Business

Clean Start

Fast fashion is big business, but it is also a big polluter, responsible for about 10% of global carbon emissions. Roughly 70% of the $3 trillion fashion industry is comprised of articles made from synthetics or petrochemicals.
While some companies are claiming sustainable clothing lines, there is a very wide variance in what that means. For some the carbon reduction is in the manufacturing, while for others it is in the clothing itself.

The market for plant-based clothing is growing fast, shown by companies like Activ activewear, Kent underwear and startup Unless, which bills itself as “the first streetwear brand to create products that will harmlessly decompose at the end of life.” Unlike today’s mostly petroleum-based clothing, you can compost these clothes. They’re all made from 100% plant-based nutrients like recycled cotton, hemp, plant-based leather and coconut fiber, according to the company. 
 “We started the company because we’re a bunch of fashion executives that got tired of the make, take, and throw away culture of fashion,” said Eric Liedtke, CEO of Unless. “The planned obsolescence of fashion is basically based on a petrochemical or petroleum-based feedstock, which means it’s cheap. But what you don’t know about that is it creates synthetics which are forever materials that never go away.”
Liedtke came from Adidas, so it’s no surprise that Unless includes footwear along with apparel and accessories.
“Our product starts with the end in mind. That becomes a very easy story to tell the consumers, because the clearest thing is what happens when I’m done using it? it harmlessly goes away and becomes plant and worm food. And that to me is just as important as the quality of the product you make. It’s the product times the story,” said Liedtke.
Unless has just one pop-up retail store in its home town of Portland, Ore., in addition to online sales. Liedtke hopes the company will grow along with the fast-rising consumer demand for greener products, and plans to collaborate with other brands as more companies look to combat fashion waste. Unless recently launched a collaboration with Mammut, a 160-year-old Swiss climbing company.

 “We did that around International Mountain Day, and I’m happy to say the product sold out in 48 hours,” said Liedtke.
Those collaborations could also help the company moderate its relatively high prices: A “Biodegradable Hoodie” lists for $119 on the company’s website, for instance. Some shoppers say it’s worth it for the cause.
 “I would pay more for sustainable clothing I think it is, partly, just like it’s my contribution to helping the planet, and I think we should all contribute the way we can,” said Dru Ueltschi, who was shopping in the pop-up store.
 Unless is backed by Connect Ventures, an investment partnership between Creative Artists Agency and NEA (New Enterprise Associates), and has raised $7.5 million to date.

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Tax season kicked off for individual filers on Monday with a bigger IRS customer service team and enhanced technology, according to Treasury officials.
The IRS has hired 5,000 new customer service staff, aiming to “significantly increase” the number of answered calls.
The agency also plans to improve customer service through technology, including the ability for filers to respond to certain IRS notices online and for the IRS to scan paper returns. 

kate_sept2004 | E+ | Getty Images

Tax season kicked off for individual filers Monday with a bigger IRS customer service team and enhanced technology as the agency begins to deploy its nearly $80 billion in funding. 
Over the past several months, the IRS has hired 5,000 new customer service staff, aiming to “significantly increase” the number of answered calls, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo told reporters Friday.

IRS service was flagged as one of the agency’s “most serious problems” in the National Taxpayer Advocate’s 2022 annual report, with only 13% of callers reaching live assistance during the 2022 filing season.
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The IRS will bolster in-person support at Taxpayer Assistance Centers across the country, putting the agency on track to “triple the number of Americans served,” Adeyemo said.
The agency also plans to improve customer service through technology, including the ability for filers to respond to certain IRS notices online and for the IRS to scan paper returns. 
“These improvements showcase how we are modernizing both technology and customer service to bring the IRS into the 21st century and how the IRS plans to deploy [Inflation Reduction Act] resources in the years to come,” Adeyemo said.

Enacted in August, the Inflation Reduction Act allocated $79.6 billion to the IRS over the next 10 years, and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen outlined priorities soon after — such as clearing the tax return backlog, improving customer service, overhauling technology and hiring workers.
The IRS aims to deliver a plan for the nearly $80 billion in funding to Yellen in February, according to a Treasury official. 
Meanwhile, House Republicans in January voted to slash the newly enacted IRS funding after months of scrutiny of the agency’s plans. However, the measure doesn’t have the support to pass in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

‘Light at the end of the tunnel’ for the IRS

The 2023 tax filing season kicks off after a challenging period for the IRS. Despite promises to clear the backlog, as of Dec. 23 there were still 1.91 million unprocessed individual returns received in 2022, according to the agency.
However, the IRS may be primed for a better 2023 filing season after making “considerable progress” in reducing the pileup, National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins said in her annual report.
“We have begun to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” she wrote. “I am just not sure how much further we have to travel before we see sunlight.”

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The FDA published a road map for the future of Covid-19 vaccination in the U.S.
The agency said the shots will probably get an annual update, but most people will likely need only one shot moving forward.
The FDA’s panel of advisors meets Thursday to discuss the proposed framework.

Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration has laid out a road map for what Covid-19 vaccination may look like moving forward.
In a briefing document published Monday, the FDA said the vaccines will probably need an annual update as the virus continues to evolve. The agency would select the Covid strain for the vaccine in the spring so the updated shots could roll out every September in time for a fall vaccination campaign.

Most people would receive one shot to restore their protection against the virus moving forward, according to the briefing document. This would apply to people who have been exposed to the virus’s spike protein at least twice, either through vaccination or infection.
But older adults and people with compromised immune systems may need two doses, according to the proposed vaccination schedule. Young children who have received only one shot previously would also get two doses.
The FDA released the road map ahead of a meeting of the agency’s independent vaccine experts scheduled for Thursday. The expert panel will vote on whether to make all Covid vaccines in the U.S. bivalent shots, meaning they protect against both the omicron BA.5 subvariant as well as the original strain of Covid discovered in Wuhan, China, in late 2019.
Currently, only Moderna’s and Pfizer’s booster doses target the omicron variant. If adopted, the primary series would also contain the omicron strain.
The proposed system for updating Covid vaccines resembles how the FDA selects flu shots every year. The agency said it could update and rollout the Covid vaccines without clinical data, which is also the case with the annual process to change the flu shot.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday is also expected to provide more information about an investigation into what it has described as a “very unlikely” risk of stroke in seniors who received Pfizer’s omicron booster.
The CDC received preliminary safety concern data from its Vaccine Safety Datalink late last year. A subsequent review for four other major databases did not identify an increased risk for stroke, but the CDC investigation is ongoing.

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IOT: Powering the digital economy

Produced using electrolysis and renewables like wind and solar, green hydrogen has some high-profile backers.
While some are hugely excited about green hydrogen’s potential, it still represents a tiny proportion of global hydrogen production.
Today, the vast majority is based on fossil fuels, a fact at odds with net-zero goals.

From the United States to the European Union, major economies around the world are laying out plans to move away from fossil fuels in favor of low and zero-carbon technologies.
It’s a colossal task that will require massive sums of money, huge political will and technological innovation. As the planned transition takes shape, there’s been a lot of talk about the relationship between hydrogen and natural gas.

During a panel discussion moderated by CNBC’s Joumanna Bercetche at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the CEO of energy firm AES offered up his take on how the two could potentially dovetail with one another going forward.   
“I feel very confident in saying that, for the next 20 years, we need natural gas,” Andrés Gluski, who was speaking Wednesday, said. “Now, what we can start to do today is … start to blend it with green hydrogen,” he added.
“So we’re running tests that you can blend it up to, say 20%, in existing turbines, and new turbines are coming out that can burn … much higher percentages,” Gluski said.
“But it’s just difficult to see that you’re going to have enough green hydrogen to substitute it like, in the next 10 years.”
Produced using electrolysis and renewables like wind and solar, green hydrogen has some high-profile backers.

These include German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who has called it “one of the most important technologies for a climate-neutral world” and “the key to decarbonizing our economies.”
While some are hugely excited about green hydrogen’s potential it still represents a tiny proportion of global hydrogen production. Today, the vast majority is based on fossil fuels, a fact at odds with net-zero goals.
Change on the way, but scale is key
The planet’s green hydrogen sector may still be in a relatively early stage of development, but a number of major deals related to the technology have been struck in recent years.
In December 2022, for example, AES and Air Products said they planned to invest roughly $4 billion to develop a “mega-scale green hydrogen production facility” located in Texas.
According to the announcement, the project will incorporate around 1.4 gigawatts of wind and solar and be able to produce more than 200 metric tons of hydrogen every day.
Despite the significant amount of money and renewables involved in the project, AES chief Gluski was at pains to highlight how much work lay ahead when it came to scaling up the sector as a whole.
The facility being planned with Air Products, he explained, could only “supply point one percent of the U.S. long haul trucking fleet.” Work to be done, then.
High hopes, with collaboration crucial  
Appearing alongside Gluski at the World Economic Forum was Elizabeth Gaines, a non-executive director at mining giant Fortescue Metals Group.
“We see green hydrogen as playing probably the most important role in the energy transition,” she said.
Broadening the discussion, Gaines also spoke to the need for collaboration in the years ahead.
When it came to “the resources that are needed to support the green transition, and similar[ly] to the production of green hydrogen,” she argued there was a need “to work closely with government and regulators.”
“I mean, it’s one thing to say we need more lithium, we need more copper, but you can’t do that without getting the approvals, and you need the regulatory approvals, the environmental approvals,” she said.
“You know, these things do take time, and we wouldn’t want that to be the bottleneck in the energy transition, similar to the skills and resources that we need.”

Kivanc Zaimler, energy group president at Sabanci Holding, also stressed the importance of being open to new ideas and innovations.
“We have to — we need to — embrace, we have to welcome, we have to support all the technologies,” he said. These included both hydrogen and electric vehicles.
Expanding on his point, Zaimler spoke of the need for cooperation, especially when it came to hydrogen.
“We have to bring all the right people around the table — academicians, governments, private sectors, players around the entire value chain.”
This included, “the manufacturing of the electrolyzer, the membranes, the green energy producers, the users.”   More

President Joe Biden made a surprise video appearance on “Saturday Night Live” during host Aubrey Plaza’s monologue.
The “White Lotus” star, who, like Biden, is from Delaware, joked that she was voted the most famous person from the state, beating out the president.
Many viewers took to Twitter to question whether the president’s appearance was real, or if the video was generated by AI, but Biden shared the clip on his Twitter account Sunday afternoon.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during the National Association of Counties Legislative Conference in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 15, 2022.
Joshua Roberts | Reuters

President Joe Biden made a surprise video appearance on “Saturday Night Live” during first-time host Aubrey Plaza’s monologue.
The “White Lotus” star, who, like Biden, is from Delaware, joked that she was voted the most famous person from the state, beating out the president.

“That’s a fact and he was pissed, he was livid,” Plaza said.
Biden then appeared via video and said, “Aubrey, you’re the most famous person out of Delaware and there’s no question about that. We’re just grateful you made it out of ‘White Lotus’ alive.”
Many viewers took to Twitter to question whether the president’s appearance was real, or if the video was generated by AI, but Biden shared the clip on his Twitter account Sunday afternoon.
Despite Biden’s willingness to get in on the Delaware joke, cast members didn’t spare any punches and poked fun at his treatment of classified materials later in the show.
The FBI said Saturday that more classified documents were found at Biden’s Wilmington residence, marking the fourth time since November that classified records or materials has been found at a private address of Biden’s.

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Chief executives of the world’s biggest firms left Davos on January 20th after a week of jaw-jawing in highish spirits. The mood at the annual gabfest was, if not upbeat, then at least no longer sombre. Behind closed doors, CEOs conceded that, although the war in Ukraine remains a humanitarian tragedy, the risks to the world economy look for now to be contained. Central banks have got serious about inflation. If a recession in America and Europe strikes, it should be manageable. The Chinese delegation sent the clearest signal in years that China is not just reopening after its harsh “zero-covid” regime but also reintegrating with the world. Globalisation may not be in the rudest of health, but news of its demise appeared, to the snow-swept bosses, exaggerated.Back on earth, things look dicier. “Earnings season is going to be the confessional event,” says Jim Tierney of AllianceBernstein, an investment firm, referring to the month or so when most companies report their quarterly results. The profits of America’s banking giants, which kicked things off in the past week or so, had fallen by 20% year on year. Investment bankers received a particularly severe drubbing, as dealmaking collapsed amid economic uncertainty. In early January Goldman Sachs gave around 3,200 of its workers the boot. Profit estimates for large American firms are plunging more precipitously than a black ski run. In the last three months of 2022 analysts revised their fourth-quarter earnings forecasts for the S&P 500 index down by 6.5%, twice as much as the typical downward revision. Wall Street’s collective wisdom about the past quarter now points to a year-on-year decline in profits, the first since the depths of the pandemic in 2020 (see chart 1).For many companies, costs are rising faster than sales. Businesses are finding that it is harder to resist wage rises than to persuade customers to bear rising costs. This will compress margins at a rate that has yet to be fully digested by analysts, who collectively still predict profits to grow in 2023. If the American economy does slide into a recession, as many economists expect, profits will almost certainly slide further still. Since the second world war earnings per share have fallen by an average of 13% around periods of economic contraction, calculates Goldman Sachs. The first thing to which firms will be confessing is the weariness of consumers. In firms’ conference calls with analysts at the end of last year, many spoke of weak demand, as shoppers reined in spending on discretionary items. Procter & Gamble, whose products range from nappies and detergents to dental floss, has reported falling sales volumes across its businesses in the fourth quarter. It managed to meet earnings expectations only because it increased prices by 10%—and plans further rises in February.Yet the chorus of bosses advertising such “pricing power”, last year’s favourite boast, will be quieter this earnings season. Although households are still spending excess savings built up during the pandemic, they are increasingly fishing for bargains. American consumers skimped on everything from restaurants to electronics in December, causing retail sales to decline by 1.1% on a seasonally adjusted basis, compared with the previous month. Constellation Brands, which makes and distributes Corona beer for drinkers in America, said on January 5th that it plans slower price increases this year. Many retailers are discounting goods to clear inventories. The prices of Tesla’s cars are lower globally by as much as 20%.As demand falters, firms are owning up to excessive costs—their second confession. Technology companies, which saw appetite for their products slow last year from earlier pandemic-induced highs, are doing so with special zeal. Apple’s boss, Tim Cook, is taking a 40% pay cut this year. Twitter is auctioning off its neon-bird wall art. Less symbolically, on January 18th Microsoft announced plans to lay off 10,000 people. Two days later Alphabet, Google’s corporate parent, said it would sack 12,000. These cuts do not entirely reverse tech’s pandemic hiring binge, but a Silicon Valley venture capitalist thinks it will provide “air cover” for more tech firms to trim their payrolls and shore up their cashflows. Companies’ third confession concerns the fate of any profits that will be made. This earnings season is also a time for firms to lay out their spending plans for the year ahead. In aggregate, large American businesses tend to split their outgoings evenly between shareholder payouts (through dividends and share buy-backs) and investments (research and development, capital expenditure, and mergers and acquisitions). In the era of cheap money, before central banks started raising interest rates to quash inflation, the payouts were often financed with debt. Now that money is expensive, such borrowing is likely to subside. As for dealmaking, plenty of acquirers are still sorting out the mess created by transactions struck at peak prices during the pandemic merger boom. Write-downs acknowledging the fall in value for some of these are more likely than announcements of replenished war chests and a desire to strike more deals. That leaves investments. The 21st century’s mega-trends—decarbonisation, digitisation and decoupling between China and the West—argue in favour of mammoth spending on climate-friendly technology, robots and software, and non-Chinese factories. One European industrial boss contends that, as a result, capital spending should withstand the impending downturn better than usual. Maybe. For the time being, though, most companies remain cautious. After American firms’ capital expenditure ticked up in the third quarter of 2022, one tracker of corporate spending plans, compiled by Goldman Sachs, points to continued growth but at a considerably slower pace. Many companies are likely to defer significant spending decisions until the economic uncertainty lifts. Ericsson, a Swedish maker of telecoms gear, warned that its American customers are increasingly holding off on new network investments. Dell shipped nearly 40% fewer PCs, which it sells chiefly to corporate customers, in the fourth quarter, compared with the year before, according to IDC, a research firm. Logitech, which makes keyboards, webcams and other desktop-related hardware, now expects revenues to fall by as much as 15% in the fiscal year to March, down from its previous estimate of no more than 8%. Makers of software, such as Microsoft, and chips, such as Intel, could also be affected by crimped digitisation budgets.Like all earnings seasons, this one will spring positive surprises. A few have already sprung. United Airlines increased its prices without putting off holidaymakers and business travellers. Netflix smashed expectations by adding 7.7m new subscribers in the fourth quarter, partly thanks to a new, cheaper, ad-interrupted service. The beleaguered streaming service, which has lost roughly half its market value since its peak in autumn 2021, has issued bullish profit forecasts for 2023. On January 19th Reed Hastings stepped down as Netflix’s co-CEO, possibly because he believes the worst is over for the company he founded 25 years ago. Such perkiness will, however, be the exception rather than the rule this year. In aggregate, positive earnings surprises have been getting less positive in recent quarters (see chart 2). Having reached an all-time high as a percentage of GDP last year, post-tax corporate profits look overdue for a correction. And they may have further to fall. High debt and low taxes, which propelled corporate profitability for decades, are no longer the tailwinds they were, as interest rates rise and the appetite for deficit-funded tax cuts diminishes. Real corporate life takes place at less rarefied levels than the Swiss Alps. ■ More

Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has topped $2 billion at the global box office.
This is the third James Cameron movie to hit this benchmark: “Titanic,” “Avatar” and “The Way of Water.”
Only three other movies have eclipsed $2 billion: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Avengers: Infinity War” and “Avengers: Endgame.”

Avatar: The Way of Water
Courtesy: Disney Co.

Disney’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” has topped $2 billion at the global box office, making it the third James Cameron film to reach this benchmark.
Only five other films have hit this metric — the original “Avatar,” “Avengers: Endgame,” Cameron’s “Titanic,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Infinity War.”

As of Sunday, “The Way of Water” had tallied $598 million from domestic ticket sales and $1.426 billion from foreign markets. The film is the sixth highest-grossing film of all time and will likely move up in the rankings as its run in theaters continues.
“The film has now joined that very exclusive box office club and has made it look almost effortless,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
The box office has struggled to recover in the wake of the pandemic, as audiences shifted to more at-home viewing and fewer films reached the big screen. As the industry rebounds, films like “The Way of Water” have proven that moviegoers are eager to return for big blockbuster spectacles. And many are willing to pay for premium showings like IMAX or large format screens that often come with a higher price tag.
While “The Way of Water” has had a more muted showing than expected in China, the result of a spike in Covid numbers and hospitalizations due to the virus, it has generated strong ticket sales from France, Germany and Korea.
Reaching the $2 billion mark is a good sign for the Avatar franchise, which has three more installments slated for release over the next five years. It also meets the goal set by Cameron, who had previously said the film would need to be the third or fourth highest-grossing film in history just to break even.

“Keeping in line with Cameron’s ‘king of the box office world’ career trajectory it should come as no surprise that the justification for completion of the director’s vision for the world of Pandora is now undeniably assured and given the stamp of approval by enthusiastic fans around the globe,” Dergarabedian said.
It is unclear what the film’s production budget was, although estimates range from $250 million to $350 million, not including marketing costs.
“The Way of Water” should steadily continue to generate box office receipts as it has no direct competition in theaters until mid-February, when Marvel Studios’ “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” another Disney production, is released.
Correction: This story was updated to reflect that “The Way of Water” is the third James Cameron movie to gross $2 billion at the global box office.

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Cyber Report

Medical devices for conditions including diabetes and sleep management, from insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors to C-PAP machines, are increasingly connected to the internet.
Insulin pumps and glucose meters can now be connected to smartphones via Bluetooth while C-PAP machines can store and send data to health-care providers without needing an office visit. 
The internet of things for personal health comes with many benefits and the world of remote patient monitoring is growing, but also comes with greater scrutiny from the FDA about cybersecurity risks.

A blood glucose control system with the help of a smartphone and a meter that is fixed to the skin.
Ute Grabowsky | Photothek | Getty Images

The internet of things to remote monitor and manage common health issues has been growing steadily, led by diabetes patients.
About one out of every 10 Americans, or 37 million people, are living with diabetes. Devices such as insulin pumps, which go back decades, and continuous glucose monitors, which monitor blood sugar levels 24/7, are increasingly connected to smartphones via Bluetooth. The increased connectivity comes with many benefits. People with type 1 diabetes can have much tighter control over their blood sugar levels because they’re able to review weeks of blood sugar and insulin dosing data, making it easier to spot trends and fine-tune dosing. In recent years, diabetes patient became so adept at remote monitoring that a DIY community of patient-hackers manipulated devices to better manage their medical needs, and the medical device industry has learned from them.

But the ability to monitor medical conditions over the internet comes with risks, including nefarious hacking. Though medical devices, which must go through FDA approval, meet a higher standard than fitness devices, there are still risks to protecting patient data and access to the device itself. The FDA has issued periodic warnings about the vulnerability of medical devices such as insulin pumps to hackers, and product makers have issued recalls related to vulnerabilities. In September, that occurred with Medtronic’s MiniMed 600 Series insulin pump, which the company and FDA warned had a potential issue that could allow unauthorized access, creating a risk that the pump could deliver too much or not enough insulin.
Sleep apnea, Type 2 diabetes and remote health care
It’s not just diabetes where the medical device market is offering patients new benefits from remote monitoring. For sleep apnea, which is estimated to affect as many as 30 million Americans (and one billion people globally) C-PAP machines can now store and send data to health-care providers without needing an office visit. 
The number of internet-connected medical devices grew during the pandemic, as lockdowns created a big push to treat people at home. As virtual care visits rose, “it opened everybody’s eyes to home-based medical devices for remote patient monitoring,” said Gregg Pessin, a senior director of research at Gartner.
Steady sales of continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps have buoyed companies such as Dexcom, Insulet, Medtronic and Abbott Laboratories, and diabetes tech device sales are expected to grow. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, beyond the 37 million people in the U.S. that have diabetes, there are 96 million adults are estimated to be pre-diabetic. Manufacturers of continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps, which have been the standard of care for type 1 diabetes for years, are increasingly targeting type 2 diabetes patients as well.
Multiple forms of medical cybersecurity risk
Industry security experts categorize cybersecurity risks of medical devices into three buckets.

First, there’s the risk to patient data. Many medical devices such as insulin pumps require patients to create online accounts to download data to a computer or smartphone. These accounts could include sensitive information, not just sensitive health data but personal details such as Social Security numbers.
Another risk is to the medical device itself, as evidenced by the headlines around the risk of hackers getting into a medical device like Medtronic’s pump and changing dosage settings, with potentially fatal effects. A report by Unit 42, a cybersecurity firm that is part of Palo Alto Networks, found that 75% of infusion pumps — which include insulin pumps — had “known security gaps” that put them at risk of being compromised by attackers. May Wang, chief technology officer of internet of things security at Palo Alto Networks, said that in a lab experiment hackers gained access to infusion pumps, changing medication dosages. “So now cybersecurity is not just about privacy, not just about data leakage. It’s more about life or death,” she said.
But Gartner’s Pessin said that such risk is slight in the real world. In the controlled conditions in a laboratory, “it’s just a matter of time before you’ll be able to do it,” but in the real world, “it’d be much more difficult,” he said.

A Medtronic spokeswoman said the company designs and manufacturers medical technologies to be as safe and secure as possible, and that its global product security office continuously monitors the security products throughout their lifecycle. The company also monitors the cybersecurity landscape to address vulnerabilities and to “take action to protect patients through a coordinated disclosure process and security bulletins.”
In September, Medtronic’s notice to users walked them through how to eliminate the risk of unintended insulin delivery by turning off the ability to dose remotely through a separate device.
The third cybersecurity risk is the connection between the medical device and network, whether it’s WiFi or 5G. As medical devices become more connected, they come with increased risk of malware, a risk well-known in other industries that could soon be in health care. Wong pointed to a case in 2014 in which Target leaked sensitive customer information after installing an HVAC system that was infected with malware.
While there aren’t any known incidents yet of this happening through medical devices used at home, it could be a matter of time, and older devices that are not updated regularly more at risk. In hospitals, old operating systems have left some medical equipment vulnerable to attack. Some medical imaging systems, which can have a lifecycle of over 20 years, are still running on Windows 98 without any security patches and there have been incidents where the MRI scanners or X-ray machines have been hacked to run crypto mining operations, unbeknownst to health-care providers.
Regulation of devices
Lawmakers and health-care leaders have been pushing for more guidance and regulations around medical device security. 
In April of last year, senators introduced the PATCH Act to require medical device makers that are applying for FDA approval to meet certain cybersecurity requirements and maintain updates and security patches. More recently, the $1.65 trillion omnibus appropriations bill passed at the end of 2022 included new medical device cybersecurity requirements. Experts said the law’s provisions did not go as far as the PATCH Act requirements, but are still significant.
An FDA spokesperson told CNBC that the new cybersecurity provisions in the omnibus bill represent a significant step forward in FDA’s oversight of cybersecurity as part of a medical device’s safety and effectiveness. Among the provisions, manufacturers will have to put plans and processes in place to disclose vulnerabilities. Device manufacturers will also have to provide updates and security patches to devices and related systems for “critical vulnerabilities that present uncontrolled risk,” in a timely manner.
How to maintain control as a consumer
As doctors are increasingly prescribing glucose monitors and insulin pumps for not just type 1 diabetes but the much more common type 2 diabetes as well, consumers weighing whether or not to use such a device can start by looking on the manufacturer’s website for statements about cybersecurity and HIPAA compliance for protection of their private health-care information. They can also ask their doctors about security, although cybersecurity experts say there is still work to be done to improve education about these risks among health-care providers.
Consumers with a medical device connected to the internet should register with the manufacturer to ensure they are notified about security updates. Following basic cyber hygiene at home is also key, since many devices now connect to WiFi. Make sure the WiFi network is protected with a strong password and also use a robust username and password for the company’s website if sharing or downloading data. More consumers are now also opting to use a password manager to hold all of their internet login information. Because devices can interact with other devices over WiFi, make sure home laptops and phones are secure as well. More