Let’s see to what extent was the healthcare industry affected by cybercrime in 2020:
- Verizon confirmed that in 2020 data breaches in the healthcare industry increased by 58%.
- According to Interpol, 907,000 spam messages, 737 malware incidents, and 48000 malicious URLs were revealed only from January to April 2020.
- The National Health Service (NHS) lost over $100 million because of the WannaCry ransomware attack
- In 2020 the healthcare industry was affected by at least 1 breach every day caused by ransomware attacks. As a result, more than 27 000 000 patient records were sold by hackers.
- FBI confirmed that in the USA the cybercrime in the healthcare industry rose by 2,473 in 2020, resulting in a $30 000 000 loss.
- According to Check Point Research, cyberattacks on healthcare increased by 45% from November to December 2020. As for countries, by the end of 2020, Canada experienced a 250% rise in cyberattacks targeting the healthcare sector, Germany saw a 220% increase.
Cyberattacks in the healthcare industry are nothing new, hackers have always been attracted by the possibility of stealing and selling valuable data. Why was the healthcare sector hit especially hard in 2020?
1. Patients’ Personal Data; Health System Collapse
As stated above, private data is the main reason for cyber-attacks. The health records contain the most detailed and important personal data possible: addresses and phone numbers, social security numbers, even information on health habits.
Personal data can be sold and resold many times by multiple cyber-criminals.Moreover, the healthcare industry was significantly overloaded because of the COVID-19 situation. Any interruption or failure could be fatal. As a result, in case of ransomware attacks, hospitals would be more willing to pay a high ransom, in order to restore the system as soon as possible and to continue providing emergency medical assistance without interruption.
2. Vulnerable Networks; Weak Cybersecurity
The healthcare industry is not as protected in terms of cybersecurity as other industries: lack of cyber-awareness among employees, outdated software, vulnerable regulations. At the same time, hackers take advantage of the weak points in hospitals’ cybersecurity. For instance:
- the cybercriminals penetrate the unprotected or poorly secured networks
- when medical institution workers use personal gadgets, connecting them to the hospital network, it becomes even more exposed to the hackers
- multiple IoT devices, used more and more often in healthcare organizations, give easier access to the criminals
The growth of virtual healthcare, the use of IoT, the possibility of using technology is an amazing way of receiving relevant information, providing quick and effective healthcare, and tracking progress in real-time. On the other hand, each connection is a potential possibility for hackers to access vulnerable devices and networks.
COVID-19 doesn’t seem to disappear in 2021, the cybersecurity threats neither. Constant cyberattacks on healthcare and medical institutions are estimated to grow this year even more:
- According to Check Point research, in the first half of 2021 ransomware attacks increased by 102 percent over the same period in 2020
- Now the newest waves of ransomware target backup data, and this tendency will grow in 2021
- Compound cyberattacks will most likely grow steadily in 2021: hackers tend to extract the data before encryption, to start threatening, until the hospital agrees to pay the ransom
- In 2021, the HPH sector is expected to spend $18 billion on cybersecurity.
Cyberattacks are becoming more difficult to detect, avoid, and neutralize. Even though many healthcare organizations recognize the risks caused by cyber-attacks, cybersecurity stays underinvested. As a result, while hackers are often able to penetrate the vulnerable networks in seconds, for some organizations it can take weeks to identify the breach, minimize the damage, and prevent it for the next time.
Anyway, recognizing the huge financial, reputational, and even vital impact caused by data breaches, more and more health organizations pay attention to cybersecurity. Here are some basic ways to improve it:
First, each employee must understand that he is responsible for patients’ data protection: criminals often target personal devices to penetrate companies’ networks. This should be emphasized in every cybersecurity training organized by the company. Ransomware attacks are the most common and dangerous form of cyber-attacks. Training the employees to detect and avoid malicious emails and potential ransomware attacks is one of the most important steps towards the company’s security. Employees must understand that even if such emails are not infected, they contain messages urging the users to click malicious links.
Besides, each medical organization must have a thoroughly and comprehensively designed cybersecurity protocol, and all the employees should adhere to it.
2. Use strong passwords:
According to various researches, most data breaches occur because of weak passwords. Often healthcare institutions try to avoid using sophisticated passwords, which are difficult to use and to remember. However, it is important not only to use strong passwords but also to update them regularly.
Using comprehensive password management tools could also be an important solution.
3. Stay proactive and vigilant — backup:
Want to restore your files quickly? Back up them regularly! Usually, it is recommended to follow the “3–2–1” backup rule: storing data in 3 different places, on 2 types of storage, keeping 1 copy offsite.
4. Secure the mobile devices:
For many medical workers, using mobile devices at work helps to provide quick and quality medical care. On the other hand, storing data on mobile devices and connecting them to the hospitals’ network can cause a big threat and increase the risk of malware infections.First, it is important to acknowledge that hackers target primarily the end-users, so organizing appropriate trainings and boosting fundamental digital hygiene practices could save the situation.
IT professionals must constantly monitor all the authorized and unauthorized devices connected to the network.
In addition, using data encryption is the best way of securing the data stored on wearables and local networks.
Shifting to a zero-trust security framework is an important step towards data security and data breach prevention. The Zero-trust approach means that companies should nod trust any users or devices outside and inside their networks, even if those were validated previously. Any connection should be verified every time before accessing the local network.
6. Install anti-virus software:
Investing in trusted anti-virus software is critical… only if you update it constantly, to stay protected against the latest cybersecurity threats!
As we could see above, today increasing cyber-hygiene is important more than ever. At the same time, recent studies show that hackers are bypassing even the best firewalls and anti-viruses. With the newest raging ransomware attacks, patient records are stolen, sold, and used for various reasons.
Nowadays, the increasing use of mobile devices has also promoted the use of mobile apps. Thousands of apps are getting downloaded every day. The top recruiting app development companies in 2021 have designed apps that meet the needs of human beings at every stage of life.
Mobile phones have now become a significant proportion of job searchers in many professions and specialist areas. However, the proportion of mobile recruitment apps varies from industry to industry.
Job search mobile apps like Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn are becoming increasingly popular, and these recruitment apps have streamlined and simplified the entire job search process. Moreover, it provides jobs as per your terms and conditions. Let’s explore how the recruitment industry has transformed itself to accommodate the change.
Technology Has Revolutionized The Recruitment Process
The recruitment process typically involves:
Sourcing candidates and data.
Attracting candidates.
Assessing candidates, Skills test.
Tracking candidates and onboarding.
1. Arising Workforce Is a Popular Group of Mobile Internet Users: Reaching Tech-Savvy Candidates
Further development in technology enabled the use of mobile phones to increase access to the Internet. Mobile phones with 3G/4G data have brought about a behavior change. Nowadays, hiring managers use this behavior change to their advantage by incorporating mobile recruitment strategies to expand their job postings around the world.
2. Applicant Tracking System: Recruitment Process Now Is Automated, Streamlined, and Improved
Technology has introduced the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) in cloud-based recruitment software to streamline, automate, and improve recruitment. The applicant tracking system improves upon three key hiring metrics: cost of rent, quality of hire, and time to hire. Take a look at some of these features:
Screening and parsing process
scheduling an interview
HR Templates, Interview Kits, and Scorecards
Powerful Sourcing Tools
Repository of candidates’ resumes and applications
3. Online Interviews
Instead of face-to-face, online interviews can be done with the applicant via Skype or other tools. Especially for those people who have to travel long distances for interviews. Skype and other video interviewing tools enable recruiters to see applicants, how they handle the position, and how they present themselves in interviews. This is a great way to shortlist relevant candidates before spending money on travel.
4. Tools for Skills Assessment and Behavioral Testing
The Internet has made available some pre-employment assessments, such as job knowledge tests to analyze skills and cognitive ability tests to assess candidates’ knowledge. Tools used correctly reflect the skill and ability of the applicant; These assessments are quickly and easily administered through these tools.
Conclusion
Online recruitment is a valuable tool used to search for new employees. If you plan to launch your recruitment app on mobile, you can keep these points mentioned above in mind. Also, it would help if you had support to validate your idea. Then, in that case, you can approach a professional recruitment app development company to get the best recruitment app development solution for your business.
Data Visualization is a powerful tool for qualitative reporting. Visual elements, like graphics, not only break up the monotony of long text pages in the reports, but they also communicate the information in an interesting way. This helps readers understand things quickly and makes the data more memorable. However, it is helpful only if done right.
If you go through the trouble to create a report, but no one finds it interesting or don’t want to read it, will it do anything good? Certainly not! Therefore, it is necessary to research useful data visualization for creating reports. Whether you want to provide your team with better insights, or get your team’s support for a new initiative, read on to know how to make data visualization to create qualitative reports.
Know The Basics Of Data Visualization
Before you create graphics for your report, it is necessary to check the data for accuracy. Incorrect data in the reports may lead to an incorrect decision. So, make sure to deliver the right, valuable information. Below are the three basic principles of creating data visualization for a report-
Pick the right graphics based on your goals.
Ensure that the message in your graphics is relevant to the audience.
Choose the right design for the graphic.
You also need to consider:
Purpose: Data analytics basically creates and analyzes the raw and unused Dara by transforming it into actionable data. These reports contain insights and also present data metrics, analysis, and conclusion in a visual format. This makes it easy for everyone in the organization to access and read data to make data-driven decisions.
Accessibility: Previously, creating reports with lots of data was a resource-driven and time-consuming task. Also, data pull requests were the most important thing for IT professionals, with lots of time analyzing, formatting, and representing data. However, with real-time, cloud-based reporting has changed the reporting game. The modern data visualization tools allow businesses to collaborate on various subject matter experts (SME). You can also export stunning reports that can be shared via automating emails.
Data types: Business data reports cover lots of topics and hold various organizational functions. These data reports are of varied length, format, and content. So, identify which data types you are using in your organization. Whether you want to present annual reports or accounting reports, you can use these reports by offering predictive and real-time insights to show in your organization.
If the message is right, but the graphic is dull, or there is a wrong insight, you won’t get the desired results.
Choose The Right Type Of Graph
Choose the wrong graph type, and the viewers will get confused. Therefore, it is important to know the data you want to visualize and the purpose behind it. Do you want to compare data points? Or, do you want to show the structure of something using data? Here are the popular chart types you can choose to achieve your goals-
Sankey Diagram (used to show the flow in system)
Line chart (used for comparing changes within data sets)
Bar chart (when you want to compare several data sets)
Pie chart (shows the shares of each component in the data set)
Histogram (shows the distribution of data sets across a definite period of time)
Bubble chart (used for comparing two parameters via the means of the third)
5 point likert scale (used for getting response from respondents in survey analysis)
Adding the right design principles and choosing elements, like ordering, comparison, shape, size, color, etc., make a big difference in how people perceive the data.
Make The Correct Use Of Visuals
Another important thing you need to consider while making research useful data visualization is to choose the right message. The readers should be familiar with the data you include in the report. Also, make sure that the parameters you are going to visualize can be combined.
Besides, take into account the scale and scope. For example, most viewers are used to reading the measurement from the bottom or left of the axes. If you happen to change this direction, the audience may get confused. However, if you must reverse the order, you need to use some tactics so that it is clear and easy to understand.
Keep It Simple And Compelling
The simpler the chart, the easier it is to understand. You don’t have to use extra elements, different colors, structures, etc., to a standard report. Avoid displaying all the charts on the same dashboard by reducing the size of the visualizations. Ideally, don’t use more than three charts on one page. Furthermore, if it is a non-standard task, don’t hesitate to experiment with different visuals.
Compare And Pick The Right Visualization Tool
There are several data visualization tools available on the market. Some of these tools work online, while others need to be installed on the desktop. Many tools are free to use, whereas you need to pay for some. The best visualization tool is the one that caters to your needs and helps you create visuals with great insights. Some of the popular tools are Tableau, Databox, Google Charts, etc.
Conclusion
These are some of the ways to make data visualization and create engaging reports and communicate the key findings more effectively. If your report contains valuable information and compelling visuals, the in-house team, as well as the readers outside the company, will find it interesting. However, creating catchy and useful data visualizations is the first step to create high-quality reports. You can use a good data visualization tool and solution to create visuals that create the most impact. These tools will help you create the most insightful visuals for your report effortlessly.
Mobile app development has become a booming industry in the past few years. It has become one of the key factors for the growth and development of most businesses. Nowadays most people use the internet on their smartphones, so with this growing number of people accessing the internet and mobile phones, mobile app development agencies are working their hearts out to create the best and user-friendly app. In this digital era, mobile and tabs are in high demand. Keeping this in view, the app developers are creating and launching new apps in the market, so that the users can make the right use of them.
How is mobile app development beneficial for businesses?
Mobile applications cater to the needs of most business organizations. They play a pivotal role while understanding the demographics of their potential and existing customers. Apart from communicating with the clients, mobile apps allow businesses to deal with their customers perfectly and provide the best products and services to fulfill their desires. There are multiple benefits of using mobile apps while running a successful business. Some of them are mentioned below-
1) Helps to build loyalty among customers- In the retail industry, mobile applications work consistently to expand customer’s loyalty. With the advent of various mobile applications, business owners can grab the opportunity quickly to attract their target audience by introducing different coupons, discounts, offers, etc that display in the app without any effort. As a result, there is a boost in customer sales and development in brand loyalty.
2) Enhance brand visibility- In the era of digitalization, mobile phones are the most commonly used devices in our day-to-day life. Hence, this poses an exceptional opportunity for business organizations to use these mobile phones as an instrument to enhance and expand their brand image. The excessive use of mobile apps will help the customers to remember the brand name more often.
3) Increase brand accessibility on the go- The mobile apps not only entertain the customers at their house, office, or any other place, but also have a great impact on the minds of the individuals while on the go. These apps send notifications, email messages, promotional rewards, coupon advertisements, etc. perfectly, to the people while they move. Some companies even have customized apps that can be used by their potential customers anytime and anywhere.
4) Reinforce brand value- The customized app is very fruitful for the company to sustain the market competition and stand out among the competitors. So, the development of their customized apps or other mobile apps can help them sustain their brand image with a lasting effect in the minds of their customers. The mobile apps offer a unique opportunity for brand reinforcement with the help of a new channel.
5) Enhances the ROI of the business- According to various reports and analyses, it justifies that the customers spend more time in the company’s mobile app than they search their websites. In this mobile-centric society, it comes as no surprise that the apps on mobile phones are the key to the development and success of business organizations. Hence, when a company develops its mobile app, it can go a long way and grab the attention of its customers for future business success.
6) Increases business efficiency and effectiveness- Mobile app development companies create customized apps for their clients. Those apps enhance the efficiency of the organization as well as their productivity. The target audience gets obsessed with the app idea and fantastic app management.
Significance of mobile app development to the users (customers)
The mobile app development companies design and develop various apps that are fruitful both for them and their customers. Some of the benefits which are availed by the customers are discussed below-
Purchasing became easier- With the emergence of personalized apps of the companies, the customers are more inclined to browse the apps rather than visiting their respective websites. By downloading the customized app, the users can easily access their desired options with relative ease. The e-commerce companies are fully dependent upon the mobile app because the customer’s purchase, shipment, and payment details all are included properly in the mobile app.
Access with one-touch- Once the customers download the mobile application and add it to their home screen, they can easily reach the site with a single touch. It makes their life easier as well as the purchasing or other information fetching becomes hassle-free. The respective apps of the companies always relay relevant information about their services and products to their customers.
Gets notifications easily- The companies are always keen to provide relevant notifications to their existing clients about various events, coupons, gifts, rewards, etc. So, this task has become easier both for the organization and the customers because the notifications always pops-up on their mobile screen even when the mobile is not in use. This is a key factor to maintain the number of existing customers and inviting new customers.
Scheduling has become easier- In the service industry previous extra personnel were required to handle any incoming appointments and to organize them, but with the advent of mobile applications has become easier and is handled by a single app. Nowadays customers can book their own appointment as well as cancel them through this small but useful application. It also decreases the chance of human error because all tasks are handled automatically.
Conclusion
A mobile app has become an imperative option in marketing these days because it can help them to retain customers for increasing their brand productivity. Nowadays the tendency of every customer is to search for the websites online before availing of its product and services. So, the mobile app development companies have taken a great step not only to make their online presence but also to make a customized app of their own company. It really creates a good business impression among the customers. It will not only reinforce the business but the customers will also appreciate the ease of doing business.