IIM Newsletter June 2020 Articles

Vladimir Videnovic IIM National President

Dear fellow Information Professionals,

Informed about your changing environment.

Little we knew about the scale of changes we were about to face when the theme for the Information Awareness Month (IAM) this year was amended to seek how to be well informed about our changing environment, to reflect the unprecedented global transformations that were on horizon, with the first realisations of the impacts of the new killer virus on our health and life style.  
Whilst Dalai Lama is optimistic, even in the midst of the COVID pandemic lockdown, seeing people helping one another, on the other side our world is stretched between the fights against the daemons from the past, united in the fight against racism, and daemons of the future, such as cyber-attacks, biosecurity threats and economy reset.  The major trends that are still shaping our environment and our future include climate change, technology progress, inequality, discrimination, conflicts, violence and global health. 
So, how do we individually contribute to the massive efforts needed to change our world for better?  To start with, we need to be informed about our changing environment.  That was our focus for the past weeks during the IAM 2020, and is likely to be the theme for some time to come.
According to the feedback from our members, the IAM this year was successful from several perspectives, including rapid change to a delivery of events online, enabling participants from remote areas to join the conversation, larger audiences and having dialogues with experts and our peers outside of our physical borders.  In this issue of your IIM newsletter, we provide you with a few snapshots of discussions, latest news and events reflecting the ever-changing world around us.
Enjoy the read and I hope to see you at one of our future forums.

Vladimir Videnovic
National President

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Extract Business Value from Unstructured Information
Interview with Maurizio Mencarini, Global VP of Strategic Partnerships at Expert System.

Today, with advanced tools and technologies, such as the Expert System AI platform, companies can now understand the meaning of words in context by deploying a high-performance platform that was built for processing large quantities of text with the highest levels of precision.  A platform that is able to capture, store and analyse what was once uncollectable and indescribable.  Through in-depth analysis of content of all types, AI technology transforms raw data into actionable insight that can be leveraged across the organisation to benefit a variety of business processes and operations.

Read The full interview

Cyber Security

arlier this month, information resources of many organisations in Australia were subject to, as described by our Prime Minister,  a "sophisticated state-based" cyber-campaign.  

Over the last few weeks, the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) detected an increased number of cyber-attacks using various spear-phishing techniques and sophisticated methods to hide their work, in order to steal credentials, gain unauthorised access to information, harvest intellectual property and conduct a range of malicious cyber-activities.

This is a timely reminder for organisations to reassess their cyber-security walls.  ACSC have prepared "The Essential Eight" a list of recommended fundamental mitigation strategies for Australian organisations to develop a robust cyber-protection of information systems and defend their information assets.  

Australian Cyber Security Centre: "Essential Eight Explained - Strategies to Mitigate Cyber Security Incidents"
https://www.cyber.gov.au/publications/essential-eight-explained

In 2019, one of the Australian most prestige universities was a victim of a massive cyber-attack. This attack was so sophisticated, that it left some of the leading security experts shocked.

Australian Broadcasting Company: "As It Happened: Details of a Massive Cyber Attack Potentially Compromising Leaders Across the Globe"
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-02/anu-cyber-hack-how-personal-information-got-out/11550578

A comprehensive incident report that provides details of this attack can be found at: https://imagedepot.anu.edu.au/scapa/Website/SCAPA190209_Public_report_web_2.pdf 

2020 has seen the COVID-19 pandemic drive overwhelming societal and organisational changes, such as challenges for cyber security and data theft. It has seen the continued disruption for many government agencies and enterprises, and has fundamentally changed the way they do business. As the backbone of the Australian economy, it is imperative that government agencies and enterprises not only adapt and recover, but are also set up for success in the next normal future. This will require extraordinary flexibility, coordination, adaptability and resilience during what may be a prolonged period of recovery, uncertainty and change.

In response to these challenges IIM has created the following resources:

“Data Breach Plan - Responding to a Data Breach”.

“Security, Cyber Security and Privacy Challenges Post Covid-19”