OUR JOURNEY FROM PASSION TO COMPASSION Our journey started with passion. When our founder, Arvind Ghorwal, was in college, he learnt that it’s very important to be passionate about what you do, because work fills a large part of our lives and if we love what we do, then life becomes blissful. Years rolled on, our founder became much wiser and he started becoming more compassionate towards the life that we are exposed to. We are not living in a world of individuals, we are living in a living cosmos, where we are a very small part of a very big picture. We do experience life as an individual, but all our actions influence life around us in some way or another. It’s very important to preserve this planet for ourselves and future generations. We need to conduct an audit of our actions and analyse if we are making the life around us better or miserable.  When we speak about life, we include everything from a tree, an insect, a grasshopper,a dog, a cow, a bird, a fish to a human being. We do have human rights, but we should also have plant rights, insect rights, animal rights, etc. They have all come here to experience life and we have no right to take it away. They need to be given the space,the resources and everything required for their well-being. The way the human population and our activities are growing, other living beings are finding it very difficult to find space for themselves. They do not even get the resources required for their survival. The cows, when they are of no use, are left unattended and they just roam in the city, finding it difficult to survive.  We have built some Gaushalas where such cows are taken care of, but many others still need help. Similar is the story of the street animals, birds and other living beings coexisting with us. We need to be compassionate about them and we should not lose any chance of taking care of them as well.  We are filling our stomachs, but we should also fill the stomachs of less fortunate human beings, animals and birds around us. We should do as much as we can for them, so that their survival is also taken care of. We need to be very conscious of their well-being as well. If all human beings took care of all the other living beings around them, then we would have a much better world to live in.  If we want to transform our life and the life around us, we should also get rid of the compulsiveness that exists within us. You can be compulsive about having a tea or a coffee, for many a day doesn’t start before you have a tea or a coffee.  You can be compulsive about using foul language when you get angry or, for some, it is just fun. You can be compulsive about using Facebook or any other social media. There are many who are compulsive about drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes. The more compulsive you are towards these things, the worse it becomes.  Most human beings become compulsive about various things till they reach adulthood. And to go beyond this compulsive behaviour is not so easy. Compulsive behaviour and animal behaviour do not have much difference.  But, when you are conscious or aware of everything that is happening within you, you are capable of experiencing a life of full attention, awareness and consciousness. You are able to understand what’s happening within you and outside of you. If someone abuses you, you don’t just abuse them back. When your actions are not just a compulsive reaction but a conscious action. Once you start eliminating this compulsive behaviour from your life, you start transforming yourself. You become a better version of yourself. When you completely get rid of the compulsive behaviour, you transform into “A new you”. Now, all your actions arise from conscious decisions.  The journey from compulsiveness to consciousness is what makes this life incredible. It’s like you have evolved from a human being to higher possibilities which are not in the realm of human perception. It takes more than just five senses to experience this dimension of existence.  This existence of full consciousness is called Samadhi. You might have seen Lord Shiva or Buddha in a meditative pose or the Samadhi pose where they are experiencing life at its peak.  Would you not want to get out of the compulsiveness and start living a life of consciousness? Would you not want to experience a new you?  Then the journey starts now!  About the Author – Arvind Ghorwal is an alumnus of IIT Mumbai. He initially started working for a start-up founded by his seniors and friends, where he led teams which executed operations in Tier 1 cities in India, using the latest visual technologies like VR/ AR, 360 and drones. He then founded Elysian Studios, which creates blissful experiences in Virtual Reality

Top 5 Cybersecurity Trends to Watch Out for in 2023 Staying Vigilant in Today’s Digital World By Alexander Falatovich, Senior Cyber Security Threat Analyst, Identity Digital In today’s digital world, cybersecurity is more important than ever. With the rise of new technologies and increased internet use, cybercriminals have more opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities and steal sensitive data. As we move into 2023, we can expect a continuation of existing cybersecurity threats and the emergence of new threats that use the latest technologies. Here are five cybersecurity trends that we are likely to see in 2023. Use of generative AI tools. The use of generative AI tools, such as ChatGPT, is on the rise. These tools make it easier for cybercriminals to create malware and phishing lures, even with limited technical skills. As a result, we can expect more sophisticated attacks that are harder to detect. It’s important to note that while generative AI tools can be used for both legitimate and malicious purposes, the key is to be aware of the potential risks and take the necessary precautions to mitigate them. To combat this threat, companies need to focus on security awareness training for employees, coupled with protection at the edges of their network to reduce inbound attacks and block outbound traffic related to successful infiltration. Smishing attacks. Smishing attacks have become increasingly common in recent years, with cybercriminals taking advantage of the prevalence of mobile devices and the increasing use of text messaging for business communications. These attacks are similar to traditional phishing attacks, but instead of being delivered via email, they are sent as text messages to the victim’s mobile device. Smishing attacks trick the victim into divulging sensitive information or clicking on a malicious link. In 2022, smishing attacks saw a significant rise, which is expected to continue in 2023. With more people working remotely and using personal devices for work purposes, cybercriminals are taking advantage of the increased attack surface to target employees and gain access to sensitive information. To reduce the risk of smishing attacks, companies should implement strong authentication protocols, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), to ensure that employees are who they say they are when accessing sensitive information. Additionally, companies should educate employees on the importance of staying vigilant and cautious when receiving text messages from unknown sources. It’s also important to keep mobile device software updated and install security software on these devices to help detect and prevent smishing attacks. By taking these steps, companies can reduce the risk of smishing attacks and protect themselves and their employees from cyber threats. Expansion of Multi-Factor Authentication attacks. In 2023, we expect to see an increase in multi-factor authentication or “MFA” attacks, particularly in push spam and man-in-the-middle attacks. In push spam attacks, the attacker sends many push notifications, overwhelming the user and tricking them into approving these, which then gives the attacker access to the user’s account. In man-in-the-middle attacks, the attacker intercepts the user and server communication and obtains the user’s authentication information. To combat these attacks, developers will likely move towards more resilient forms of additional authentication, such as hardware tokens. Hardware tokens generate a unique, one-time password that must be entered along with a user’s regular login credentials. This provides an additional layer of security, as the password changes every time the user logs in, making it harder for attackers to access the user’s account. Additionally, companies should educate their employees on the importance of not approving push notifications or entering authentication information in unsolicited pop-ups. They should also implement proper security measures to prevent man-in-the-middle attacks, such as encrypting communication channels and monitoring suspicious activity. Increased package impersonation attacks. Supply chain attacks have become an increasingly prevalent method cybercriminals employ to compromise systems and gain access to sensitive data. In 2023, we expect an increase in package impersonation attacks via public repositories. These attacks involve cybercriminals creating fake packages that mimic legitimate ones in public repositories such as NPM, RubyGems, and PyPI. When developers unknowingly download these fake packages, they inadvertently install malware or other malicious code onto their systems. These attacks can have serious consequences, allowing cybercriminals access to sensitive data and compromise systems. To reduce the risk of these attacks, companies must expand verification and software composition analysis to identify threats. Verification involves ensuring the downloaded package is genuine, not fake or malicious. Companies should implement verification procedures that check the package’s cryptographic signatures and authenticate their sources. They should also verify the package’s integrity and dependencies to ensure they have not been tampered with. Software composition analysis involves examining the package’s components and dependencies to identify any vulnerabilities or security issues. Companies should conduct a thorough analysis of software composition to detect suspicious or malicious code within their packages. Increased attacks focusing on APIs APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) have become essential in modern software development, allowing applications to interact with each other and share data. However, this increased reliance on APIs has also led to attacks focusing on insecure APIs. Cybercriminals can exploit vulnerabilities in APIs to steal data, compromise systems, or launch attacks on other applications or networks. In 2023, we expect more sophisticated attacks that target APIs. These attacks may exploit vulnerabilities such as SQL injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), or other injection-based attacks that someone can use to access sensitive data or compromise systems. Cybercriminals may also use social engineering tactics to trick users into divulging sensitive information or accessing malicious APIs. To combat this threat, companies should implement strong authentication protocols, such as OAuth, to control access to their APIs. They should also regularly review their access control lists to ensure that only authorized users can access their APIs. Proper encryption of API data, such as using Transport Layer Security (TLS) or Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), can also help to protect sensitive data in transit. In addition, Companies should perform regular vulnerability assessments and penetration testing to identify and address any vulnerabilities in their APIs. This testing should include both manual and

Healthcare System Reimagined in Metaverse This weekend, I watched the movie ‘Free Guy’ with my friend and her little brother in his early teens who is a fanatic about video games, the metaverse, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), and cryptocurrency. We discussed whether there will be any place for healthcare, clinics, providers, etc., in the metaverse. His opinion was that “it’s an ideal world, and no one gets sick in the fantasy virtual world. Our avatars and creations will all be happy and healthy unless the games are designed around real-world scenarios where the avatars might get sick and would need to go to see a doctor.” Then he said, “Would you be my avatar doctor in my metaverse world?” After an hour of discussion with my friend and her brother, I was left with a couple of realizations:  1) My friend’s little brother was crushing on me; his question was his way of imagining me with him in his metaverse world.  2) My friend (who is also a physician) and her brother were completely clueless about what benefits the metaverse could potentially bring to the healthcare system. Simply put, there will always be pros and cons to any artificial intelligence (AI) application. The same is true for the metaverse and NFTs as well. In this write-up, I will take the opportunity to discuss three potential benefits of the metaverse in the healthcare world (mental health, virtual visits, and pharmaceuticals) and their potentially harmful effects, while acknowledging there might be plenty of possible applications than those discussed here. What is a metaverse and NFTs? First, let us discuss what the metaverse and NFTs are in layman’s terms. As most of us know by now, the word “metaverse” came from the science fiction novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson in 1992. It is a digital world that allows humans to take on the forms of avatars and relish their parallel virtual life. In this parallel virtual world, you can dress as you like, even wear the brands (e.g., Versace, Gucci, etc) some of you may like along with their accessories. Recently, Nike acquired a virtual company that creates NFTs wearing Nike shoes. Similarly, you can buy virtual lands/space and build houses and/or build virtual businesses and thus create and collect a variety of assets. Just as in real life, you can make and meet new friends, watch movies in movie theaters, visit art museums, and shop in virtual shopping malls and considerably a whole lot more. This leads us to read between the lines and have a brief talk about what NFTs are. An NFT is a form of digital art/digital code that can be created, bought, and sold on a blockchain platform like Ethereum. Some of us familiar with NFTs have identified eight areas where entrepreneurs and business industries could apply NFTs. These areas include the gaming apps, the fashion industry, digital identity, marketing, real estate, entertainment, digital art, sports, licenses and certifications, Ethereum name service (ENS) and domains. There is a little debate on how the metaverse could potentially benefit or harm the world of healthcare. As a female medical doctor with a Ph.D. in healthcare systems management and a master’s in systems design thinking from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a faculty instructor at Harvard University, and an entrepreneur with my own consulting boutique firm (Myriad Consulting LLC) I believe there might be many ways healthcare can be part of the metaverse world. The design and development of metaverse need to be approached cautiously and similarly to how a new medication is discussed when entering the market. The benefits must always be weighed against the harmful effects, be it an AI platform like metaverse or something new in the medicine world. Metaverse and Potential Mental Health Applications Bringing mental health management into the metaverse has many potentially promising benefits. It is well known in psychology that when a person is having anxiety or felling stressed, therapists recommend a customized distraction to recover from the state. Currently recommended distraction techniques include meditation, mindfulness, deep breathing, and exercising (like taking a walk). Recently, studies showed that playing video games also had an important role in distracting and improving the moods of individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression. With this coming to light, I believe the metaverse could be that distraction for many individuals experiencing anxiety/PTSD/ depression. They could create their own avatars and have “live-action” cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) as part of their healing, more interactive, and effective integrated strategy. Similarly, they could busy themselves by virtually joining a concert, or talking about what they are feeling to a virtual community of friends, thus there could be a million creative ways that the metaverse could distract an individual. Aside from the benefits, there are also certain risks associated with bringing mental health management into the metaverse. Foremost, there is a risk of these individuals going into further depression when they come out of this virtual world. They could possibly become lonelier and more disconnected from the realities of life and actual in-person interactions. There is also risk of cyberbullying, addiction to virtual life, leading to health concerns like a sedentary lifestyle with limited activity and an unhealthy living and eating style. Additionally, a technical issue/disruption of the internet could be triggering and disastrous for these vulnerable individuals to suddenly lose their beloved virtual world. Metaverse and Virtual Visits As we have observed how video games have become popular with the younger generation in the past few decades, some creative teachers have begun to use gaming apps like Classcraft, Minecraft, Scratch, and many more to engage their students. Just as gaming apps made their way into the schools to help teach students effectively, we might see virtual visits make their way into the metaverse as well. There is a possibility that healthcare organizations will start working on establishing virtual hospitals and clinics, eventually making these part of the metaverse. Once the current trend toward digital health applications matures, there