The New England College of Optometry (NECO) formed a COVID-19 Task Force and began exploring ideas to enable in-person learning at the school in a safe, effective and well-planned manner. One of the solutions that NECO implemented is a contact-tracing tool that allows the school to respond immediately to report of an infection, accurately and effectively, without relying on a sign-in sheet or a person’s recollection of their previous contacts.

An online site used to book COVID-19 vaccines in the London area was attacked by bots, as thousands attempted to register for their vaccine appointments. According to the London Free Press, just before 10:15 a.m., the Middlesex-London Health Unit tweeted the booking system had experienced challenges. “We have addressed the issues and will continue to monitor the booking system closely,” the organization claimed.

Videoconferencing has been around for a surprisingly long time.  In fact, the first call involving both audio and video links has been traced all the way back to 1927 in a call that took place between officials in Washington, DC and the president of AT&T in New York. Although it was laughably primitive by current standards, electronic conferencing technology has never stopped growing in either refinement or use. 

While the jury’s out on whether these applications will be an effective tool for contact tracers, or if the majority of citizens will fully embrace these applications, it’s clear that contact tracing will likely become a part of our daily lives. To keep these technologies on the right track, developers, policymakers and stakeholders must ask questions to measure effectiveness, while addressing key issues to prevent abuse and secure consumer data. 

As pharmaceutical companies and healthcare organizations turn their attention from the development to the deployment of coronavirus vaccines, well-resourced cybercriminals are hotly following suit. The vaccine supply chain is rife with logistical complexities making the enormously valuable data on the various vaccines deeply attractive to threat actors. In fact, cybercriminals are already attempting to steal vaccine formulas and disrupt operations.

International SOS recently released its Risk Outlook report, unveiling the top security risks for the international workforce in 2021. Here, we talk to Jeremy Prout, Director of Security at International SOS, to discuss how to protect the workforce against the top risks found within the report. 

An example of how businesses are benefitting from integrated cloud-based systems would be in the retail industry. Retail end users have integrated their security camera network, heat-mapping and video analytics technology with a cloud-based system so they can remotely monitor who is in their store. The heat-mapping and analytics technology also showcases where customers are spending the most time in their store, providing retailers with insight as to where they can place specific item displays or promotional items. This information can also be used to inform on if a specific location in a store needs additional signage to encourage social distancing, or even if it needs increased camera coverage within a store. The practical applications of integrated cloud-based systems and other security technology are nearly endless.

If the experiences of 2020 taught us anything, it’s that risk in the modern world cannot be understood or sufficiently mitigated with a siloed approach. Individual threats, such as regulatory risk and IT security, converge. Lacking a high-level view, it’s difficult to see the web of cause and effect – making it more difficult to anticipate, prepare, or mitigate the biggest risks. 2020 may be over, but the challenges remain in 2021. Compliance and risk management will need a shared umbrella of information and communication to tackle the complex, integrated risks of today’s landscape.