News

Exploits In Microsoft Exchange Used To Breach Over 30,000 Organizations

Published

4 years ago

March 8, 2021

exploit in microsoft exchange used to breach over 30000 organizations

Over 30,000 entities, including local governments, small businesses, defense contractors, and education institutions, have been breached because of unpatched exploits in Microsoft Exchange, reported journalist and investigative reporter Brian Krebs on his blog, KrebsOnSecurity.

“In each incident, the intruders have left behind a ‘web shell,’ an easy-to-use, password-protected hacking tool that can be accessed over the Internet from any browser. The web shell gives the attackers administrative access to the victim’s computer servers,” Krebs wrote.

According to Microsoft, the attack was orchestrated by notorious Chinese hacking group Hafnium, and they started on January 6^th, the day when rioters stormed the United States Capitol in a violent attack against the 117th United States Congress.

Microsoft released emergency security updates to patch the vulnerabilities on March 2^nd, which means that the attackers had nearly two months to infiltrate vulnerable systems. The tech giant has been working closely with the U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), as well as other public and private organizations, to secure all unpatched servers running Exchange Server 2013, 2016, or 2019 (Exchange Online hasn’t been affected).

“The best protection is to apply updates as soon as possible across all impacted systems,” said Microsoft spokesperson in a written statement. “We continue to help customers by providing additional investigation and mitigation guidance. Impacted customers should contact our support teams for additional help and resources.”

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While most known victims of the attacks were located in the United States, breaches related to the Microsoft Exchange vulnerabilities were also detected on the other side of the Atlantic. For example, the Prague municipality and the Czech Ministry for Labor and Social Affairs were forced to shut down some of their systems and install emergency patches. No data was stolen during the attack, said Czech government officials.

Attacks like this one highlight the importance of timely patching and modern intrusion detection tools, which are able to detect unusual activity while it’s still time to act.

News

Cemplicity Is Bringing Real-Time Patient Insights To The UAE

The advanced healthcare platform offers tools for chronic disease management and improved patient experiences.

Published

9 hours ago

January 13, 2025

Nour Nasir

Cemplicity

Cemplicity — a leading health-tech company founded in 2013 — has launched its advanced platform in the UAE, aiming to revolutionize patient care and streamline healthcare operations to improve clinical outcomes.

Designed to analyze patient-reported data in real-time, the platform incorporates Patient-Reported Experience Measures (PREMs) and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) to collect and analyze patient feedback. By transforming the data into actionable insights, healthcare providers will be better equipped to improve quality of care and increase efficiency.

Cemplicity’s technology can even tackle chronic conditions like diabetes, which affects 12.3% of the UAE population. By enabling regular symptom tracking and side-effect monitoring (even when patients are at home) the platform ensures proactive care management, and can also optimize early detection and screening of cancers.

Blaik Wilson, Cemplicity’s CEO, shared: “We are excited to bring Cemplicity to the UAE, a nation committed to healthcare excellence. With the private healthcare sector evolving at an impressive pace, partnering with such forward-thinking providers enables us to transform patient feedback into meaningful insights that enhance patient experiences and improve outcomes”.

Wilson added: “Globally, healthcare produces 30% of the world’s data volume. Aggregating and anonymizing patient-reported data not only uncovers trends and evaluates treatment outcomes but also advances the UAE’s broader ambition to lead in medical research and innovation”.

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With a presence in nine countries and partnerships with major healthcare providers like the UK’s National Health Service (NHS), Cemplicity has already redefined how hospitals and clinics leverage patient feedback. Its tools, known for achieving high survey response rates, help link patient experiences to organizational KPIs and Net Promoter Scores (NPS), enabling measurable improvements in operations, and clinical outcomes, while fostering a culture of continuous improvement.

For the UAE market, the platform has been specially adapted to local needs, offering multilingual support (including Arabic) and seamless integration with tools such as WhatsApp and various hospital management systems.