66% of People in ASPAC and Japan Believe Bots Will Succeed Where Humans Have Failed with Corporate Sustainability

 

People around the world are demanding more progress on sustainability and social efforts and are looking to businesses to step up, according to a new study by Oracle and Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor, and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development. The “No Planet B” study of more than 11,000 consumers and business leaders across 15 countries found that people are fed up with the lack of progress society is making towards sustainability and social initiatives, want businesses to turn talk into action, and believe technology can help businesses succeed where people have failed.

 

People from Asia-Pacific and Japan (JAPAC) want businesses to step up sustainability and social efforts

The events of the past two years have put a spotlight on sustainability and social efforts, with people worldwide disappointed with the lack of progress and calling for businesses to step up. Below are some key findings from the JAPAC region.

 

·        95 percent of people believe sustainability and social factors are more important than ever and 81 percent said the events over the past two years have caused them to change their actions.

·        94 percent respondents believe society has not made enough progress. 40 percent attribute the lack of progress to people being too busy with other priorities, 43 percent believe it is the result of more emphasis on short-term profits over long-term benefits, and 37 percent believe people are too lazy or selfish to help save the planet.

·        50 percent believe businesses can make more meaningful change on sustainability and social factors than individuals or governments alone.

·        75 percent are frustrated and fed up with the lack of progress by businesses to-date, and 91 percent believe it’s not enough for businesses to say they’re prioritizing Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) – they need to see action and proof.

·        89 percent believe businesses would make more progress towards sustainability and social goals with the help of AI, and 66 percent even believe bots will succeed where humans have failed.

 

“The events of the past two years have put sustainability and social initiatives under the microscope and people are demanding material change. While there are challenges to tackling these issues, businesses have an immense opportunity to change the world for the better,” said Pamela Rucker, CIO Advisor and Instructor for Harvard Professional Development. “The results show that people are more likely to do business with and work for organizations that act responsibly toward our society and the environment. This is an opportune moment. While thinking has evolved, technology has as well, and it can play a key role in overcoming many of the obstacles that have held progress back.”

 

“It's never been more critical for businesses to invest in sustainability and ESG initiatives, as people don’t just want to hear about it – they’re looking for decisive action and are demanding more transparency and tangible results,” said Juergen Lindner, senior vice president and CMO, Global Marketing SaaS, Oracle. “Business leaders understand the importance, yet often have the erroneous assumption that they need to prioritize either profits or sustainability. The truth is this is not a zero-sum game. The technology that can eliminate all the obstacles to ESG efforts is now available, and organizations that get this right can not only support their communities and the environment, but also realize significant revenue gains, cost savings, and other benefits that impact the bottom line.”

 

 

“Given Asia Pacific’s large share of the global population and emissions, climate vulnerabilities, and technological and financial strengths, the global fight against climate change will be won or lost in Asia Pacific. It’s imperative that we take action on climate change and businesses have a narrowing window to lead the way,” said Will Symons, Asia Pacific Sustainability and Climate Lead, Deloitte. “It is great to see organizations like Oracle helping businesses to step up and prioritize sustainability. The study results show people want businesses to prioritize progress on sustainability and are willing to reward those who lead. To do this organizations must re-think how they use technology to shift from ambition to action on sustainability commitments while ensuring transparency and accountability to all stakeholders.”

 

Read the full press release www.oracle.com/noplanetb.

 

Methodology

Research findings are based on a survey conducted by Savanta, Inc. between February 25 – March 14, 2022 with 11,005 global respondents from 15 countries (United States, United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, France, China, India, Australia, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, and Mexico). 4,000 respondents were included from JAPAC region. The survey explored attitudes and behaviors of consumers and business leaders towards sustainability and social efforts along with the role and expectations of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots in environmental, societal, and governance (ESG) efforts.

 

Meeting the healthcare sector’s unique cybersecurity challenges

We are featuring this article written by Mr. Paul Prudhomme, Head of Threat Intelligence Advisory of IntSights, a Rapid7 company

 In August 2021, as many citizens in Manila looked to get vaccinated against Covid-19, the city’s vaccination website was attacked by hackers 133 times.

 

The city’s mayor later told news outlets that “troll farms” were possibly behind the hit on the vaccination registration site, seeking to deny real users from using it.

 

The attacks were not the only cyber threats facing the Philippines’ healthcare sector during the pandemic, as it tried to help citizens navigate the crisis.

 

Earlier, in November 2020, a software tool that healthcare workers in the Philippines used to share data about Covid-19 cases was found to contain multiple flaws that could potentially expose patient data.

 

Researchers at a laboratory at the University of Toronto discovered vulnerabilities in the Covid-Kaya platform’s Web and Android apps that allowed unauthorized users to access private data about the platform’s users, according to cybersecurity news website Threatpost.

 

These incidents are reminders of the need to manage cybersecurity risks as healthcare providers digitalize rapidly to improve patient care and meet the urgent demands of a pandemic.

 

The Philippines is certainly not alone here. In the Italian city of Lazio, cyber attackers managed to disable the Covid-19 vaccination booking system last year, preventing citizens from getting their vaccination appointments for days.

 

Hackers likely believed this would pressure the Italian authorities to pay up the ransom to unlock the systems they had disrupted through a cyberattack.

 

Unsurprisingly, during the pandemic, cyber attackers have sought to exploit the confusion and fear of citizens and government agencies, hoping to cash in as victims often became desperate in life-and-death situations.

 

In 2020, more large healthcare data breaches were reported than in any other year, according to a recent report by IntSights, a Rapid7 company.

 

In addition, 2021 saw five consecutive months (March through July) in which industry data breaches have been reported at a rate of two or more per day.

 

While cybersecurity is a threat to all organizations, healthcare providers face some unique challenges, particularly during the pandemic.

 

For starters, the personal details in protected health information (PHI) are useful for criminal groups that wish to commit identity and insurance fraud.

 

Once data such as social security numbers of medical records are leaked on underground criminal forums on the Dark Web, they can be reused and exploited repeatedly.

 

While it is true that the healthcare sector is highly regulated in terms of security and data protection, this can sometimes work against organizations in the sector.

 

For instance, cyber attackers may count on victims in the healthcare sector to pay up a ransom because they would otherwise incur a hefty fine from government regulators for losing patient data.

 

This could give them additional leverage compared to, say, a victim in another sector that does not have the same stringent regulatory oversight.

 

Another unique feature of the healthcare sector is the medical devices that are connected to a network all the time.

 

IntSight’s study in the United States found that some healthcare providers had not been updating their devices with the latest firmware because they were worried this might void the approval already received from the Food and Drug Administration.

 

Although the authorities only ask that significant modifications be sent for approval, some providers become “over compliant” and end up not updating the software on their devices.

As a result, these devices could be left in a vulnerable state for years – many of them run for a decade or more – and act as a perpetually open door for cyber attackers to enter.

 

There is yet another worrying thing for the healthcare sector. Despite the value of highly personalized data that can be stolen here, the price of unauthorized access to a healthcare organization is relatively low among criminals.

 

The lowest price in a data sample that IntSights obtained, from monitoring underground criminal networks, was just US$240, for access to a Colombian healthcare organization.

 

This could be because of a perception that it is relatively easy to steal data from a healthcare organization or simply that there is an oversupply of such information.

 

These findings from IntSight’s global study offer valuable lessons for Southeast Asian healthcare organizations, particularly on how to reduce their risk and improve their security posture.

 

Here are four important steps:

1. Establish priorities: Find and address the most critical vulnerabilities first, then identify which assets are most likely to be targeted
2. Integrate cyber threat intelligence: Discover threats before they arrive at your doorstep, then tailor defenses against them.
3. Build robust ransomware defense: Use offline backups and strong encryption; avoid the temptation to pay off a ransomware gang.
4. Balance usability and cybersecurity: Use multi-factor authentication on a mobile app and limit remote access to a bare minimum, for example, to reduce risk.

Increasingly, cyber criminals are seeking more effective ways to pressure their victims to cough up ransoms. Besides stealing and locking up precious data, they also extort victims by threatening to expose sensitive data.

                                           

For healthcare organizations, the key to overcoming such new cybersecurity challenges is first understanding the unique risks that the sector faces and trying to keep a step ahead. Constant vigilance has to be the norm.