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☆ Australia regulator tells Medibank to set aside $167 mln after data breach
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SYDNEY, June 27 (Reuters) - Australia's banking regulator told insurer Medibank (MPL.AX) on Tuesday it would have to set aside A$250 million ($167 million) in extra capital, citing weaknesses identified in its information security after a network intrusion. "In taking this action, APRA seeks to ensure that Medibank expedites its remediation programme," member Suzanne Smith said. In a statement, Medibank said it had sufficient existing capital to meet the capital adjustment and would continue to work together with APRA on remediation measures. The regulator will also conduct a targeted technology review of Medibank, with a focus on governance and risk culture. ($1 = 1.4981 Australian dollars)Reporting by Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Chris Reese and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Medibank, Suzanne Smith, Renju Jose, Chris Reese, Lincoln Organizations: SYDNEY, Australian Prudential, Regulation Authority, APRA, Thomson Locations: Australia, Sydney

☆ Blockchain technology could play a 'pivotal' role in the A.I. revolution, says Global X ETFs' Helfstein
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( Tanaya Macheel | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

There's an automation revolution taking place and blockchain technology could play a pivotal role in it, according to Scott Helfstein. "As we think about … this broader transition towards automation and digitalization, blockchain can really play an important role in securing information and facilitating data management," he said. Helfstein broke AI into various levels, from infrastructure providers like semiconductor companies and graphic chip makers to algorithm providers like OpenAI and its ChatGPT. Across all of it though is blockchain technology and a way to secure information fed into AI algorithms. Crypto is "interesting," he said, but corporate investment is pouring into automation and blockchain will play a "critical" role in its development.

Persons: Scott Helfstein, blockchain, Ethereum Organizations: CNBC Pro, Digital Assets, Financial Professionals Locations: Austin , Texas, U.S

☆ China Investing in Open-Source Intelligence Collection on the U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-01 | by ( Julian E. Barnes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Why It Matters: Beijing’s open-source intelligence collection could give it an advantage. As the relationship between the United States and China has become more adversarial, both countries are investing more in their intelligence collection capabilities. For example, the report details some of the work one prominent Chinese open-source intelligence company has done to analyze publicly available insights from the Office of Net Assessment, the Pentagon’s in-house think tank. Naval War College has a China Maritime Studies Institute, and it produces a lot of open-source research on China,” said Zoe Haver, a threat intelligence analyst with Recorded Future. China’s secret intelligence-gathering abilities have grown in leaps and bounds in recent decades, and Beijing’s investment in open-source information has intensified over the last decade.

Persons: ”, Zoe Haver, Ms, Haver Organizations: Naval War College, U.S . Naval, China Maritime Studies Institute, ”, ., China’s, Liberation Army Locations: United States, China, Newport, R.I, Taiwan, States, Beijing

☆ Future wars are going to be catastrophic and robotic, and militaries have to 'come to grips' with that, former general says
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Ryan Pickrell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +12 min

Mick Ryan, the author and a strategist, says militaries need to "come to grips" with what is coming. The scene comes from a new novel, "White Sun War: The Campaign for Taiwan," written by a former military officer. "That is especially the case when the ratio of humans to autonomous systems in militaries is going to flip," Ryan told Insider. "We are not at the point yet where robotic systems are able to match humans in decision making," Ryan said. And these autonomous systems will have many similar flaws. "

☆ Flight attendants and pilots are anxiously gearing up for a potentially record-breaking summer of travel
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

"It's just a really precarious time of year for airline employees," Anthony Cataldo, a flight attendant for American Airlines with 33 years' experience, told Insider. Such predictions have left some airline workers anxious about carrying the industry through what could be a record-breaking travel season, four mainline pilots and flight attendants told Insider. Compared to last summer, airline staffing levels have largely improved, with Delta and United hiring thousands of new employees this year. The Southwest and American Airlines pilot unions both voted to authorize a strike this month. Air traffic control remains understaffedAs of April, the crowded airspace around New York City had 129 certified air traffic controllers — just over half of the staffing target of 226 — with 67 air traffic controllers in training, according to aviation firm Rinaldi Consultants.

[1/2] A Toyota logo is seen during the New York International Auto Show, in Manhattan, New York City, U.S., April 5, 2023. REUTERS/David 'Dee' DelgadoTOKYO, May 12 (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) said on Friday the vehicle data of 2.15 million users in Japan, or almost the entire customer base who signed up for its main cloud service platforms since 2012, had been publicly available for a decade due to human error. The issue, which began in November 2013 and lasted until mid-April, stemmed from human error, leading to a cloud system being set to public instead of private, a Toyota spokesperson said. It could encompass details such as vehicle locations and identification numbers of vehicle devices, but there were no reports of malicious use, the company said. Toyota said it would introduce a system to audit cloud settings, establish a system to continuously monitor settings, and thoroughly educate employees on data handling rules.

☆ Goldman Sachs CIO says it's important to decide who in a firm to 'superhumanize' with AI technology
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-11 | by ( Paige Hagy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Goldman Sachs' Marco Argenti told a conference how he assesses AI's return on investment. Firms can use AI to "superhumanize" talent, Argenti said. The top financial services firms, like Goldman Sachs, are looking to use artificial intelligence to "superhumanize" their talent. Generative artificial-intelligence will enhance productivity and efficiency across financial services, according to Marco Argenti, chief information officer at Goldman Sachs. Within Goldman Sachs, Argenti said the bank is looking to apply generative AI to data management, data classification, and workflow creation.

☆ Lawmakers press companies that collect U.S. consumer data to reveal how they buy and sell it
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Lauren Feiner | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

In the letters, 10 lawmakers asked the companies for detailed responses on the types of sensitive information they gather, such as health, location and phone data, including apps consumers download to their devices. The companies were also asked what information they collect on minors. Last month, the subcommittee on oversight and investigations held a hearing with expert witnesses to examine "the role of data brokers in the digital economy." In that report, the regulator recommended that Congress force brokers to give consumers greater control over their data, but the "data brokers can easily circumvent existing rules and laws," the letter said. Here's the full list of data brokers who received the letter::AcxiomAtDataBabel StreetCoreLogic SolutionsEpsilon Data ManagementEquifaxExperianGravy AnalyticsInteliusKochavaLiveRampMylifeOracle AmericaPeopleConnectPlacer.aiRELXSafegraphSpokeoThomson ReutersTransUnionVerisk AnalyticsWhitepagesSubscribe to CNBC on YouTube.

☆ Monitoring Financial Institution Compliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +41 min

Compliance MonitorshipsA compliance monitor (also called an independent examiner or independent compliance consultant) is an impartial party appointed by the government to detect the root causes of the institution’s compliance failures. The purpose of a compliance monitor is not to address a particular compliance failure or punish the institution. Responded to compliance issues, in a timely manner and in a way that demonstrates that the institution takes compliance issues seriously. Compliance Department EmployeesThe monitor must evaluate the adequacy of compliance department employees, including the number of compliance employees, their experience, and their expertise. Assess the Compliance SystemsThe monitor typically engages compliance technology experts, who have specific knowledge of coding and compliance technology software, to test and evaluate the institution’s compliance systems.

☆ VCs are scrambling to invest in AI startups in Y Combinator's latest class: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

VCs are scrambling to back the AI startups in Y Combinator's latest batch. Several generative AI startups have already secured funding from top firms, sources say. And while valuations are down across the board, YC AI startups are still hot. Startups focused on AI, and generative AI specifically, which saw a substantial jump in the latest batch, were some of the most highly sought after by investors. An AI feeding frenzyVC buzz was common across generative AI startups both in the application and infrastructure layers.

☆ Y Combinator's latest class is a feeding frenzy for VCs looking to back AI startups: 'There's hysteria for a reason'
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | Madeline Renbarger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

☆ Amazon job cuts rise to 27,000, but it's still not enough to rightsize the company
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Paulina Likos | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Amazon 's (AMZN) announcement Monday to eliminate another 9,000 employees in the coming weeks is a step in the right direction. The new Amazon cuts, which bring its recent total to 27,000, follow other tech layoffs. Andy Jassy, CEO of Club holding Amazon, detailed the company's actions in a memo to staff, saying these job cuts will mostly come from its Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud unit, advertising operations and videogame streaming platform Twitch. If Amazon turns into the leaner company want it to become, the stock could turn higher. As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade.

☆ SAP introduces SAP Datasphere and partnerships with Collibra, Confluent, DataRobot, and Databricks to simplify customers' data landscape
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Sponsor Post | Created Sap With Insider Studios | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

SAP announced SAP Datasphere, the next generation of its data management portfolio, which gives customers easy access to business-ready data across the data landscape. SAP DatasphereAvailable today, SAP Datasphere is the next generation of SAP Data Warehouse Cloud. With a unified experience for data integration, data cataloging, semantic modeling, data warehousing, data federation, and data virtualization, SAP Datasphere enables data professionals to easily distribute mission-critical business data — with business context and logic preserved — across their organization's data landscape. SAP Datasphere is built on SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), which includes strong enterprise security capabilities such as database security, encryption, and governance. Databricks customers can integrate their Data Lakehouse with SAP so data can be shared with semantics preserved, helping customers simplify their data landscape.

☆ Software firm Blackbaud to pay $3 mln for misleading disclosures on ransomware attack -SEC
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, March 9 (Reuters) - Software company Blackbaud Inc (BLKB.O) has agreed to pay $3 million to settle charges it made misleading disclosures about a 2020 ransomware attack that impacted over 13,000 customers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Thursday. In July 2020, the South Carolina-based provider of donor data management software disclosed a ransomware attacker and said the attacker had not accessed bank account information or Social Security numbers of donors, the SEC said. In August 2020, the SEC said, Blackbaud filed a quarterly report with the agency that omitted material information about the scope of the attack. Representatives for Blackbaud, which did not admit or deny the SEC's findings, did not respond immediately to a request for comment. The regulator has pushed public companies and registered entities to make more timely and specific disclosures about cyber attacks.

☆ Privacy Regulators Step Up Oversight of AI Use in Europe
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Catherine Stupp | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

European privacy regulators are intensifying their scrutiny of companies’ use of artificial intelligence, hiring experts and opening new units to crack down on data violations. “AI is appearing in all sectors,” said Kari Laumann, head of a division for research, analysis and policy at Norway’s data protection authority. The regulator’s office has worked with 64 companies to test AI initiatives under its supervision, in a program started in 2020. Regulators have fined companies for privacy failings in their AI applications in recent years, but European data protection officials and privacy analysts say it is still unclear how to apply some aspects of European privacy law to the technology. Mr. Jairaj said he expects the EU’s coming legislation to force companies to look closely at third-party suppliers of AI products.

Clearing your iPhone's app cache can also free up extra storage space. How to clear the cache, history, and cookies in Firefox on iPhoneFirefox has its own cache, which you can quickly clear in the browser's Settings page. Tap Clear Private Data and then confirm you want to do this by tapping OK.To free up the most space, select all the options in the Clear Private Data section and then tap Clear Private Data. Make sure that all the options you want to clear are selected and then tap Clear now. To free up the most space on your iPhone, select all the options and then tap Clear now.

☆ How to delete yourself from the internet
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Cheryl Winokur Munk | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

With so much personal data floating publicly on the internet, consumers have a legitimate interest in controlling the information flow. Self-help tools to remove personal informationFor those who are so inclined, there are ways to limit the amount of personal information available on the internet. If that fails, Google says it may remove personal information "that creates significant risks of identity theft, financial fraud, or other specific harms." It can be hard to gauge the effectiveness of these services, partly because there's so much personal information in the public domain. DeleteMe's website says that 2,389 pieces of personal information, on average, are found over a two-year subscription.

☆ TripActions Rebrands as Navan, Adds ChatGPT to Expense Reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

TripActions, a business-travel software startup, plans to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT capabilities across its online platform, an effort aimed at seizing market share by making expense reports easier to use. That way, the expense report is generated during the trip as expenses are incurred, Mr. Cohen said. “Generally, software in the business-to-business space is designed to serve the company,” rather than the employees, Mr. Cohen said. “Using AI helps you create the kind of software that I’m talking about,” Mr. Cohen said. PREVIEWSAP Concur has also begun using AI in its travel and expense software, which can “tap decades of expense data and experience tracking to identify hard-to-detect spend issues and anomalies,” said Charlie Sultan, president of Concur Travel.

☆ Publicis Reports 9.4% Organic Revenue Growth for Fourth Quarter
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-02 | by ( Megan Graham | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +4 min

Publicis Groupe SA said Thursday that organic revenue grew 9.4% in the fourth quarter as its data and technology services continued to capture a shift in client spending. The growth in the quarter ending Dec. 31 brought Publicis’s full-year 2022 organic revenue growth to 10.1%. The results beat the average analyst estimate of 5.3% growth for the quarter and 8.8% for the year, according to FactSet. Publicis said it expects organic revenue growth of 3% to 5% in 2023. Organic growth refers to the change in net revenue excluding the impacts of acquisitions, disposals and currency fluctuations.

☆ Cloud firm NetApp to cut 8% of global workforce amid tech layoffs
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-31 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Jan 31 (Reuters) - NetApp Inc (NTAP.O) said on Tuesday it would cut roughly 960 jobs, or about 8% of its global workforce, as the cloud data management firm grapples with tough economic conditions that have crimped customer spending. U.S. companies have been downsizing and slashing costs to better cope with the global economic downturn after global central banks unleashed rapid interest rate hikes to tackle inflation. We are not immune to these challenges," NetApp Chief Executive George Kurian said in a letter to employees. Earlier in the day, software maker Workday Inc (WDAY.O) also announced plans to cut 3% of its more than 15,000 staff. Reporting by Samrhitha Arunasalam in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika SyamnathOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ As Deal Making Picks Up, Tech Chiefs Worry About Software Integration
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-27 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

That is a potentially costly process that can require overhauling existing enterprise tech stacks, or even hiring high-priced experts to manage new IT tools, analysts said. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS How can tech executives smooth the integration of new digital tools when their vendors make acquisitions? Hewlett Packard Enterprise this month said it acquired Pachyderm and would integrate new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. HPE this month said it acquired Pachyderm, a San Francisco-based software startup, and would integrate the new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. “Our existing customer base will want to know they won’t be forced to replace an existing technology they already buy,” Mr. Hotard said.

☆ Tech Chiefs Fear ‘Frankenstein’ Software Integrations
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Angus Loten | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +6 min

Microsoft Corp. this month said it plans to incorporate AI into all of its enterprise software, while boosting its multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI, the startup behind chatbot ChatGPT. That is a potentially costly process that can require overhauling existing enterprise tech stacks, or even hiring high-priced experts to manage new IT tools, analysts said. Hewlett Packard Enterprise this month said it acquired Pachyderm and would integrate new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. HPE this month said it acquired Pachyderm, a San Francisco-based software startup, and would integrate the new software tools into its enterprise-tech platform. “Our existing customer base will want to know they won’t be forced to replace an existing technology they already buy,” Mr. Hotard said.

☆ Pitch Decks That Advertising Tech Startups Used to Raise Millions
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Business Insider | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +19 min

Check out these pitch decks that they've used to sell their vision and raise millions from private equity and VC investors. Blocking ad fraudAdtech startup Lunio, announced a $15 million Series A funding round in September 2022. In May 2022, the software-as-a-service startup raised a $30 million Series B round, led by Insight Partners. Marketing in the metaverseAnima, an augmented-reality startup, raised a $3 million funding round from investors in Janury. He raised $50 million in Series D after closing a $34 million Series C last year, bringing its total raised to $100 million.

☆ ESG will be a heavy focus for tech leaders in 2023
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-04 | by ( Bob Violino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Reducing the carbon footprint of IT operationsThere are a number of drivers moving ESG forward. One area of focus will be the need for reporting on ESG progress, as required by regulations. Nearly half of the respondents said their organization could not accurately report its carbon footprint. Efforts appear to be underway to enhance ESG reporting strategies. By 2024, IDC said, 75% of large enterprises will implement ESG data management and reporting software as a response to emerging legislation and increased stakeholder expectations.

☆ Here are the 34 tech companies most likely to be snapped up by private equity firms like Vista and Thoma Bravo in 2023, according to bankers and market data
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Ben Bergman | Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +22 min

With a stock price down 45% in the last year, though, it may soon find itself on the other side of the table. But it has $732 million in cash on hand, with zero debt, and analysts are projecting 16% revenue growth. This year, though, Varonis has come back to earth — its stock price has sunk over 57% in the last 12 months. However, with strong projected 2023 revenue growth of 18.6%, Zuora remains a strong target for PE firms. Its stock price has been hammered, going down about 40% this year and making it the subject of mergers-and-acquisitions chatter.

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