Becker's Hospital Review

49 CIO / HEALTH IT AI retinal scanner that can detect Alzheimer's given FDA 'Breakthrough Device' status By Andrea Park A retinal imaging platform that uses artificial intelligence to evaluate eye scans for biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease and other neurological dis- orders has received the FDA's "Breakthrough Device" designation, Ca- nadian startup Optina Diagnostics announced May 8. The platform uses Optina's cerebral amyloid predictor retina scan and meta- bolic hyperspectral retinal camera to formulate a data-rich image from a basic eye scan. AI then analyzes the image for indication of amyloid plaques in the brain, which are linked to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. Optina's technology offers a low-cost, non-invasive way to improve diagnosis accuracy and subsequent care management for patients with cognitive de- cline, a condition that can often go un- or misdiagnosed. The FDA's "Breakthrough Device" designation is not a safety approval but pro- vides an expedited pathway for the review of a medical device that the agency believes has the potential to be extremely effective in diagnosing or treating life-threatening diseases. n Harvard Business Review: What boards need to know about AI By Andrea Park B oard members not used to taking a hands-on role in the daily operations of a company should be prepared to do so as artificial intelligence be- comes increasingly prevalent, according to the Harvard Business Review. Douglas Merrill, PhD, former CIO and vice president of engineering at Google, gave board members of all industries a crash course on AI and its "disruptive potential" in an article for HBR. As companies prepare to invest in AI, their boards will need to be able to an- swer questions about the technology's cost, benefit and overall impact on re- sources, operations and competition. Here are four pillars of AI integration that will aid in that understanding, according to Dr. Merrill. • AI and machine learning efforts should be extensions of a company's ex- isting work — so they should be straightforward enough for anyone to un- derstand with only a basic grasp of the technology. • A lack of AI expertise can actually be helpful: If board members do not un- derstand the purpose or impact of a vendor or internal team's proposal, it is probably not the right project for the company. • Companies do not need to gather invasive amounts of personal data to maximize the abilities of machine learning algorithms; most can unlock significant insights simply by analyzing existing databases. • AI is not a one-time investment, but rather a regular operating expense that must be maintained and restructured as new technology is adopted and more data acquired. n Leaked NSA cyberweapon causes Baltimore shutdown By Mackenzie Garrity A previously leaked cyberweapon created by the National Security Agency has been confirmed as the source for Baltimore's ransomware attack, according to e New York Times. Baltimore was hit May 7 with a ransomware attack that le city officials unable to access email accounts and other networks that pro- vide health alerts and other systems. A key component of the ransomware attack, EternalBlue, was developed by the NSA and leaked in 2017 by an unidentified group known as the Shadow Brokers. EternalBlue was one of the most useful exploits in the NSA's cyberarsenal, NYT reported. NSA found a flaw in Microso's soware and wrote a code to target the vulnerability. It was originally named EternalBluescreen because the malware would crash comput- ers. However, NSA went on to use the tool for intelligence gathering and counterter- rorism missions. EternalBlue was kept a secret from Mic- roso for more than five years until it was leaked, forcing the NSA to alert Microso of the flaw in its soware. Since being leaked, the malware has been used around the world to exploit money from towns and cities. Hackers demanded $100,000 in Bitcoin from Baltimore city officials to receive de- cryption codes, NYT reported. Baltimore had refused to pay the ransom as of June 10. Experts say that without EternalBlue the damage would not have been so widespread. EternalBlue allows hackers to exploit vul- nerabilities in unpatched soware and then spread malware faster and farther than oth- er malware. Once alerted by the NSA of EternalBlue, Microso did release a patch for the flaw. However, thousands of computers remain unprotected, according to NYT. n

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