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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Education, First Preventer, Health Care, indicators, News, Prevention, Risk Management, School Safety, Video, Workplace Violence

This message is probably the most important message for LEADERS of schools, higher ed, organizations, and communities that I’ve ever shared in any of my videos. When you don’t know what others know, bad things can happen and we see examples of bad things happening on a DAILY basis. To stop the bad things from happening, a new Prevention Model is needed, because more security and hardening is getting ready to react to an attack, not preventing an attack. To all LEADERS, when you don’t know what 20+ years of research data has exposed about proactively PREVENTING incidents and tragedies, your organization and community areRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Health Care, Information Security, Prevention

It’s Patient Safety Awareness Week (March 11 – 17), are you sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your patients safe and ensure they are receiving the best care they can? The evidence from the tragic attack at the Veterans Home of California in Yountville mirrors similarities we have seen in hundreds of other previous attacks. The similarities exposed involve failures with “Connecting the Dots”. Clearly, more than enough “Dots” (warning signs, resources, etc.) were available to disrupt the escalation of evil but again the warning signs (“Dots”) were missed or not acted upon by the appropriate team or community member. By not ConnectingRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Business Continuity, Connect the Dots, Emergency Management, Financial, Government, Health Care, Human Resources, Incident Reporting, indicators, Prevention, Risk Management, Workplace Violence

Dangerous GAPS Evidence from hundreds of post-incident reports reveal almost every organization and community has a myriad of common GAPS and dangerous GAPS. At-Risk Individuals Evidence reveals almost every organization and/or community has at-risk individuals who could commit numerous types of disruptive incidents involving people, information, organizations, and communities. Disruptive Incidents Evidence reveals alarming trends involving numerous types of disruptive incidents including terrorism, homicides, workplace violence, gang violence, drugs, crimes, sexual assaults, human trafficking, suicides, and numerous others. Dangerous GAPS and Disruptive Incidents Unless (and until) dangerous GAPS are eliminated, disruptive incidents, tragedies, and numerous other unwanted, embarrassing, and costly consequences will be difficult ifRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Financial, Government, Health Care, indicators, Legal, Risk Management

Disruptive Innovation is (DI) is an innovation that creates a new market and value network and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network, displacing established market leading firms, products, and alliances. Human Intelligence (HI) is the intellectual capacity of humans, which is characterized by perception, consciousness, self-awareness, and volition. Artificial Intelligence (AI) the theory and development of computer systems able to perform tasks and make decisions that normally require human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, etc. Artificial Intelligence has received a lot of attention as a new futuristic solution, however, it must be pointed out that Artificial Intelligence can only make “goodRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Connect the Dots, Health Care, Incident Reporting, Risk Management, Workplace Violence

The motto of Healthcare Security and Safety Week 2016 is “Your Security is our Success” and Awareity would like to help you improve Security and Safety all 52 weeks of the year! There are significant differences between Security and Safety, Safety is focused on Preventing (First Preventers) while Security is focused on Defending and Responding (First Responders). The differences are validated in hundreds of post-event reports that also reveal common gaps, silos and disconnects… as well as reveal something else… most incidents and tragedies were PREVENTABLE. Focusing on First Preventers Currently almost everyone relies on Security and Law Enforcement Officers to stop violence, but SecurityRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Connect the Dots, Education, Emergency Management, Financial, Government, Health Care, Human Resources, Incident Reporting, indicators, Legal, Prevention, Risk Management, School Safety, Workplace Violence

Give us 5 minutes… …and you’ll see why YOU need a proven “Connecting the Dots Platform” for your organization, because no one wants a preventable incident on their resume or conscience. Want to get notified as soon as we post helpful information like this? Subscribe to our blog in the right sidebar!Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Campus Safety, Education, Health Care, Prevention, School Safety

There are so many “Awareness Days” and “Awareness Months” throughout the year that sometimes I wonder if the “real definitions” and “real issues” are overlooked. Take for example “Campus Safety Awareness Month”, you will no doubt see a lot of campaigns (e-mails, posters, Twitter posts, Facebook posts, and other Social Media posts), but most campaigns will actually miss the real definition and real issues of campus safety and safety awareness. The definition of safety is: state of being safe; freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury, danger, loss… which means preventing the occurrence of risk or threat…not reacting to or hiding from the riskRead More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Health Care

  Check out this recent overview of 10 of the largest data breaches from 2010 resulting in the loss of millions of data records. Lessons Learned: Is your organization providing ongoing situational awareness training?  People are the weak link for the majority of data breaches which are caused by human error, lost devices, social engineering attacks and numerous other poor decisions.  It is critical for organizations to educate their employees (and third-parties) ongoing as risks, threats, requirements, and ’next’ practices are constantly changing.  Lessons learned clearly reveal that once-a-year general training is not enough.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Health Care, Regulatory Compliance

  A recent survey revealed that HIPAA is the most challenging regulation to businesses today. Lessons Learned: Regulatory requirements are updated regularly…Hackers, risks, threats, etc. are constantly changing. Staying up-to-date and within compliance is challenging, but critical.  Organizations must ensure all employees (and third-parties) understand their responsibilities to protect sensitive information.Read More →

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In: *Connecting the Dots Blog*, Health Care, Information Privacy, Information Security, Regulatory Compliance

  OCR is offering HIPAA Enforcement Training to help State Attorneys General enforce the HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules and file federal civil lawsuits for HIPAA violations. Lessons Learned:  HHS and OCR are serious about Privacy and Security in Health Care.   Policies and procedures play a critical role in an organization’s culture of privacy and security and need to be updated as requirements, risks, regulations, etc. change.  Health care organizations will need to conduct internal audits and assessments rather than waiting for the OCR or AGs to arrive.  All employees and business associates must understand how to safely handle patient information and maintain a cultureRead More →