final report would be presented to the government by the end of the year.
InnovationAus.com understands the review was completed at the end of last week and handed to Mr Dreyfus on Tuesday.
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Aussies’ little faith in cyber protection
By SARAH ISON
12:00AM December 23, 2022
Half of Australians don’t trust the government when it comes to cyber security, with almost two-thirds believing it could do more protect them and their data, according to new figures.
Multinational cybersecurity company Palo Alto Networks, revealed on Friday that more than 70 per cent of Australians were “fearful” of a nationwide cyber-attack that would affect their daily lives and almost 90 per cent wanted government to increase requirements for companies storing personally identifiable information. In a survey commissioned by Palo Alto of more than 1000 people across the nation, only a third of Australians believed the nation was a “global superpower” when it came to cyber security.
Palo Alto Networks head of government affairs for Australia and New Zealand Sarah Sloan said the survey revealed the anxiety of Australians when it came to the protection of data and the possibility of a nationwide cyber-attack, with 26 per cent responding they were “very fearful” of such an event.
“Between an increasingly complex geopolitical environment and a string of high-profile cyber-attacks, Australians are on high alert,” Ms Sloan said.
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https://www.smh.com.au/technology/smarter-bots-trigger-code-red-at-google-20221222-p5c8cw.html
Smarter bots trigger ‘code red’ at Google
By Nico Grant and Cade Metz
December 22, 2022 — 7.32pm
Over the past three decades, a handful of products like Netscape’s web browser, Google’s search engine and Apple’s iPhone have truly upended the tech industry and made what came before them look like lumbering dinosaurs.
Three weeks ago, an experimental chatbot called ChatGPT made its case to be the industry’s next big disrupter. It can serve up information in clear, simple sentences, rather than just a list of internet links. It can explain concepts in ways people can easily understand. It can even generate ideas from scratch, including business strategies, Christmas gift suggestions, blog topics and vacation plans.
Although ChatGPT still has plenty of room for improvement, its release led Google’s management to declare a “code red.” For Google, this was akin to pulling the fire alarm. Some fear the company may be approaching a moment that the biggest Silicon Valley outfits dread — the arrival of an enormous technological change that could upend the business.
For more than 20 years, the Google search engine has served as the world’s primary gateway to the internet. But with a new kind of chatbot technology poised to reinvent or even replace traditional search engines, Google could face the first serious threat to its main search business. One Google executive described the efforts as make or break for Google’s future.
ChatGPT was released by an aggressive research lab called OpenAI, and Google is among the many other companies, labs and researchers that have helped build this technology. But experts believe the tech giant could struggle to compete with the newer, smaller companies developing these chatbots, because of the many ways the technology could damage its business.
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https://www.sheppnews.com.au/news/stay-healthy-in-the-heat/
Stay healthy in the heat
Dec 22, 2022
Summer is a time for outdoor activities, barbecues and soaking up the sunshine.
However, The Australian Digital Health Agency is encouraging people to be aware of the potential health hazards that can come with the warmer weather.
Here are some things to watch out for and tips on how to stay safe and healthy this summer.
Heat stroke
When the body is unable to regulate its temperature, it can lead to heat stroke. Symptoms include dizziness, headache, rapid heartbeat and loss of consciousness.
To prevent heat stroke, stay hydrated, avoid excessive alcohol consumption and take frequent breaks in a cool place.
Heat stroke is a medical emergency.
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https://www.afr.com/technology/inside-the-optus-hack-that-woke-up-australia-20221123-p5c0lm
Inside the Optus hack that woke up Australia
A huge cyberattack on the telco in September caused a political storm and made Australians aware of the power of their personal data. Behind the scenes, it was a time of high drama.
Paul Smith Technology editor
Dec 22, 2022 – 5.00am
It began with a phone call from the other side of the world. Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was waiting at the airport after a run-of-the-mill business trip to the United States. Beside the Optus chief executive was her marquee hire, former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian. The pair were waiting to board a Qantas flight home. The call, however, meant it was a flight Bayer Rosmarin would never make.
It was Wednesday afternoon in Sydney, and late evening on Tuesday in America. Chief information officer Mark Potter was on the line, and the news was not good.
Technology staff had raised concerns about suspicious activity on Optus’ IT networks the day before. Potter was calling his boss after a series of hastily convened meetings with other top lieutenants had determined that Optus faced an impending crisis.
While details were sketchy, they could have a serious problem on their hands. The executive team was worried enough to categorise it as a crisis.
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Dreyfus prepares privacy law overhaul
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says he has received the review of Australia's privacy laws and will “carefully consider” its contents as he prepares to overhaul the legislation next year.
The review was commissioned by the former federal government in 2019 – years before millions of Optus and Medibank customers had their data stolen – in a bid to “ensure privacy settings empower consumers, protect their data and best serve the Australian economy”.
In a tweet, Mr Dreyfus said: “The former government left Australia's privacy laws out of date and not fit-for-purpose in our digital age.”
“I've now received the review of the Privacy Act by my department, which I will carefully consider as I prepare to overhaul the Act next year,” he continued.
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https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=4d799e40-85fb-4e1c-8e66-3902b3658fe3
Overhaul of Privacy Act strengthens penalties and gives Information Commissioner greater powers to gather and share information on data breaches
Piper Alderman Tim Clark, Craig Subocz and Charlotte Coburn
Australia December 16 2022
Following high profile data breaches, the Privacy Act has been amended to increase the monetary penalties for serious privacy breaches. Additionally, the Information Commissioner now has greater powers to gather and to share information to resolve data breaches.
Up to an estimated 10 million Australians have been affected by at least one of the high profile data breaches affecting high profile Australian companies in 2022. In October 2022, the Attorney General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus KC MP, promised to toughen Australia’s privacy laws. In December 2022, the Privacy Act was amended to increase penalties for serious or repeated breaches of privacy and to improve the capacity of the Information Commissioner to gather and to share information about data breaches.
Tougher penalties
The headline grabber is the increase to penalties for serious or repeated breaches of privacy. The table below sets out how the amended Privacy Act provides for significantly greater civil penalties for serious or repeated interferences of privacy when compared to the penalties under the Act before the amendments received royal assent.
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Tuesday, 20 December 2022 10:33
Australians demand executives held liable for cyber breaches
Palo Alto Networks research find Australians blame executives more than tech workers when their organisation is attacked.
92% of Australians want someone to be held liable when an Australian company is breached in a cyber attack, and one in two Australians want that person to be a board director or a C-suite executive, according to the latest research from Palo Alto Networks.
Conducted by Savanta, the research found that 50% of Australians thought board directors or C-suite executives should be liable for their companies suffering a cyber attack, compared to only 44% believing that frontline tech workers should be held responsible.
Seven in ten Australians believe not enough corporate leaders in Australia are held personally accountable after data breaches occur at their organisations. In contrast, 67% believe leaders should face fines and jail time if they have not taken reasonable steps to protect personally identifiable information.
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The failed promise of online mental-health treatment
Remote treatment of mental-health problems surged in the pandemic, as in-person treatment became difficult while pandemic-driven isolation increased anxiety and depression.
Digital mental-health companies plunged in, promising to provide millions with access to high-quality care by video, phone, and messaging.
Many of the businesses, however, put a premium on growth. Investor-backed, they deployed classic Silicon Valley tactics such as spending heavily on advertising and expansion while often using contractors instead of employees to control costs. A strategy designed for mundane businesses such as food delivery, the formula can be badly suited to the sensitive activity of treating mental-health problems.
After Caleb Hill told his parents he was gay, he was kicked out of the house. He had been taught, growing up in a conservative Christian household in Tennessee, that his attraction to men was a grave sin.
Feeling isolated and depressed a few months later, Mr. Hill, then 22, thought therapy might help. He had heard podcast ads for BetterHelp, a company that provides therapy remotely and promises “a personalised therapist match that is tailored to your preferences and needs.” His biggest concern was he missed his family. The therapist he was given, he says, recommended he try to stop being gay so he could go back to them. “He said if I chose to go back to who I was and deny those feelings, he could get me where I needed to be,” Mr. Hill said.
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GPT: High-tech parlor trick or the first real AI for everyday use?
OpenAI’s beta ChatGPT service based on the GPT-3 database of content is amazing people with its human-like conversations, but the technology is not as deep as it seems — yet.
By Galen Gruman
Executive Editor for Global Content, Computerworld | 15 December 2022 22:00 AEDT
Within a week of ChatGPT’s November 30, 2022, launch, the AI-powered conversation tool was the talk of the (media) town, fascinating early users with its conversational abilities and even creativity. Soon, the enthusiasts exclaimed, we won’t need people to write marketing copy, ads, essays, reports, or pretty much anything other than the most specialized scientific reports. And AI will be able to handle all our customer service calls, appointment-making, and other routine conversations.
Not so fast! My own experiments with the underlying technology suggest we have a ways to go before we get there.
Still, what is different about ChatGPT versus previous AI wunderkinds is that it isn’t just the tech and business media who are paying attention: Regular folks are too.
A teacher friend asked me just a week after ChatGPT’s debut how teachers will be able to detect students having AI write their term papers for them. Policing cut-and-paste efforts from Wikipedia and the web are tough enough, but an AI tool that writes “original” papers would make student essays and reports meaningless as a judge of their learning.
(Switching to oral presentations with a Q&A component would fix that issue, since students would have to demonstrate live and unaided their actual understanding. Of course, schools don’t currently give teachers the time for that lengthy exam process.)
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https://www.smh.com.au/technology/the-dangers-of-stockpiling-personal-data-20221216-p5c6x7.html
The dangers of stockpiling personal data
December 19, 2022 — 9.57am
Data is invaluable, but concentrating it in one place can make it risky – suddenly it becomes a resource that is incredibly valuable and something bad players are desperate to get their hands on. Especially when organisations are storing more than they need.
It’s a phenomenon that the security industry has long been aware of and one that regulators and policymakers are beginning to see as critically important.
“Looking at the Optus attack, this was a big concern because fraudsters were using stolen PII (personally identifiable information) to try and commit identity crime,” says Paul Warren-Tape, Head of Operations for ID verification leader OCR Labs Pty Ltd.
“We need to understand why a telco stores copies of people’s identity documents in the first place, as to provide ongoing services they only need to know a person’s name, address and their contact details”
Warren-Tape says the Medibank breach is also “deeply concerning”.
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David.
