Uber has hired Matt Olsen, former general counsel of the National Security Agency and director of the National Counterterrorism Center, as its new chief security officer, the company told the New York Times and confirmed to Axios.
Why it matters: Olsen will replace Joe Sullivan, who was dismissed in November following the disclosure of a data breach a year prior, which the company kept secret. Olsen will be tasked with repairing the company's image when it comes to security practices.
Exabeam, a security information and event management (SIEM) cybersecurity firm headquartered in San Mateo, California, announced Tuesday it has raised $50 million in Series D funding.
Why it matters: Cybersecurity officers and leadership at companies experiencing cyberattacks, malware incidents, or data breaches need to be able to tell their board what happened — and fast. SIEM tools help that to happen and will only become more necessary for Corporate America as cyberattacks become more and more frequent.
A new forecast from eMarketer predicts that Pandora, the most popular music streaming service in the U.S., will see its U.S. user base decline slightly the next couple of years, while Spotify will see double-digit growth this year and next.
The details: In 2018, Pandora will have 75.9 million users in the U.S., compared with 58.4 million for Spotify, eMarketer estimates. But by 2022, Pandora’s user base will dip to 75.3 million users, while Spotify’s will swell to 76.7 million.
Big Tech is constantly reassuring the public and policymakers that its technology isn't being used to spy on its users.
Why it matters: Trust issues around technology companies persist in America. According to Pew Research Center, relatively few Americans trust major technology companies to consistently do what is right. And more than half (51%) think they should be regulated more than they are currently.
Members of Congress have mentioned major tech companies more than any other type of company over the past decade, according to data compiled by Quorum. Facebook has by far experienced the most mentions, with Google coming in at a distant second.
Adapted from Quorum; Note: Mentions include press releases, floor statements, email newsletters and social media; Chart: Axios Visuals
Why it matters: It's a reflection of lawmakers' recent obsession with technology-related issues that impact most of their constituents — like data privacy, security, smartphone addiction and election integrity.
A group of tech firms including Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft say they're "jointly committed to removing barriers for the adoption of technologies for healthcare interoperability," CNBC's Christina Farr reports.
Between the lines: Patients often have a hard time accessing their own records, and providers' systems often don't communicate well. Those are widely recognized problems in the health care world, but solutions are few and far between. Don't expect everything to start working seamlessly now. Better tech is part of the answer, or at least it probably can't hurt, but a lot of the problem here lies with providers and broader structural issues, too.
AI segments a 3D eye scan into sections representing different types of tissue. Animation: DeepMind
Doctors at a U.K. eye hospital are getting algorithmic help interpreting the results of 3D eye scans, using a system developed at Google's DeepMind that can identify more than 50 eye problems and recommend a course of action with human expert-level accuracy.
Why it matters: DeepMind's system shows an intermediate step in its work, and tells doctors how confident it is in its assessment. This is crucial, because AI systems are often too opaque to be able to explain their reasoning, making them risky to deploy in high-stakes environments like hospitals.
Netflix CEO David Wells plans to step down after 14 years with the streaming giant, the company announced Monday — he'll exit after helping the company choose a successor.
Why it matters: Wells is the second C-suite executive to exit Netflix this summer. In May, Chief Communications Officer Jonathan Friedland exited after making insensitive remarks.
Many Google services on Android devices and iPhones store your location data even if you’ve used privacy settings that say they will prevent them from doing so, AP tech writer Ryan Nakashima reports.
Why it matters: "The finding is the latest instance in which a technology company has violated its own promises to protect user privacy."