Cyber attack on NHS !

[observer]

Despicable as it is, the cyber attack on the NHS, flags up our dependence on IT and it's suceptability to hacking.  So, with our law enforcement agencies seemingly lagging behind the criminals, perhaps time for a new industry and career path for our youngsters, in cyber defence ?

[Geoffrey Settle]

They've already been signing up now for sometime - if they hadn't been snapped up then there would have been more hackers out there in cyber space causing more havock.

[asperity]

I believe it wasn't a "cyber attack on the NHS" as such, rather one of those random ransom demand attacks, triggered by some numbnuts opening an email attachment, which freezes the computer until a ransom is paid. The NHS (or some parts of it) was just caught out by it. Perhaps their security needs updating? I'm sure the people who finance the NHS (that's us, the taxpayers) believed that some of the £billions we pay for the service was used to ensure that basic computer security was in operation.

[Bazj]

a lot of it goes back to people not keeping up with updates and using the latest versions of windows and proper anti-virus software and carrying out regular backups. Microsoft have already issued a statement saying they had released an update a few weeks ago that fixed the issues that have allowed this to happen. As I've said before, those of you who seem to think it is OK to carry on using windows XP and other operating systems that are no longer supported (which means they no longer issue fixes for these security issues which leaves you wide open) are just plain daft

[observer]

..... or just plain ignorant and uninterested !   

[Togger1]

perhaps the spend on IT Security was one of the easier areas to cut funding and resources to.

[Freeborn John]

Somebody was probably whiling away their tedious hours at work by downloading pictures of amusing cats.

[Togger1]

1 hour ago, Freeborn John said:

Somebody was probably whiling away their tedious hours at work by downloading pictures of amusing cats.

Jeremy Hunt?

[Bazj]

On 5/14/2017 at 4:56 AM, Togger1 said:

perhaps the spend on IT Security was one of the easier areas to cut funding and resources to.

It has been reported that the NHS issued a warning to its various IT departments about this very issue a few weeks ago and advised them to update their windows security patches. It would appear that those that heeded the warning were spared the infection to their systems, however it would also appear that there were some that seemed to display the same cavalier attitude with regards to cyber security as some on here and failed to apply the patches which would have stopped the problem.

 

Cuts may well have been an issue, but It would also appear that incompetence and complacency may have played its part too perhaps?

[Evil Sid]

Part of it may also be to do with the scale of applying the patches.

two days ago i applied the latest ones to my desktop and laptop.

15 important patches and 7 optional patches. twenty minutes to download and extract them all. five minutes creating a restore point half an hour installing them all then a restart and another ten minutes configuring before windows started up again and a further ten minutes whilst the antivirus checked everything was ok. after which two had failed to install and had to be reinstalled which was another hour hour gone. so two hours in total per machine.

imagine that sort of time for the whole of the NHS systems, even if you did ten machines at a time it would take the best part of a week just for warrington hospital.you could not do them all at the same time as it would have the same effect that the ransomware has. Even if you just updated the servers themselves it would cause a disruption to do them all at once. The IT section has not only to keep a track of what PC's have been updated but also have to deal with people who say "can't do it today need the computer, come back tomorrow or weekend or when ever is more convenient".

Would not have that job for two gold clocks and a free hernia op.

[Davy51]

You can't beat a pen & reams of paper.

[Evil Sid]

I find that a pencil and paper beats a pen and paper every time. With pencil you can rub out any mistakes and it has the added bonus that it does not run when water is spilled on it and will even work well in space.

[asperity]

I understand that the cyber attack didn't affect the majority of GP practices because it couldn't get past the receptionist......................................................

[Dizzy]

22 minutes ago, asperity said:

I understand that the cyber attack didn't affect the majority of GP practices because it couldn't get past the receptionist......................................................

good one Asp