Huawei 2021 Annual Report: Solid operations, investing in the future

 Huawei released its 2021 Annual Report on March 28th, revealing that the company had maintained solid operations throughout the past year. As per the report, Huawei achieved CNY636.8 billion in revenue in 2021, and CNY113.7 billion in net profits, an increase of 75.9% year-on-year. The company's R&D expenditure reached CNY142.7 billion in 2021, representing 22.4% of its total revenue, and bringing its total R&D expenditure over the past 10 years to over CNY845 billion. Moving forward, the company also plans to continuously increase investment in R&D.

Huawei said, the performance was overall in line with forecast, its carrier business remained stable, enterprise business experienced steady growth, and consumer business quickly expanded into new domains. In addition, the company embarked on a fast track of ecosystem development."

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO, speaking at the press conference

Meng Wanzhou, Huawei's CFO, spoke at the event, "Despite a revenue decline in 2021, our ability to make a profit and generate cash flows is increasing, and we are more capable of dealing with uncertainty." Thanks to the enhanced profitability of its major businesses, the company's cash flow from operating activities dramatically increased in 2021, amounting to CNY59.7 billion. Its liability ratio also dropped to 57.8%, and its overall financial structure has become more resilient and flexible.

 

In 2021, Huawei's carrier business generated CNY281.5 billion in revenue and helped carriers around the world deploy leading 5G networks. Third-party test results have found that 5G networks built by Huawei for customers in 13 countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Saudi Arabia, provide the best user experience. By working with carriers and partners, Huawei has signed more than 3,000 commercial contracts for industrial 5G applications. These kinds of 5G applications are currently seeing large-scale commercial use in sectors like manufacturing, mines, iron & steel plants, ports, and hospitals.

 

Thanks to continuing digital transformation trends, Huawei's enterprise business also grew rapidly, generating CNY102.4 billion in revenue during 2021. In the past year, Huawei launched 11 scenario-based solutions for key sectors such as government, transportation, finance, energy, and manufacturing. The company also established multiple dedicated teams, including a Coal Mine Team, a Smart Road Team, and a Customs & Port Team, to combine resources in a way that more efficiently serves the needs of its customers.

 

Over 700 cities and 267 Fortune Global 500 companies have chosen Huawei as their digital transformation partner and Huawei now works with more than 6,000 service and operation partners around the world. In the Philippines, benefited from a new system consisting of mobile devices and AI, forest rangers can receive real-time alerts of sound to identify rainforest destruction Via a mobile App, so they can take action quickly, according to Jun Zhang, the Director of Huawei Asia Pacific Public Relations Department.

 

Huawei's consumer business zeroed in on consumer wants and needs, further building out the global ecosystem for a smart, all-connected era, as part of the company's Seamless AI Life strategy for consumers around the world. This business generated CNY243.4 billion in revenue in 2021 and continued to see steady sales growth in smart wearables, smart screens, true wireless stereo (TWS) earbuds, and Huawei Mobile Services (HMS). In particular, the smart wearable and smart screen segments both saw 30%+ year-on-year growth. In total, HarmonyOS was used in over 220 million Huawei devices as of 2021, becoming the world's fastest growing mobile device operating system.

 

During the past year, Huawei also focused on building out its openEuler, MindSpore, and HarmonyOS ecosystems based on the principles of open collaboration and shared growth. Over eight million developers are currently using Huawei's open platforms, open-source software, and development tools to explore new business scenarios and business models.

 

Simon Lin, the President of Huawei Asia Pacific stated, with stable workforce, financial and business fundamentals, the highest net profit in history, and our continued efforts to globalize under pressure and increase R&D investment, Huawei’s unwavering business strategy, focused on connectivity and computing and rapidly developing new businesses including digital power and cloud, is perfectly aligned to drive the digital economy in Asia Pacific.

 

The company will advance its journey of digitalization, intelligent transformation, and low carbon. Relying on talent, scientific research, and an innovative spirit, Huawei said will continuously increase investment to reshape the paradigms for fundamental theories, architecture, and software, and build our long-term competitiveness.

 

 

 

Oracle Helps Organizations Secure HR Data with AI-Driven Alerts

 Yvette Cameron, SVP of global product strategy of Oracle Cloud HCM shares her article for to Tech and Innovations":

 

Peter Drucker once said: “The best way to predict the future is to create it.”

 

As HR systems have evolved, organizations have collected and uploaded nearly everything there is to know about each of their employees. From compensation, home addresses, and bank account information to national identification numbers, disability status, and performance data—organizations host a substantial amount of high-risk data on their workforce.

 

This data is highly valuable for organizations and employees, but it is also a huge draw to cybercriminals and other malicious actors—even from within the organization. And those bad actors are trying their best to access it. Over the course of 2020, there were more than 5,200 known incidents of lost or stolen data, privilege misuse and systems intrusions against organizations, many of which originated from people with legitimate credentials within the organization.

 

That is why I am excited to announce Oracle Advanced HCM Controls, part of Oracle Fusion Cloud Human Capital Management (HCM), an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered monitoring solution that automates security analysis to protect against fraud and help ensure that only the people who need to use sensitive data have access to it. With Oracle Advanced HCM Controls, HR leaders have better visibility into potential fraud or compliance issues within their systems and can review and block suspicious activity as it occurs.

 

The new updates include AI-powered anomaly detection and alerts to help HR leaders and security teams monitor and respond to potential threats, including suspicious employee activity, phishing attacks, bot activity or data breaches targeting HR data and processes. The new updates monitor and detect activity based on:

·        Time and Frequency: Instant alerts about suspicious activity are now sent based on when and how often sensitive HR records are being accessed. This enables HR teams to quickly detect abnormal activity in the system, such as an employee accessing data over the weekend to signal that an account may be compromised or individuals are acting in bad faith. In addition, HR teams will be immediately alerted if large amounts of data are being accessed in a short period of time. For example, clicking through data faster than a human can read may be a sign of fraudulent activity, such as a bot being used to collect HR data.

·        Location: Instant alerts about suspicious activity are now sent based on where sensitive HR records are being accessed from. For example, if an account is logged in from two geographically distant locations at once or if the system shows that a user is logged in from a country they have never visited, it will automatically trigger an alert to address it.

·        Role and Responsibility: Instant alerts about suspicious activity are now sent based on who is accessing the data. For example, if someone is transferred to a different department, they may still have previous privileges to access sensitive data that they no longer need in their new role. In addition, it will also immediately alert HR teams about suspicious activity based on the level of the role, such as if a senior executive is accessing data typically used by more junior employees.

 

 

In addition to helping HR leaders quickly identify and respond to potential security threats as soon as they occur, the new capabilities also automate compliance reporting to help security teams focus on assessing and responding to immediate risks. And what’s more, because the new capabilities are embedded in Oracle Cloud HCM and powered by machine learning, they continuously develop a better understanding of normal and abnormal behavior over time.

 

HR teams are entrusted with extraordinary amounts of sensitive data, often needing to store and protect personally identifiable information for thousands of employees. As access and use of data has become more automated over time, so too has the need for teams to automate the way that they secure that data.

 

In order to help our customers stay one step ahead of malicious actors and stop suspicious activity whenever, wherever and whoever it comes from, we are committed to providing our customers tools like Oracle Advanced HCM Controls that give them the visibility and automation they need to safeguard their data, their employees, and their organization.

 

Learn more about Oracle Advanced HCM Controls here.

 

Make technology CLICK for everyone

 

Technology has indeed become a big part of our lives—how we move, how we work or learn, how we think. Essentially, technology allowed us to live life with more ease and convenience.

But it is still not as ubiquitous as it may seem. Somehow, technology still doesn’t click for everyone, especially those whose access is still limited. Many are also averse to its wonders, thinking it has made people lazy, too dependent on machines, ignored critical thinking, etc.

However, just like what the Bible says: “The love of money is the root of all evil.” The verse did not say money is not the root of all evil; the “love” of money is. In this case, technology is not bad; we need it to make our lives somewhat easier (not to make people lazy) and better.

That is why here in the Philippines, a group of young and visionary individuals decided to establish a party-list group that will push technology to be a big part of Filipinos’ lives not just in highly urbanized cities (HUCs) but also in the countryside. Through groundbreaking legislation, Computer Literacy, Innovation, Connectivity and Knowledge, or simply “CLICK” party-list, dreams of making technology change the way we live, work, play, learn, even govern, from the traditional and cumbersome, to the digital and high-technology, in order to make life better for everyone.

CLICK looks at technology to be the sound backbone of Philippine society in terms of business, working and learning, gaming, and strong internet connectivity:

Doing business, the “high-tech” way

Whatever business you have, big or small, technology can play a big role in terms of business operations (finance, marketing, people management), productivity, efficiency, security of data and other confidential information, cross-border (overseas) transactions, even building relationships with other businesses. In a business environment where majority are Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs), they are seen to be as the one that will benefit the most with technology. CLICK believes that through sound legislative support, MSMEs and businesses in general will gain from it, particularly with better internet connectivity.

Legislation can also help build partnership programs that can create a solid business network. Couple this with international opportunity-building programs, where Filipino businesses are given the opportunity to take their businesses overseas—local operations, global reach.

Empowering of learning/working in the 21st Century

CLICK is looking at legislation to change the way Filipinos work and learn in the 21st Century. The pandemic contributed to the concept of “work from home” or “learn from home” since face-to-face classes and on-site work were suspended due to lockdowns. Through CLICK-authored laws, some companies and schools can give options to their employees or students can choose from a work-from-home or learn-from-home setup, coupled with the advantage of consumers be given the right to choose the best internet data plan that will suit their needs. With legislation, schools can also be supported to come up with tech-related curriculum, in consult with the business sector, that is focused on what specific IT skills that the industry will be looking for from fresh graduates. At the same time, schools can also produce quality IT talents with bigger opportunities for employment overseas.

Building a new breed of athletes

CLICK believes that the Philippines has one of the greatest bunch of talents in the world when it comes to Esports (electronic sports). They really CLICK it good when it comes to competing in esports competitions overseas that offer not only lucrative cash prizes but also global prestige. Thus, CLICK will legislate appropriate laws that will lay the framework of support for the country’s esports athletes in terms of world-class training and esports talent development via esports bootcamps nationwide to boost their readiness for local and international competitions. CLICK is also looking at giving legislative recognition for esports athletes, much in the same way as traditional sports athletes, including enough flexibility in their travel requirements given the hectic schedule of esports competitions worldwide. An esports career development program is also being envisioned by CLICK, not just in the area of playing but also in the field of game development, another in-demand job with incredible overseas employment potential for Filipino IT talents.

Internet for all

Being the “social media capital of the world” is no doubt a good thing to hear, but with one of the slowest yet high-priced internet packages, no wonder a large part of the country is still not connected, or under-connected. Part of CLICK’s legislative agenda is to create a task force that would monitor the quality of internet connectivity nationwide, particularly in the provinces with weak or no internet signal at all. Somehow, through legislation, it will force internet service providers to “up their game” when it comes to internet infrastructure to make it from Third World to First World quality and provide better internet for all. Also, CLICK’s vision is to help establish a more competitive market, with shorter “lock in” periods so Filipinos have the power to choose what internet plan suits their needs and the duration they want. With this level playing field for broadband connectivity, CLICK believes that all Filipinos can now connect to the internet in just one CLICK.

CLICK believes that only through effective and sound legislation can they effect change for all Filipinos wherever they are in the country and regardless of their economic status. Their “Four Pillars for Technology” is definitely not achievable overnight but will be a continuing work in progress. It will involve a whole-of-society approach in terms of changing the mindset when it comes to technology and its benefits to all Filipinos.

For CLICK, it is all about effecting change through technology-oriented legislation. This will give a more efficient and technologically-sound Philippines a better chance to move forward.

It is all about making the right CLICK through technology. Filipinos, be ready to choose CLICK.

To know more about “CLICK,” visit https://www.clickpartylist.ph, or follow CLICK Party-list on Facebook (CLICK Partylist), Twitter (https://twitter.com/ClickPartylist), Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/clickpartylist/), YouTube (https://bit.ly/CLICKPARTYLIST), Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/partylist-click-4b0016227/) or TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@clickpartylist).

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.