Conocimientos y habilidades técnicas para la administración efectiva de los sistemas de salud

En pleno siglo XXI, el desafío de los sistemas de salud consiste en desarrollar capacidades administrativas en las personas encargadas de dirigirlos. En consecuencia, el directivo requiere de un conjunto de conocimientos, habilidades y técnicas basadas en un equilibrio armónico que le proporcione la preparación idónea y le permita llevar a cabo una secuencia de acciones para optimizar su gestión, y por tanto, la prestación del servicio que se ofrece a los pacientes y el funcionamiento de la entidad sanitaria, entendida como una empresa.

Los sistemas de salud son una interrelación de recursos, finanzas, organización y administración que culminan en el suministro de servicios de salud a la población. La gerencia en salud debe tener una visión holística e integral del sistema; razón por la cual, su quehacer vas más allá de la administración de un centro de salud, y debe estar orientada al diseño (planificación), desarrollo (operación), sistematización (orden y registro), evaluación y retroalimentación (análisis y reorientación de acciones y metas).

También resulta fundamental garantizar que se presten servicios oportunos al menor costo -o al costo más asequible según el perfil de los usuarios- y de la mejor calidad, considerando al paciente como individuo integrante de una familia y miembro de la sociedad.

Para desarrollar una visión de conjunto del sistema, optimizando los recursos humanos, técnicos y financieros; el gerente de la salud debe tener un buen manejo de las emociones; lo que le permitirá adaptarse a los entornos de manera eficiente ante cualquier circunstancia; liderar equipos de alto desempeño, tener éxito en las relaciones interpersonales, en la resolución de conflictos y en la toma de decisiones.

Es por eso que nuestra Maestría en Gerencia de Salud combina cursos prácticos inspirados en la industria, la atención individualizada y un extraordinario desarrollo de redes para ofrecer a los profesionales experiencias educativas transformadoras que les permitan aplicar el aprendizaje mediante Casos de Estudio.

Haz click aquí para comunicarte con un representante Atlantis. Recuerda preguntar si eres elegible para una de nuestras becas.

¡La seguridad de los datos en la nube sí es programable!

Por lo general, cuando una compañía compra un software sucede que un directivo llama al departamento de informática y seguridad y les anuncia que un nuevo software es necesario y será adquirido. Esta parte del proceso de adquisición ocurre porque el equipo tecnológico necesita personalizar, integrar y regular al software en el sistema de la compañía.

¿Cuál es el problema con este enfoque? Que tanto la informática como la seguridad se están quedando atrás. Es necesario adquirir otro conjunto de productos para tener suficiente control sobre quién accede a los datos así como crear niveles de acceso. Por otra parte, existen un conjunto de reglas y regulaciones que determinan que la seguridad y privacidad deben estar integradas por diseño. Sin embargo, el equipo de informática no creó el software que adquirió la compañía, así que no diseñan un sistema de seguridad puesto que todo lo que hacen es adicional.

Los héroes de la seguridad de datos: los defensores

En informática se conoce como Defensor, es el encargado de integrar la seguridad y privacidad a la app. Este proceso es complejo porque se debe personalizar el software de seguridad para trabajar mano a mano con la data que debe ser asegurada. Mientras más datos, más complejo el proceso que el defensor ha de seguir para configurar los productos que mantienen seguro al sistema.

Sin embargo, este proceso no es del todo seguro. Puede haber muchas debilidades porque hay costuras entre el sistema o la app y los productos que la protegen. Estos productos no provienen del mismo lugar y evolucionan constantemente y eso puede ocasionar saltos de comunicación y dirección.

¿Qué pueden hacer los desarrolladores?

Esta situación ha obligado a los desarrolladores a cambiar de perspectiva. Cada vez más requisitos migran hacia el proceso de desarrollo. La seguridad no se ha quedado atrás: Algunos desarrolladores toman parte del proceso de seguridad para reducir las costuras entre el software de seguridad y la app o sistema. ¿Cómo logran esto? El primer paso suele ser reducir las vulnerabilidades de codificación. Esto es clave tomando en cuenta que estos problemas son los que llevan a procesos en los que el sistema debe ser dado de baja para pasarlo por mantenimiento, algo que no es bueno para ningún negocio.

Algunos desarrolladores usan herramientas de seguridad que pueden ser integradas en las aplicaciones que permitan controlar flujos de data enormes. La diferencia fundamental entre esto y lo que hacen los defensores es que no es un proceso posterior a la adquisición de la aplicación, sino que se encuentra integrado en ella. Esto significa que tanto la app como su seguridad van de la mano porque la utilidad de la app viene con sus propias herramientas de seguridad.

Supervisar, regular y proteger la data tienen otro aspecto: reducir la complejidad. Muchas compañías buscan maneras de subirse a la ola de la flexibilidad de la infraestructura en la nube. ¿Cuáles son sus preocupaciones fundamentales? Usar infraestructura que no les permita controlar la seguridad.

Cuando el proceso de desarrollo integra herramientas de control de data, los defensores pueden determinar la mejor infraestructura que la aplicación necesita dependiendo del enfoque: costo, confianza o desempeño.

En conclusión

La seguridad de datos programable ayuda a las empresas a optimizar su huella digital y ahorrarse toneladas de tiempo y dinero en productos de seguridad y su integración. Integrar herramientas de seguridad en aplicaciones le otorga a las empresas un enorme valor: la posibilidad de controlar y diseñar su protocolo y sistema de seguridad y privacidad de acuerdo a sus propias necesidades.

Desarrolla tus competencias profesionales para evaluar, elegir y desarrollar los sistemas de tecnologías de la información, de vanguardia, que sean de mayor conveniencia para cada organización en nuestra Maestría en Tecnologías de Información. Haz click aquí para comunicarte con un representante Atlantis. Recuerda preguntar si eres elegible para una de nuestras becas.

Descubre cómo la ética gerencial contribuye al bien común de las sociedades

La ética, definida como costumbre, conducta, comportamiento, actuar del hombre -actuación procedente de las convicciones y de las decisiones ante los dilemas asociados a lo no previsto y al código de principios morales- es un tema que cada día cobra más auge en la gestión gerencial del sistema de salud.

Investigaciones han demostrado que los empleados de las organizaciones son altamente influenciados por los comportamientos éticos de sus gerentes. Uno de estos estudios fue realizado por la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, con el objetivo fue identificar cuáles de los comportamientos éticos de los gerentes son los que más valoran los empleados de una organización. Entre los hallazgos más interesantes de la investigación se destaca que el comportamiento ético de los gerentes no solo impacta de manera contundente a sus empleados sino que además “el desempeño social, económico y ambiental de una empresa puede contribuir al logro del bien común, o lo contrario” debido al papel protagónico y preponderante que tienen las empresas en el mundo de hoy.

Los gerentes del sector salud son las personas más visibles dentro de la institución porque tienen a su cargo a los empleados, los recursos organizacionales, y el cumplimiento de los objetivos que incluyen la obtención de los resultados esperados, tales como: generar utilidades, alcanzar eficiencia, alta productividad, velar por el desempeño social y ser competitivos. De allí la importancia de que su gestión tenga un comportamiento ético.

El comportamiento ético gerencial se refiere a las acciones del día a día de los gerentes, durante la ejecución de su trabajo, al respeto con el que manejen los principios éticos y las normas establecidas. Una mirada profunda al desempeño gerencial muestra que la ética permea todo el trabajo de los gerentes y lo dignifica.

Debido a la connotación que tiene en el bienestar de la vida de los seres humanos y en las organizaciones que desarrollan sus actividades en el ámbito de la salud, la ética se considera muy importante. A través de ella, se toman decisiones justas. Recordemos: por ser permanente y no esporádica y tener una necesidad de apremio, la salud se valora tanto como bien común, como una necesidad del ser humano.

Conviértete en Gerente del sector Salud desarrollando tus competencias de liderazgo, mejorando el uso de tecnologías y adquiriendo las herramientas de información que te darán las ventajas competitivas que requiere el exigente campo del cuidado de la salud con nuestra Maestría en Gerencia de la Salud. Haz click aquí para comunicarte con un representante Atlantis. Recuerda preguntar si eres elegible para una de nuestras becas.

Hitting Rock Bottom: How to Overcome
a Business Collapse

In a leader’s mindset failure is not an option. You have a vision, you have an idea, and you have a plan but unfortunately, it still happens. Sometimes we hit rock bottom, everything goes south and we feel like quitting.

This is an experience almost every person who starts a business goes through, and your success is, in many ways, due to how you deal with failure.  Sometimes it’ll be money, sometimes it’ll be legal shenanigans, and sometimes it’ll be not finding the right team or investors that trust your vision, but hitting rock bottom is something that happens. It is a career-defining moment: do you go back to the 9-to-5 job you hated or you give it another go?

Here we’ll give you some tips to overcome failure.

Accept it and use it

Life is not heaven. It comes with punches, walls, and falls. The road to success is tough. There’s a reason why there is a stairway to heaven but a highway to hell. To thrive you need to go through many failures and endure them.

When you’re aware that failure is part of the process, you’ll be stronger and more confident when you face it. In Hinduism and Buddhism teaching it’s common to learn to use pain to propel our inner strength: turning our feelings about failure into motivation to achieve your goals.

Create a vision and develop a plan from it

How do you know where you are if you don’t know where you’re going? Sometimes facing a difficulty may seem as the end of your business but when you see the big picture, it’s just a small hiccup. If you learn to create a vision and act with a telos in mind may help you develop a plan. A telos is the end of your actions. You must do everything for a reason, and that reason has to be oriented with your final goals. You cannot act randomly.

After knowing where you’re going you have to develop a plan that’ll get you there. Then, you plan for what you can control and prepare for what you don’t control. Sometimes, you may feel you’re failing but then you’ll see you’re ranting about things that are not under your control that are leading you to forget about those you can control (your human capital, your plan, your money, etc.)

Rome wasn’t built in one day

As you know that failure is part of the process and develop a plan with a vision you’ll see that changes don’t happen as quickly as you may think at the beginning. Some of the shortcomings and bumps you may face may seem like the end of the world. But they are not. Most times, all you need is persistence. When you enter in despair, your team notices it, and trust in you diminishes. That can’t happen. Yes, a plan tells you what you need to do to achieve your telos, but tenacity is what moves you there non-stop.

In conclusion

Many times, “rock bottom” is a state of mind. With the adequate mindset and plan, you’ll notice most failures are temporary, are mere setbacks, instead of full-scale collapses.

Failure is not the end of the world. It lets you know what’s not working to change it and to focus on what you can control. If you see failure as an opportunity to hit the reset button instead of a crisis, you’ll learn to wage it and use it in your favor.

Data Security Breaches: How to protect your IT Infrastructure from Misconfigured Cloud Storage

Companies increasingly understand the importance of data protection. Some estimates say that unprotected IT infrastructure will reach $6 billion by 2021, and each data breach costs an average of $3.92 million which is a huge reason for concern.

But companies are getting on it. One of the most common causes of data breaches is misconfigured cloud storage. How to prevent it? Here we’ll tell you some tips on protecting your data from misconfigured cloud storage.

First things first, what’s a misconfigured cloud storage and why does it matter?

Security incidents involving unprotected storage happen almost every day. A study from Thales and Ponemon Institute revealed a worrisome statistic: half of the organizations don’t encrypt or tokenize sensitive data on the cloud to protect it.

A survey conducted by Fugue also had some concerning findings. After surveying 300 IT professionals they found that, on average, IT crews report a frequency of 50 misconfigurations per day, which are reviewed once a day, or more. These issues may lead to data breaches and system downtime.

A misconfiguration means the parts of a public cloud server, like the storage and computes, experience an issue in the configuration that makes them susceptible to a breach. This is a way too common issue.

Why? Mainly because most of the cloud database implementations come without any security, access control or levels of access as an initiating standard, which means they have to be added afterward, which can be missed by the IT crew or may lead to seams in the system.

Many cybersecurity professionals believe cloud companies are responsible for the data protection, and they are not, at least not at a legal level. Many businesses and professionals don’t know this, which leads them to confide that cloud providers will protect their data, which easily leads to data breaches and enormous extra costs.

What can you do to prevent it?

First of all, you have to understand that configuration is a vital part of security. It’s not optional; it’s not a mere add-on. It’s completely necessary. After this, the best you can do is using third-party security software that may allow you to constantly check your configurations. This will allow you to not rely exclusively on what the cloud is saying, but gives you an independent alert.  Lastly, a good way to prove the overall strength of your configuration is by using external security audits to ensure everything is properly configured.

This three-step process is generally flawless if done correctly. But there are a couple of extra measures you may want to check. First, it’s good to maintain a holistic, updated catalog of your digital assets. You have to continuously monitor, classify, and give a risk score to all of your software, data, users, and licenses: you cannot protect what you don’t know you have.

Last but not least, a solid practice is to prioritize risks and threats among your testing efforts. Once you know all of your digital assets and their features, you can test them, including penetration testing over the most critical APIs and web apps.

In Conclusion

The intersection between data security and cloud computing is enormously complex and there’s a significant probability of human error, which means it is incredibly important to have it all under control. As data breaches are increasingly common and costly, you can never say you’re investing enough time and money in protecting your data from cloud misconfigurations and breaches.

A Debate Over the Use of Artificial Intelligence in the Hiring Process

By Ian Jackson 10/25/2019

As the field of Network Operations carries the mission to ensure that the computer network is secure from human error to sensitive information from within an organization and from threats outside of it, the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to aid in the hiring decision making process within human resources departments is receiving more attention. It is believed to enhance the hiring process, however, people possess psychological affinity for those similar to them, something that presents issues of bias in the workplace. This teamed with the fact that machines follow the instructions programmed by individuals, it is possible that instead of helping to find the best candidates during the job selection process, it may reinforce the inherent biases in place, hindering organizational progress.

AI uses algorithms and various programming designed to help a machine to troubleshoot tasks on its own. The Saas Institute, Inc. website explains that “Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it possible for machines to learn from experience, adjust to new inputs and perform human-like tasks…Using these technologies, computers can be trained to accomplish specific tasks by processing large amounts of data and recognizing patterns in the data.” This still means that it follows complex instructions with the ability to analyze an exorbitant amount of data.
There are those who believe that AI will help the hiring process. An article written by Meghan M. Biro located on the TalentCulture.com website entitled 7 Reasons AI Will Take Over HR — and 1 Reason It Won’t states that “AI is increasingly being used to automate many HR processes, and it appears automation is going to pay off big time. A study from McKinsey projects that AI will drastically change business, no matter the industry: ‘AI could potentially deliver additional economic output of around $13 trillion by 2030, boosting global GDP by about 1.2 percent a year.’” But, how can machine learning, through the use of artificial intelligence, help to bring about an accurate and efficient hiring process?

The question involving how machines can possibly recognize psychological profiles
can be answered by researchers who claim that artificial intelligent machines can correctly identify human personalities. Aishwarya Singh wrote an article entitled An AI Algorithm Detects your Personality by analyzing Eye Movement! stating that the AI tracks eye movements to achieve the feat. The experiment included the observation of 42 participants, says Aishwarya Singh, who further reports how the AI can “…identify four personality traits -neuroticism, extroversion, agreeableness, and conscientiousness.”

Although this appears to support the claim of high efficiency, it is important to note that computers can be utilized to reflect bias decision paradigms instead of reducing them. For example, Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, a Psychology professor at the University of Toronto and renown speaker, suggests that conscientiousness plays a role in selectivity. According to Peterson’s Twitter post “…Conscientiousness is more likely to select ‘paper shufflers.’” Additionally, a Sciencedaily.com article reports how Volkswagen programmed its computers to register fraudulent emission readings information through a computerized device, which can imply that decision biases can be programmed into artificial intelligence based machines.

The fact that AI can be a tool for bias decision making is a human problem. According to Does Hiring for ‘Culture Fit’ Perpetuate Bias? by Mel Hennigan and Lindsay Evans, subjective attitudes towards hiring paradigms of employers are discussed. For example, the article cites interviewees stating “‘I’ll know the right candidate when I meet him,’ they’ll say. Or, ‘We didn’t click. I don’t think that candidate will fit our culture.’” Furthermore, Hennigan and Evans also discuss that as hiring managers consider applicant suitability according to a personality based criteria, an organization may hinder its “…ability to innovate because of its homogenous workforce.” Also, the Myers & Briggs Foundation website states “People in the same profession often have similar types. For example, law enforcement officers in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States show preferences for ISTJ and ESTJ.” These testimonies counter the argument that AI will be effective in reducing bias if they are programmed to follow the aforementioned hiring paradigms.

Human selectivity, concerning personalities, can go beyond the hiring process. The Myers & Briggs Foundation website further supports this aspect of hiring through the following statement of how people select pets according to their temperament type stating, “Business people in various cultures in North America, Asia, Africa, and Europe were grouped according to temperament pairs (SJ, SP, NF, and NT types). When asked to select an animal to represent their groups, they selected similar animals, as appropriate to their physical environment: The SJ types chose loyal hard-working animals, the SP types chose independent adaptable animals, the NF types chose companionable animals who engaged in teamwork, and the NT types selected animals of competence and vision.” Animals aside, this is important to understand because it implies that a preference for selection according to likeness is ingrained at a profound level. This affects the hiring process as people with certain personality types are excluded. The solution for this is for computer programmers to incorporate instructions designed to counter these inherent biases in decision making process.

As organizations are on a quest to optimize, network operations personnel should provide objective input regarding the implementation of artificial intelligence within organizations. The consideration of whether artificial intelligence provides the technological edge to improve the hiring process should be guided by the understanding human nature affecting decision making process.

Access Points from Outside the Network

There are many aspects to the field of Network Operations. One of these is computer network security. While maintaining the integrity of an organization’s computer network between many of the information technology devices, there are access points through wireless technologies which are hacker exploitable. Although there are measures to eliminate data breaches to sensitive information belonging to organizations and members of the public alike, it is important to accept the fact that everyone plays a role in maintaining information security.

According to the article Security Threats of Smart Phones and Bluetooth by ALFRED LOO, published March of 2009, an experiment using a “Bluetooth sniffing program” was conducted in order to acquire information in a public area. It also includes that “The objective was to ascertain the number of Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices that could be infected with viruses wirelessly. In less than 23 hours, more than 1,400 vulnerable devices were detected, most of which were mobile phones.” Although members of the public did not have their information compromised during this experiment, it is important to realize that the results reveal a network security threat for individuals and organizations through the use of wireless technologies with access into computer networks. Additionally, the experiment provides insight into how hackers can conduct a similar sweep to acquire information from people in a public location, unbeknownst to them. Such methods pose a threat to network security for network operations personnel.

The benefit is that Network Operations professionals exist to address these concerns within companies and organizations. Information security professionals monitor an organization’s computer network for malicious activities, sometimes conducting their own penetration tests to their organization’s computer networks in order to discover accessible areas requiring reinforcement. Like any information security mission, securing a computer network can be complex and intricate.

The prospect of having one’s privacy compromised can be daunting, and it is necessary to recognize that personal security and privacy can be undermined, a fact that many personnel do not understand how they are responsible for data breaches from within an organization. According to an article from Techradar.com entitled 90 Percent of Data Breaches are Caused by Human Error by Anthony Spadafora on May 08, 2019, “A new report from Kaspersky Lab has revealed that security incidents in public cloud infrastructure are more likely to occur as a result of a customer’s employees rather than by actions carried out by cloud providers.” This implies that the information security problems are caused by people who either expose their sensitive information as a result of their ignorance or their negligence. Additionally, this data supported assertion places the responsibility concerning information security in the hands of network users in conjunction with information security professionals. This requires a concerted effort on behalf of all employees and users to maintain network security.

Upon realizing this fact can prompt users to place demands upon their governmental bodies or places of employment to address every possible network security concern, in order to make an impenetrable security network. However, such emotional pleas for more regulation can lead to a scenario where personal privacy is replaced with constant surveillance, something that is ironic since the pressure to keep hackers from accessing information requires the willful submission of the same privacy to a governing authority whether it be government or an employer.

In order to address these concerns, initiatives designed to increase security can be invasive. An article located on the MPN News website with the headline Wisconsin Company is Injecting RFID Microchips Into Hands of Employees – “They Love It” by ZeroHedge.com on August 20th, 2018 mentions that “The implant, which is about the size of a grain of rice, is also found in credit cards, debit cards, key fobs, and smartphones.” This wireless technological device “… utilizes Near Field Communication (NFC).” Although it praises the convenience provided by the implant stating that “The chip’s applications are devilishly simple; from locked doors, to cashless commerce, to providing first responders with detailed medical information in the event of an emergency – the possibilities are seemingly endless,” it should be noted that it also mentions that “…the security risk behind any wireless technology leaves the device vulnerable to hackers, who will eventually discover wireless methods to steal personal data stored on the microchip.” This downside of having an RFID chip implant is explained further stating that “…buried towards the end of the MTR article are concerns over security – such as the fact that anyone with an RFID reader can cozy up to a chipped individual and ping their implant to glean personal information. But hey – CEO Patrick McMullan points out that “similar personal information could be stolen from his wallet, too.” The possibility of this type of data breach counters the arguments for increased privacy and personal cybersecurity since those stealing the information have a face to put with the information. The difference is between a possible hacker apprehending someone’s information amongst many or a governmental body already having it, with the possibility that its databases can be hacked.

Also, even with the amount of praise the article has for the RFID wireless technology, the article also recognizes that there may be a downside to having an RFID chip implant stating that “…buried towards the end of the MTR article are concerns over security – such as the fact that anyone with an RFID reader can cozy up to a chipped individual and ping their implant to glean personal information. But hey – CEO Patrick McMullan points out that “similar personal information could be stolen from his wallet, too.” The possibility of this type of data breach counters the arguments for increased privacy and personal cybersecurity since those stealing the information have a face to put with the information. The difference is between a possible hacker apprehending someone’s information amongst many or a governmental body already having it, with the possibility that its databases can be hacked.

It includes that “In the fast-approaching dystopic future, corporations and government could soon be collecting private data on their citizens via implanted microchips.” The fact that a government or a company may possess private information on individuals, it is necessary to understand that, allowing another party to maintain one’s personal information can be vulnerable to whatever party decides, defeating the purpose of maintaining security.

The opportunity for the aspiring IT professionals is that the ongoing need for more network security may require an increase in the demand for network operations professionals. With this knowledge, information security professionals of the future can contribute to the making computer network technology more secure.

5 Companies to Inspire Organizational Leadership

Directives and officials spend lots of time thinking about how to improve their organizational leadership: how to be a better boss, how to inspire employees to do their best and to make them feel identified with the company.
It would be handy to have a manual that tells you how to be an inspiring leader, right? Well… There’s no way to clearly define what makes a good leader. It takes many things: empathy with your team, balancing authority with trust, knowing when to take risks, being trustworthy, and more. But the result of excellent leadership doesn’t change: the team is lead to a mission and moves towards achieving an objective.
So, to inspire you to have better tools to be an inspiring leader in your organization, here we bring you five companies (aside from the typical examples such as Google and Amazon) whose leadership has stood out recently.

Wegmans

Wegmans is a supermarket chain in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic. Their customer service excellence is widely recognized, but they say it wouldn’t be possible without an inspired workforce. They achieve this through a significant investment in their human capital. In 2017 they invested $50 million and $5 million in employee training and scholarships, respectively. This has helped the company to fill 2/3 of their appointments with their own employees. There are plenty of stories of part-time cashiers that take advantage of the scholarships they offer and after some years end up as executives.

Chipotle

Chipotle was widely considered a model company in its industry. And then the food contamination crisis occurred and investors ran away from the company. What did they do? Change the leadership. They got Brian Niccol, former CEO of Taco Bell, onboard to strengthen their brand again and he has done so with the right kind of social media attention the company needs.

Square

Square is an interesting example because it started as a tech company that permitted small businesses to accept credit cards as a payment method, and went from there to continue innovating in the entrepreneur-finance crossing. A couple of years ago, they passed from a payment platform to a full financial organization when they announced they’d open their own bank in Utah to offer loans and bank accounts for SMEs. Square’s lesson? Don’t be afraid of innovating and taking the next step. You may hit the jackpot.

UPS

UPS is a wonderful case because it’s perfect to explain how adaptive has to be the leadership of a company to thrive in an ever-changing environment. They face many external risks due to the innovations in the market: Amazon’s delivery drones, 3D printing which generally reduces the need for shipping manufacturing parts. What did they do? They developed their own 3D printing business and appointed Scott Price as chief transformation officer.

Marriot

Cloud Data Security:
Why its future is programmable?

When a company or individual purchase software, it usually goes like this: a senior official calls the IT people and the security crew to tell them they’ll purchase new software for whatever reason. As the IT team needs to customize, integrate and regulate it in the company’s system, whether it is on premise or in cloud, the IT crew has to arrange it and the security crew needs to do their job, too.

What’s the problem with this approach? That all the IT crew, including security and compliance are lagging behind. They have to acquire an extra pack of products to have enough control over who accesses the data and to create levels of access. On the other hand, you have an ever-growing group of rules and regulations that say that security and privacy have to be ingrained by design; but the software the company purchased was not created by the IT team so they don’t design a security system, everything they do is additional.

The heroes of data security: the defenders

This is what is called a “defender”, the people in charge of ingraining security and privacy into the software as an afterthought. This process is profoundly complex because security software needs to be customized to work swiftly with the app whose data they secure. The larger the data is, the more complex the process the defender has to follow to configure the products that keep it safe.

Clearly, this process is not 100 % safe. There are many weaknesses because there are many seams between the system or the app and the security products that protect it. They don’t come from the same place and are continually evolving, so there are gaps in communication and direction.

What can developers do?

This has led to a change of perspective from developers. More requirements migrate into the development process by day. Security hasn’t been left behind: some developers have taken part of the security process to reduce the seams between the security software and the app or system.

How do they achieve this? The first step usually is reducing coding vulnerabilities. This is key considering that they are what generally lead to security patches, which means that the system has to be taken down for maintenance, something that’s not good for business.

But coding security hasn’t been all. Some developers use tools that can be embedded into apps to secure them and control huge data flows. The main difference between this and what the defenders do is that it is not an afterthought, they are ingrained into the app, which means both the app and its security are on the same page, the app’s features are brought together with its security.

Supervising, ruling, and protecting data and its access have another vital aspect: app convenience.

All kinds of companies are looking for ways to get in the wave of the flexibility cloud infrastructure allows. What are their main concerns? Using infrastructure that doesn’t directly allow them to control safety and compliance.

But when development engrains data control tools, defenders can determine the best infrastructure to use for the app depending on what they want to focus on: cost, confidence, performance or anything else.

So… In conclusion?

Programmable data safety helps businesses to optimize their digital footprint, and save tons of money and time in security products and their integration.

Integrating data security tools into apps and systems provides what companies most need on data security: to control and be able to design their security, compliance, and privacy protocols and system.

Inteligencia Artificial Analiza Materia Oscura

La materia oscura forma gran parte de la materia del universo. Pero la comprensión de su naturaleza sigue siendo un misterio.

Comprender cómo nuestro universo se transformó en lo que hoy es, es uno de los principales retos de la ciencia contemporánea.

Los asuntos más profundos y retadores son los que no podemos ver directamente: la materia oscura y energía oscura. La materia oscura mantiene al universo unido y la energía oscura acelera su expansión. Pero todavía se desconoce mucho sobre ambos. Al menos hasta hoy.

Un grupo de investigadores del Departamento de Física y del Departamento de Computación del ETH Zurich trabajaron en conjunto para mejorar los métodos usados para aproximarse al contenido de materia oscura del universo a través de Inteligencia Artificial con el fin de entender la naturaleza de la materia oscura y el universo en general de forma más precisa.

Utilizaron algoritmos de aprendizaje automático de primer nivel para analizar la data cosmológica. Este método es bastante similar al que Facebook usa para reconocimiento facial.

Podrías preguntarte cómo es esto posible si en el cielo no hay rostros que reconocer. Pues así como Facebook usa los algoritmos para encontrar ojos o bocas, los investigadores lo usaron para reconocer las señales que revelan la energía y materia oscura.

La materia oscura no puede verse a través de imágenes telescópicas. Esto significa que dobla el camino de los rayos de la luz que vienen a la Tierra de otras galaxias, algo que los científicos llaman “efecto de lente gravitacional débil”. Una forma de ilustrarlo con un ejemplo de la vida cotidiana, sería lo que ocurre en un día caluroso: los objetos lejanos se ven borrosos porque la luz viaja por diferentes capas de aire a distintas temperaturas.

Los científicos usan dicha curvatura para crear mapas de materia que muestren dónde está la materia gris. Después, relacionan los mapas con predicciones teóricas para ver cuál modelo se acerca más a la data. Usualmente, esto se hace con estadísticas, como las funciones de correlación que describen las relaciones de las distintas partes de los mapas, pero esas estadísticas son relativamente limitadas. Sirven en la medida que encuentren patrones complejos en los mapas.

Ahí es donde la Inteligencia Artificial entra en juego. El investigador en jefe, Alexander Refregier, dijo que en vez de crear el análisis estadístico dejaron que las computadoras lo hicieran. Usaron algoritmos de aprendizaje automático (redes neuronales artificiales profundas) y les enseñaron a tomar la mayor cantidad de información significativa que pudiesen de los mapas de materia oscura.

¿Cómo lograron esto? Primero, entrenaron a las redes neuronales con data creada a computadora, de forma que el sistema supiera las respuestas adecuadas para distintos parámetros cosmológicos. A través de un análisis repetitivo de los mapas de materia oscura, la red de aprendizaje automático se enseñó a buscar el  conjunto adecuado de patrones para extraer una mayor cantidad de la información deseada. Siguiendo la analogía de Facebook, esto significa que las redes neuronales mejoraron en distinguir figuras ovaladas de ojos y bocas.

Este análisis basado en inteligencia artificial obtuvo resultados hasta 30% más acertados que los basados en estadísticas creadas por seres humanos. Esto es una mejora significativa considerando que para obtener la misma exactitud a través de análisis humano se requeriría un aumento en imágenes de telescopio que terminaría duplicando el tiempo de observación y los costos.

Después de entrenar a la red neuronal, la usaron para analizar mapas reales de materia oscura y encontraron que les permite extraer más información de la data que antes.

Ahora, como siguiente paso, el grupo de investigación del ETH Zurich planea usar su método para conjuntos de imágenes más grandes, como el Dark Energy Survey. También tienen en sus planes alimentar la red neuronal con más datos cosmológicos como detalles sobre la naturaleza de la energía oscura.

El grupo de investigación del ETH Zurich, compuesto por miembros del Departamento de física y de computación parece haber abierto un nuevo camino para la Inteligiencia Artificial y la IT en general. Las posibilidades de expansión en el campo de la cosmología es infinito.

The ETH Zurich research group, comprised of physicists and computer scientists seem to have opened a new pathway for AI and IT in general. The possibilities of expansion in the cosmological field are simply infinite.

Si te apasiona el tema de Inteligencia Artificial solicita ingresa aquí para solicitar información acerca de nuestra Maestría en Tecnologías de la Información.