Pharma: Valeant says NO to joint Takeda and TPG takeover

...giving Papa time to run the ship as the newly appointed chief executive.  So, the Quebec keeps the embattled but said to be world-class franchise known for therapeutic areas with dynamic workforce and affordable products...
The rejection came after a "premium" offer in a time when Valeant stocks had been plunging this year - perhaps due to debt load scandal and prompting to sell off non-core assets.  Valeant won a bid over Takeda last year of Salix which Valeant predictors think it's could be worth $1B in sales this year.  Upon news, VRX traded +6% to $28.  For Takeda, the takeover would have provided a spark to Xifaxan and uplift to Entyvio - reportedly.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

Hillary's email printer = 24.187.234.188

and on the campaign news (again)
Internet / IP-based printer was setup from clintonemail.com domain called, printer.clintonemail.com.
I wonder if it had a config banner that said print to me or please capture packets now… Hacking 101 seeks the obvious is searching for target names (or derivatives – but not needed here, a bit obvious), identify / scanning open and clear-text ports to attain available or vulnerable services; and listen (packet capture / man-in-the-middle), store info. and/or exploit vulnerabilities for exfiltration, extortion, etc.  That said, encryption/VPN was not mentioned…Krebs on Security also noted passive DNS records adjacent to:
24.187.234.186 rosencrans.dyndns.ws
24.187.234.187 wjcoffice.com
24.187.234.187 mail.clintonemail.com
24.187.234.187 mail.presidentclinton.com
24.187.234.188 printer.clintonemail.com
24.187.234.188 printer.presidentclinton.com
24.187.234.190 sslvpn.clintonemail.com

Buzz to business or bust – Google Life Sciences’ Verily

The Baseline Study - Integration of personal and external information/population of human health and transition to disease e.g. understanding the mutations over time and before onset of disease through exams

Collection and analysis of viruses / malware to credit history or spending trends may have been the normal for some (long) time but health data collection in fitness bands and rapid digital health records might be unique identifiers that cannot be easily changed/replaced in comparison.  Yet the corresponding data confidentiality/integrity protection is finally being noticed.  Of course, the centerpiece bringing it to the forefront is availability and affordability of digital/wearable devices, for example, but the ramification on personal life and health is invaluable.  The launch of the
spinoff Verily, preceded / advanced the stacking of leading researchers and biomedicine experts including Harvard grad Medical Officer, Technology officer from Univ of Washington and other Google principals in business developments.  Moreover, it will also land itself in competing with tech companies including Apple as well as a furry of bio-tech startups.  Aside from running experimental genetics and clinical studies, the company makes miniaturized medical devices with intelligence/software and licenses them to medical companies and pharmaceutical…
Key pursuits reported by recode.net including:

• Diabetes partnerships (Novartis, Dexcom, Sanofi)
• Multiple sclerosis partnerships (Biogen Inc. for wearable sensors)
• Nanodiagnostics (by taking a tiny pill and monitoring with wearable devices)
• Liftware (Parkinson’s disease study)
• Heart Disease (diabetes with American Health Association’s $50M funding)
• Metal Health
• And, probably most known/hyped for Robots (Johnson & Johnson robot joint venture)

And of course, Baseline – underplayed genomic, molecular and cellular science but really big data of volunteers prepped for studied.  A record 10,000 patients records are to be collected over the next 5 years which has sparked some so-so debate about ethical and privacy, including resonance of the patients or profiling such as socioeconomic, psychosocial, geospatial and genetic data.  Of course, some of the turmoil is occurring internally as the scientist and business worlds collide. But patient health and ethnics will align; or at least preventive health will prevail, right

The upshot is basically preventative care by merging technology and life sciences by identifying trends / synergy of health and reactive approach to disease management.  So, the innovation and ecosystem of disease and treatment will offer Patient Management set of Services in a Healthcare centric platform.

netflow and OODA loop

Circling back to the beginning with each step/phase is a must for OODA - Observe | Orient | Decide |Act
Observation points for what occurred is identified through various logs including firewall, IDS/P, Proxy services, and to local system logs; and helpful is a central / aggregated store or SIEM.  Perhaps one of my favorite these scenario is the use of netflow data.  A couple options exist for exports including: Taps, Span, mirror ports and virtual machine installs on WMware ESX servers.  Of course, advances in technology stretch the capabilities and blur analysis of full data packet capture including APTs, virtualized data centers, DDoS, IPv6, etc. so whats equally important is proper kill chain.  Starts with Reconnaissance and understanding the Exploitation, and determining/detecting the command-and-control methods which can lead to data exfiltration, corruption, and harvest (or hold hostage) of critical information.  So, having the appropriate toolset is complemented by having the right escalation, communication path and SMEs.  Recovery strategy and capability will come to bear in terms of recovery as much as Dwell Time (time of infection to detection to recovery).
Specific considerations for Netflow include: flow assembly, flow deduplication and retention (allows efficient storage and eliminates false positives), and behavioral analysis/recognition (algorithm and visualization).  Finally, related analytics and visual representation will offer the best indexes, alarms, and reactionary awareness.  An available source of info: lanscope.com

Healthy Big Data for Biomakers

Pharmaceuticals have been on the tabloids lately due in part for infamous company price gouging but today 3 firms are uniting to make their contributions by analyze data of healthy adult volunteers.  By studying health data patients, it can used to compare/contrast other patient stratification in with a global footprint and perhaps accelerate innovation of other drugs and discovery.  Though the initial focus on therapeutic areas, the power of big data and analytics is contagious.  The 3 biomakers are Astellas, Daiichi Sankyo, and Takeda.
Article Source: The Financial

Have you seen the red clock counting down - Cybercrooks

Ransomware is the biggetst online threat…as if it came as a surprise
Numbers include 4 Million reported during this time/Q2 of 2015, and who’s got the number for unreported cases?
With the playing field contributing to strong/open encryption algorithms, anonymous communication protocols and digital currencies, the landscape is prime. Why wait to resell confidential and/or time-sensitive information (or processes) in the black market when you get paid directly by the victim, right?  The evolution of randsomware started with files being encrypted or zip to immobilized the computers by overwriting master book record; and from Windows to Linux and now, just about anything, iPhone, Android phones.  True to malware form, there are variants and derivatives that have become prevalent within other software.  Even more terrifying is your own web servers infected and distributes malware so social engineering is not required i.e. Samsam – which includes capabilities to create backdoors and leaves the entire network at risk.
So, prompt patching, signature updates and quarantine, good backups with effective recovery solution and sound behavioral-based defenses / APT…are all solutions that need to be immediately addressed.
Article source: The Economist

Failed action plan for UK cybersecurity

According to zdnet.com, 2/3 of largest UK business suffered a breach within the last 12 months and 1/4 of them suffer a breach 1/month.  And  51% of medium firms also suffered cyber attacks, 33% small firms and 17% for micro firms. These number are even more staggering when factoring in just breaches that were reported.  The cause of the cyber breach is reported to be virus, malware and spyware.
By the numbers...
Of the over 13,000 businesses surveyed, a few key breakdowns

• Manufacturing totaled 687: Small/Micro 150 | Medium 313 |Large 224
• Retail/Wholesale/Vehicle Repair totaled 657: Small/Micro 324 | Medium 192 | Large 141
• Finance or insurance totaled 1315: Small/Micro 718 | Medium 277 | Large 320
• Health or social care totaled 432: Small/Micro 113 | Medium 248 | Large 71

Summary Results:

• 69% of business claim cyber security is a high priority for senior managers but only 51% have taken recommended action plans to identify and 29 have formal written cyber security policies
• 65% of firms detected cyber breach within the past year due to 68% being virus/malware/spyware and 32% impersonation of the organization
• $3.4 Million was the most costly breach identified…average for large firms was $41,600
• 51% have taken 5 or more Government’s 10 steps to Cyber Security, of which 28% include technical measures
• 13% have cyber security standards for their suppliers (25% medium and 24% large firms)

Source: Cyber Security Breaches Survey 2016

FBI will be allowed to hack computers worldwide

A downstream affect of US-EU Safe Harbour debacle is that the FBI have been given authority to hack computers and devices anywhere in the world – based on a recent US supreme court action.  The European Parliament is pending vote on the Privacy Shield as a means to address data-protection responsibilities but this new order just a formality AKA Snowden’s revelation on surveillance, etc.  Hence, warrants and process of search/seize may go by the wayside and has no boundaries. More developments and rulings, I'm sure....
Article source: IrishTimes.com

Contributors and hinderance to being a Leader

The do’s and don’ts according to TedTalk - Forbes

• Be present, reach for the stars, and believe in yourself – do not sit in the sidelines or edge looking in, and don’t underestimate your skills 
• Be more engaged in conversation – a smile goes a long way but equally important is the tone of your voice to convey the message…which should NOT include: gossiping, judging, negativity, complaining, excuses, lying, dogmatism
• Understand your audience, and the WHY, not just the what  – people buy more into why you believe such things, not what you believe in i.e. the later is just proof

Inspiring others will naturally make them follow and for themselves - because they want to...as long as there is integrity, honesty and compassion in the words that mimics the actions - takeaway from #trueleader article

GRC Roundtable

A brief collaboration of nearby (brand name) industry leaders at various (earlier stages) of the GRC journey for their organization...hosted by PwC
Very participative discussion with highlights / notes below:

• Leading product mentioned were Archer (of course), RSAM, ServiceNow, MetricStream, Protiviti, ACL
• Key question raised was requesting and formulation of requirements from all GRC participants i.e. Stakeholders, end-users 
• Determining what processes require inclusion is vital to the strategy and success of a GRC solution...as well as obtain professional services at pivotal points
• No single executive sponsor witnessed to drive solution from strategy to deployment - which results from high cost of investment for a comprehensive/cross-departmental deployment. 
• Essential fact is that, demonstrating success within your own/individual deployment or department will break the barriers with others / cross-divisional lines
• Considerations with existing platforms such as company ERP, ERM, Security Practice can greatly influence requirements, architecture, support, etc.
• Off-line feature can be essential when working remote or due to other limitations.  However, off-set mobile capabilities are still in its infancy 
• GRC delivers metrics, reflection of trends and operational status; however, decision making, ROI and particularly risk reduction is a future state.
• Multiple (GRC) toolset is the norm so set your expectations and plan accordingly for integration i.e. a single solution is highly unlikely
• To achieve "sexy" or comprehensive dashboards for C-Suite levels to Managers to End-Users require other visualization tools.
• Not accessing change management for deployment and daily usage will hamper implementation and longevity 
• Data privacy (access, storage) is a concern for global organizations although most are turning to cloud based solutions (that offer better product/service support and customer accessibility)
• Product mobility and accessibility is a need, yet 2+ years away from general use/release e.g. leverage GRC for operational efficiency via mobile devices is just a wish for now regardless of marketing slides

Can't wait to compare notes throughout this journey

Glass-ceiling index for women in the workforce

...study by The Economist.com
Weighted values can be adjusted but overall, based on role of women in the workforce vs men, wage-gap, education:

• Top/best countries are Iceland, Norway and Finland
• The bottom/worst are Japan, Turkey and South Korea 

Also, studies show that where new fathers take parental leave, mothers tend to return to the labour market, female employment is higher and the earnings gap between men and women is lower. Each country’s score is a weighted average of its performance on ten indicators - from the Economist.com

Snippets of security breaches around the world

in 30 seconds since Japan site seeing…

• 1.4 Gig of personal identifier numbers and other sensitive data of 10 millions of Turkey citizens were upload to the web…pointing to the Turkish government as the source for the unencrypted data.  Any references to it being related to a prior 2010 breach, Americans or comments related to the presidential candidate / Trump, etc. but authenticity being still being investigated.
• The Philippines election website was hacked just before the general election
• A former employee of the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) inadvertently downloaded information that caused a cyber breach of 44,000 customer records.  This is coming of the heals of a 22 million personal records exposed last summer due to an hack on the Office of Personnel Management database.
• Indianapolis’ Decatur Township robbery lead administrators to quickly disable a teacher’s key fab when his home was burglarized in the early morning hours of April 11th (which would have allowed access to the school and other sensitive school areas such as server rooms and student records). The stolen computer and iPad was not issued by the school and no information regarding it’s data content has been reported.
• Water treatment plant said to have been infiltrated by a Syria related hacktivist group using SQL injection and phishing techniques resulting in control of regulated values and ducts for the flow of water and chemicals that could directly affect 2.5 million customers
• A Delhi Metro security breach which included a stabbing is leading to further dispute about who should be in charge of security, Delhi police vs. Central Industrial Security Force.  Apparently, repeat incidents over the years has once again raise the topic/urgency.
• National Childbirth Trust (NCT) website was breach leading to compromise of email addresses, usernames and passwords (but claimed no financial or personal data exposed).  The Charity organizations bring together networks of local parents with other parents for relationship developments, emotional support, etc.  Based in London, it has branches in Scotland and other bordering counties.
• Trump hotels looking into credit card data hack due to suspected fraudulent activities related to New York, Toronto, Honolulu hotel locations.

PhRMA takes Cures Act to the Hill

Drug industry is going straight to Capital Hill to meet with lawmakers in hopes to curve the discussion and set precedence instead of a wait-and-see approach that only leads to contentious debates.  Leading the charge while the Senate ponders the FDA reform bill called 21st Century Cures is PhRMA's CEO.  The Act could be a ground breaking approach to a Pharmaceutical industry plagued with price gauging and notorious leadership that has come into question.  Steve Ubl, CEO PhRMA intends on having both scientists and patients speak directly with lawmakers in hopes to shape emanate policy making.
The 30K view of Cures is focused on medical innovation, FDA approval process and new drug….so topics around exempt reprints and reference text related to Sunshine Act (reversing some CMS rule), extension of FDAMA 114 for manufacturers communication with scientific developments, FDA new development guidelines and reversal of some FDA regulation on social media.  For specifics, turn to docs.house.gov
For IT, Healthcare vendors will notice downstream affects from HIPAA related to upgraded and compliance to practice management software including:

• Fax machine (like Mainframes) - lingering deployment so added tracking and security will be required
• Security training - updates programs / procedures and mandatory awareness training 
• Access control - increased protection of PHI including audits and proactive account management
• Physical security - facility and equipment room security protection, badges and key codes
• And, all this with increase healthcare data access