In today's world, the security of software systems is of paramount importance. Organizations invest heavily in sophisticated technologies and complex algorithms to safeguard their applications, yet one often overlooked aspect remains a significant vulnerability: the human factor. Humans, whether developers, administrators, or even end-users, can inadvertently introduce security weaknesses, leaving software systems vulnerable to exploitation. To mitigate these risks, it is crucial to adopt a proactive approach that limits human factors in security throughout the software development lifecycle.  

This blog post explores key strategies for building stronger digital fortresses by minimizing human-induced security threats. 

1. Cultivate a Security-First Mindset: 

The first step towards limiting human factors in security is to foster a culture of security awareness and responsibility among all stakeholders involved in the software development process. From developers and testers to project managers and executives, everyone should understand the importance of security and prioritize it throughout the development lifecycle. Regular training sessions, workshops, and awareness campaigns can help educate individuals about potential vulnerabilities and instill best practices for secure coding and system administration.  

2. Implement Secure Development Practices: 

Secure development practices are essential for minimizing human-induced security risks. Embrace frameworks like the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP) or National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and leverage their resources, such as the OWASP Top Ten, which outlines the most critical security vulnerabilities to address. Integrate secure coding guidelines and Static Application Security Testing (SAST) and Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST)  tools into the development process to identify and remediate vulnerabilities early on when they are cheapest to fix. SAST tools can be used to scan for a wide range of vulnerabilities, including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, buffer overflows, and insecure coding practices.  DAST tools serve a similar purpose to SAST but have the advantage that these tools can find vulnerabilities that are introduced by runtime behavior and vulnerabilities that are already deployed.  Developing a culture where all code is reviewed before it goes into the main branch can also help catch potential security flaws along with ensuring adherence to secure coding practices.  

3. Role-Based Access Control and Privilege Management: 

Implementing role-based access control (RBAC) and privilege management mechanisms helps restrict unauthorized access and limit the potential damage caused by human errors or malicious activities. Define  security roles with appropriate access privileges based on job responsibilities. Continuously review security roles and update access rights as employees' responsibilities evolve or change within the organization. Implement the principle of least privilege (PoLP), where individuals are granted only the minimum permissions necessary to perform their tasks, reducing the overall attack surface. 

4. Robust Authentication and Authorization Mechanisms: 

Human-induced security risks can be significantly reduced by implementing robust authentication and authorization mechanisms. Encourage the use of strong passwords and multi-factor authentication (MFA) to ensure the identities of users accessing the system. Implement granular authorization controls to enforce data access restrictions based on user roles and responsibilities. Regularly review user accounts, revoke unnecessary privileges, and promptly disable accounts for employees who leave the organization. Consider implementing a federated single sign-on service to centralize user management, which can both streamline the process of onboarding new users and ensure that offboarding users doesn’t mistakenly allow continued access to business systems. 

5. Continuous Security Monitoring and Incident Response: 

Prevention is essential, but a comprehensive security strategy also involves continuous monitoring and robust incident response capabilities. Implement security monitoring tools and intrusion detection systems to detect and respond to potential threats. In the AWS ecosystem, some cost-effective solutions to enable exception reporting and threat detection include AWS CloudTrail to audit any interactions with an AWS account, AWS Guarduty to detect interaction anomalies. AWS CloudTrail and GuardDuty can be integrated with AWS Cloudwatch metrics to alarm when anomalies are detected. Outside of AWS, two other battle-tested tools for reviewing logs as part of continuous security monitoring or an incident response plan are DataDog and Splunk. Establish an incident response plan that outlines the steps to be taken in the event of a security incident, including communication protocols, containment measures, forensic analysis, and system recovery procedures. Regularly test and update the incident response plan to reflect changes in the threat landscape and organizational infrastructure. 

Software development organizations must recognize that human factors play a crucial role in software security. By cultivating a security-first mindset, implementing secure development practices, and embracing role-based access control, robust authentication, and authorization mechanisms, organizations can significantly reduce the risks posed by human-induced security vulnerabilities. Additionally, continuous security monitoring and a well-defined incident response plan are essential for promptly addressing security incidents and minimizing their impact. By adopting these strategies, organizations can build stronger digital fortresses and protect their software systems from the ever-evolving threat landscape, ensuring the security and trust of their applications and users. 

Designing for accessibility means creating products, services, and environments that are usable by individuals with disabilities. This can include people with physical, sensory, and cognitive impairments. Accessibility is not only important for individuals with disabilities, but it is also important for everyone, as it can improve usability and user experience for all users. In this blog post, we will discuss the importance of designing for accessibility and provide some tips for creating accessible designs. 

Why is designing for accessibility important? 

Designing for accessibility is important for several reasons. First, it is a matter of social responsibility. As designers, we have the responsibility to create products, services, and environments that are inclusive and accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. Second, designing for accessibility can improve usability for all users. For example, designing a website with clear and easy-to-read text can benefit users with visual impairments, but it can also benefit users who are in a hurry or are using a small screen device. Third, designing for accessibility can help organizations comply with laws and regulations related to accessibility. For example, in the United States, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires that public accommodations be accessible to individuals with disabilities. 

Tips for designing for accessibility 

Here are some tips for designing for accessibility: 

1. Consider accessibility from the beginning: Accessibility should be considered from the beginning of the design process. This means involving individuals with disabilities in the design process and considering their needs and preferences. 

2. Follow accessibility guidelines: There are several accessibility guidelines that designers can follow, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and the Accessible Rich Internet Applications (ARIA) specification. These guidelines provide recommendations for making web content and applications more accessible. 

3. Use clear and concise language: Use clear and concise language in your designs. Avoid jargon, acronyms, and complicated terminology. Use simple and straightforward language that is easy to understand. 

4. Provide alternative text for images: Provide alternative text for images. This helps users with visual impairments understand the content of the image. The alternative text should describe the content and function of the image. 

5. Use high contrast colors: Use high contrast colors for text and background. This helps users with visual impairments read the text more easily. 

6. Provide captions and transcripts for videos: Provide captions and transcripts for videos. This helps users with hearing impairments understand the content of the video. 

7. Use a logical and consistent layout: Use a logical and consistent layout for your designs. This helps users with cognitive impairments understand the content more easily. 

Summing it all up 

Designing for accessibility is important for creating inclusive and usable products, services, and environments. By considering accessibility from the beginning of the design process, following accessibility guidelines, and using clear and concise language, designers can create designs that are accessible to everyone, regardless of their abilities. 

It’s no secret that our nation is facing a skills gap when it comes to trained carpenters, toolmakers, welders, and so on. But there’s also a massive tech talent vacuum leaving thousands of tech jobs unfilled globally.

Even with the national unemployment rate hovering around 7%, the technology unemployment rate was just 3% in December 2020. That means tech talent doesn’t have a hard time finding a job, even when other work sectors are suffering.

So what’s behind this tech talent desert?

For starters, finding candidates with all the right skills is a challenge. As emerging technologies continue to rapidly change and expand, exploding fields like artificial intelligence and automation are becoming more mainstream. IT companies are scrambling to create brand new job categories requiring special capabilities at a rate faster than businesses can fill them. No longer does a single skill set fit the bill. Now businesses need people with niche expertise who aren’t easy to find.

Perhaps the hardest hit tech companies forced to scrounge for qualified workers are those right here at home. Never-ending sunshine, beaches, and flip-flop work culture lure top talent to Silicon Valley. While snow shoveling and cicada infestations aren’t big draws, the Midwest does have some perks the West Coast simply can’t compete with like lower cost-of-living, less traffic, and a decreased crime rates for starters. These may not be the sexiest benefits, but don’t count them out when recruiting.

Also, as remote working has become more commonplace nationwide (thank you, COVID-19), CIOs face additional challenges wooing talent from Silicon Valley. While some tech geniuses are attracted to the California sunshine, not everyone is bewitched by beaches—and now they don’t have to be. Thanks to remote work capabilities, even those who don’t want the hassle of moving and high-cost West Coast expenses can get all the prestige of working for a tech behemoth while living anywhere they want. Talk about having your cake and eating it, too.

If CIOs want to snag talent before they get snatched up, they might want to steal a play from the Oakland A’s. Michael Lewis tells this story well in his book, Moneyball. The A’s were working on a shoestring budget up against baseball giants, and yet they went all the way to the playoffs. How? By using a unique, low-cost solution to identify the best players. Sounds unconventional, right? If Midwest tech companies want to find the right stuff, then CIOs need to lean into alternative strategies that can still compete with the big boys.

Here are some innovative ways to entice top IT talent:

1. Woo them with culture.
Today’s workers want more than just a punch-the-clock job. They want a company culture that promotes from within, respects the individual, and balances work and life commitments. As you recruit, don’t just talk about job tasks—speak to empowerment, growth, and how you value your employees.

2. Invest in your technology.
Tech talent gets excited about—you guessed it—technology, and they’re scrutinizing the digital goods at your company when deciding whether or not to accept a job. The money you put into internal tech says a lot to a candidate about you and how much you value staying current. At the very least, be prepared to offer them the same level of tech they’re using at home.

3. Offer top-notch benefits.
Perks aren’t just perks anymore. They’re mission critical for snagging and retaining top talent. Gone are the days where solid health insurance and PTO were enough to entice and satisfy new employees.

Maintaining a work-life balance is a top priority, especially for candidates in their 30s and 40s raising families. Many workers are even willing to sacrifice some salary to get tailored work hours and other benefits that complement their lifestyle.

Not sure what perks fit best? Ask your current employees and snoop around your competitors. Find out what people are looking for and then make it happen!

4. Support growth.
Gone are the days of linear career paths working for the same company. More so than most workers, tech employees tend to leapfrog from job to job and company to company chasing after the next provocative project. Don’t let your savvy tech gurus fly the nest so easily by creating a variety of exciting internal opportunities for them to grow their skills.

Recruiting top IT expertise may feel like battle (they don’t call it a Talent War for nothing), but it’s important to stay focused. Lean into what makes your company great and don’t be afraid to cast a wide net. You never know what kind of fish you’ll land.

What’s New in Wearable Health Technology

Think monitoring your health through something you wear sounds a little sci-fi? Think again. Today, more than half of Americans (56% to be exact) own some kind of smart device tracking everything from pulse to sleep cycles and more. While current technology may not yet be able to, say, neurologically control a robotic arm (think Luke Skywalker or Marvel’s Bucky Barnes), wearable tech is rapidly advancing—especially in the healthcare space.

So what’s trending with wearable health technology? For starters, wearables are no longer just for fitness nerds logging steps and recording heart rates after a Crossfit WOD. In fact, health tech has gone from simple hobby to medical-grade and FDA-approved in just a matter of a few years. The truth is there’s something for everybody when it comes to wearable health technology. Here’s a peek at just some of today’s tech changing how we do both fitness and healthcare.

For the everyday Joe (and Jane)

Debuting in 2008, Fitbit quickly rose in popularity and remains a household name in fitness trackers. While early Fitbits captured data on movement, sleep, and calories burned, the technology has quickly evolved to go beyond the basics. Now, Fitbits can measure breathing, pulse and altitude climbed, as well as logging glucose levels (more on that below), and giving feedback on how your body handles stress.

Next up, smartwatches have taken fitness tracking to a whole new level. Sure, the first smartwatches were basically glorified pedometers, but as technology has boomed with new capabilities and ever shrinking components, these compact pieces of tech go way beyond counting steps.

Now anyone can get in-depth health metrics without visiting the doctor’s office. In 2020, Apple released its latest Series 6 smartwatch that monitors blood oxygen saturation, sleep cycles, heart rhythms using FDA-approved electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors, and even more in-depth health monitoring.

For heart health patients

While Apple’s Series 6 smartwatch has heart monitoring functions, the Move ECG by Withings is an award-winning choice for heart health. Not only does this sleek analog-looking device collect your heart rhythm data, but the software analyzes the data and can communicate directly with your doctor.

The Move ECG can also detect atrial fibrillation, a possibly life-threatening condition which can lead to stroke (frightening stat: almost 3 million Americans unknowingly suffer from afib). If you feel an irregular heartbeat or palpitation, you simply press and hold the side button for 30 seconds. Sensors on the back create a medical-grade ECG and can send the info to your doctor or store the data for later.

Monitoring blood pressure outside the doctor’s office is a gamechanger for many heart-conscious patients. Omron’s HeartGuide wears like a wristwatch and allows users to track and monitor blood pressure and pulse fluctuations throughout the day. Inside the wristband, a tiny inflatable cuff fills with air to get the readings. The HeartGuide is also a fitness tracker so users can better understand how their everyday lifestyle affects their heart health.

For the hospital or nursing home patient

When you or a loved one are admitted to a hospital or nursing home, keeping tabs on vitals is a necessary part of healthcare management. But traditional vital monitoring is bulky and leaves patients physically tethered to machines by wires. No, thank you.

Enter the Philips biosensor, an adhesive patch that sticks anywhere on the skin and sends data wirelessly to the healthcare team. Now nurses and doctors can monitor heart rate and respirations—and even be alerted if the patient has fallen or is having a heart attack—all while giving patients more freedom to move around and peace.

Still in development, a Japanese professor has created a wearable biosensor called e-skin. Similar to the Philips biosensor, e-skin monitors heart rate, rhythms, and respirations. But what makes e-skin unique is its super thin application that resembles, well, skin. The “skin” is embedded with thin electrodes that wirelessly connect to a smartphone, computer, or the cloud so doctors can easily monitor patients no matter if they’re in a hospital bed or at home.

For the athlete

Fitness trackers and smartwatches can detect and analyze heart health, sleep, activity, and more. But what about the serious athlete needing to replenish fluids after a killer workout or competition? With any physical activity, dehydration is a real risk. And on the flip side, drinking too much water (called hyponatremia) can be a life-threatening situation and is more common than you might think with endurance athletes.

That’s what led a group of researchers to team up with Epicore Biosystems to release the Gx Sweat Patch in March 2021. Sweat might seem like an unusual fluid to measure, but since perspiration contains sugar, salts, and even hormones, measuring sweat can give a real-time snapshot of overall health.

To use the sensor, simply stick the small patch to the skin and let the sweat come as it may. Two microchannels capture perspiration where it interacts with chemicals that change the color of the patch. Users snap a photo of the sensor with their smartphone, then interface with the app to get recommendations for how much water and sodium to stay balanced and hydrated.

For the cancer fighter

In 2021, it’s estimated 1.9 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer. Cancer treatment is complex, but often includes regular measurements of circulating tumor cells (CTCs), an important benchmark determining treatment plans. CTCs are usually collected at a routine laboratory visit, but unfortunately the results are often undiagnostic since the blood samples don’t always contain enough CTCs.

That drove University of Michigan researchers to develop a prototype called the Cancer Cell Detector, a wrist-worn device that detects CTCs. Instead of taking a quick blood sample, this new device collects blood over the course of a few hours to ensure enough CTCs are captured to get a diagnostic reading. Still in development, the Cancer Cell Detector is undergoing clinical studies, but proves to be a welcomed piece of wearable health tech for cancer patients in the future.

For the diabetic

Did you know diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the US? And 1 in 3 Americans has prediabetes—a condition where blood sugar levels are elevated but not high enough to be considered diabetes—but 84% of them don’t even know it. Yikes. Unchecked blood sugar can cause all sorts of health problems like blindness, nerve damage, heart issues, skin conditions, hearing impairment, and even death.

At DeveloperTown, we’re excited about changing the landscape of diabetic care and saving lives with wearable tech. One of our favorite products we’ve had a hand in developing is a diabetic tool for Fitbit integration. Some Fitbit users can now track their blood sugar levels over time, set personalized ranges, and since it's joined with a fitness tracker, see how lifestyle and exercise affect their blood glucose levels.

For the [fill in the blank]

The future of wearables is only limited by our imaginations. Have an idea for a health product or tech integration? We’re here to help. At DeveloperTown, we know the ins and outs of wearables, including healthcare technology. Contact us today and lets flex those creative problem solving muscles together.

There’s no way around it; turnover is a bear. We’ve likely all been a part of a team that experiences ill-timed or, at best, unexpected turnover. Even in writing this, I squirm at the thought of the scrambling to backfill, the difficult conversations with stakeholders, and the pressure that mounts while desperately working to get a new resource up to speed with an eye on dwindling velocity. Does any of this sound familiar?

Why is that for so many organizations, developer turnover comes as a surprise? Just a quick look at the numbers shows the simple nature of the industry landscape of which we are all at least implicitly aware. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, demand for software developers is on the rise, projected to grow by 22% by 2029—a staggering trajectory when compared to the average projected growth rate across all occupations, paling in comparison at a meager 4%. In terms of new jobs in the application development space, 310,000 are expected to be created in the same time period. Simply put, demand for developers is up and the sheer volume of employment options is far from gratuitous.

Given the industry employment landscape, the question of whether or not turnover will happen is not a question worth asking. It will. And while a healthy focus of building employee retention is crucial, an equally crucial endeavor is positioning your product teams to handle turnover when it does happen.

As with all businesses, emphasis on the balance sheet is crucial to bottomline health. An issue with this emphasis, however, often arises in the tension between business value add versus real value add. Put into context, the unchecked objective of eliminating as much time as possible spent on business value add objectives curtails any meaningful effort to focus development team capacity on adequate succession planning. This common scenario, played out to its logical end, can leave teams feeling debilitating pressure when someone on their team moves on to a new opportunity, and plagued by the questions of how much time will be spent helping a new team member get up to speed.

“How quickly will a replacement be brought in?”

“What additional slack will need to be picked up in the meantime to ensure objectives are still met?”

“How long will it take to get back to our previous velocity?”

Such questions not only distract the team and detract from their work, they can also be the precursors to subsequent burnout resulting in additional turnover.

So what is one practical step that can be taken to help mitigate the negative effects of product team turnover?

The concept of minimal viability, generally applied to Agile product development, just may be the cure for what ails you.

Just as product teams seek to define and develop the minimum requirements necessary to deliver a testable piece of software and continue iterating from there, so too can succession planning be approached from the perspective of minimum viability. Think about it, or better yet, provide a bit of time for your product teams to think about it.

What are the bare minimum requirements of a viable succession plan within the context of the team’s work?

Focus in on the must-have features and lean on your Scrum Masters to compile the plan for their teams. From there, iterate. Take each instance of turnover (and hopefully there aren’t many!) as an opportunity to reflect on and improve the onboarding process, a perfect conversation for a sprint retrospective. And understand that the upfront costs associated with planning will yield dividends down the road.

In doing so, not only will the members of the team feel better cared for—especially new members backfilling open positions—but should turnover occur, velocity will be better maintained in spite of it.

And chances are you’ll see the value of that upfront investment in your teams jump across the balance sheet.

You’re sitting nervously in the cold, antiseptic-smelling room waiting for the doctor to show up. They finally rush in, only to spend the majority of their time staring at a screen. Their fingers fly, inputting as much data as they can, spending only a few minutes making eye contact and actually examining you. Then they rush off in a flurry of scrubs and screens.

All too many of us can relate to this experience.

It’s easy to blame the doctor for being so harried and impersonal. What a terrible bedside manner, we might mutter. But what if there’s more to it?

42% of physicians struggle with burnout. Pandemic-related stressors, overworking, and lack of respect and autonomy are just a few factors doctors cite as causes of weariness and overwhelm. But surprisingly, some of the very tools created to ease healthcare burdens are also seriously contributing to the problem.

As you know, around here we are tech fanatics. Building agile and creative tools to help businesses solve problems and capture opportunities gets us all kinds of giddy. But we know that sometimes tech gets in the way and actually makes things worse.

When new tools are developed without the proper input, foresight, and strategy, it’s a recipe for disaster. And we’re watching this play out in the healthcare space in a big way right now.

Physicians report “too many bureaucratic tasks” and “increased computerization of practice” as some of the leading causes for burnout. And today’s surge in telemedicine and our constant digital connection has blurred the line between work and home more than ever.

Truth be told, most doctors just want to treat patients. They want to help and heal. And they want to have a life outside of work. But ever-changing data capture requirements, shifts in telemedicine, and other tech changes seem to take them further and further away from the heart of why they become physicians in the first place.

The result? Doctors are exhausted, frustrated, discouraged, and even experiencing symptoms of despair, depression, and PTSD. The pandemic has shown us more than ever how much we desperately need our frontline health heroes. So it’s time we started paying attention to what they need from us.

Healthcare tech tools are often created with one population primarily in mind: the patient. While patient experience obviously matters, the cost of minimizing or ignoring altogether a tool’s impact on the physician is great. Tech that isn’t doctor-friendly often creates more work, more frustration, and more burden than anything else.

Business author and speaker Tom Peters shares this, “Put your customers first and your people before anyone else. If your employees are happy and you treat them right, it will naturally result in them treating your customers right. This is why your customers can never be happier than your employees.”

In the same way, happy doctors equals happy patients. We can’t expect patient care to improve after handing over tech that makes life miserable for physicians. They don’t need one more thing in their already hectic lives. Clunky, disruptive tech just adds to the heavy loads they already carry.

Our client and friends at Uppstroms get this issue more than most. Founded by a physician, this startup is creating a machine-learning app that proactively identifies patient need. And they’re going about it the right way—looking at how the tech will reduce physician workload and not add to it; examining ways to integrate the tool into natural workflows to minimize disruption.

When it comes to developing new healthcare tech, we have to start listening to physicians and involving them heavily in the process. We owe it to them now more than ever.