Cyber Attack on NHS

Jaycee, stolen from the CIA?
You don't think it could be trump, do you?

I laugh when I visit my optician annually. He has state of the art equipment but his receptionists still use pen and paper and the old fashioned filing system. My paperwork is a bit dog eared as I have been going there since 1979. He is too mean to supply them with a computer but maybe he will have the last laugh with his old fashioned methods.

Maw I am amazed that you were not affected yesterday at the Royal Free and also at your local. There must be a God somewhere.

wildswan16 I agree. There is also the problem of technical failures. There needs to be greater ability to switch back to manual systems if things go wrong but people are simply not being taught those manual methods any more.
The vast profits from internet companies like Microsoft, Google etc. also needs to be better used but this depends on the people running them not wanting to accumulate as many billions as possible. They don't even get rid of the scammers. In fact Facebook is actually paid for those 'Hugh Laurie is dead' scam ads so we probably can't expect much from them.

99 countries are now apparently affected. I saw one report that the initial software or information needed was stolen from the CIA.
I hope that they catch them quickly and they need severe sentences. Hacking is so anti-social. They should also have to pay the financial cost of their crime, probably a total asset seizure, which should go towards the costs that organisations like the NHS have to spend on preventative measures.

www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/tories-cut-security-support-outdated-10413160

Somebody has a lot to answer for

Absolutely hairy scary!

This is a terrorist attack no less, on an international scale.Where is it all going to end?

What is the point of investing more money in the NHS until we sack the managers responsible for not protecting the IT system. It needs a radical shake up.

I know that the NHS introduced computer based everything in order to become more efficient (supposedly), and to ensure that our records were readily available to GP/hospitals etc. However anything electronic is ALWAYS going to be vulnerable - there will always be people striving to break into systems however many safeguards are in place. Its not just the NHS - our power, military and transport systems are also vulnerable.

There was a lot to be said for paper. (But maybe I'm a dinosaur.)

What if the data is lost forever? Doesn't bear thinking about.

My GP's system was down yesterday. I had a 15 min walk to my GP's to be told about this. They had tried to ring as many people as possible but I was just unlucky I guess!
I did have a nice sit down under one of my favourite oak trees before the walk home so not a waste of my time, just very worrying that someone seriously ill may not have been able to get treatment needed.
Hopefully Karma will get them all for doing this!

My GP's system was down also yesterday afternoon, told me to phone back on Monday. A neighbour of mine works for IT in the NHS he's home today.

Seems a worldwide cyber attack is going on not just the NHS here and I hope you will all join in with me in wishing the perpetrators a haemorrhoid the size of a space hopper each........this is the start of another ongoing war so back up everything you can on your own devices.

The crunch line is that all this mayhem could have been avoided. MS issued a 'critical' patch in March and had that been installed as advised then it would have thwarted this ransomware.

I'm wondering how long before the BBC blames the Brexit for this?

If I weren't firnly convinced of the idea of thr 3-fold Law, which means that they will get their come-uppance, I could almost wish that they would experience the need of a loved one (possibly themselves!) needing urgent hospital treatment. After 8 months waiting for a minor procedure, I was phoned on Tuesday and offered a pre-op appointment on Wednesday with a date fixed for the procedure on Monday. I was so pleased and shocked about this news story. As it happens, I think the surgery will still go ahead, but suppose it was urgent? Thoughtless b******s!

It is a truly wicked thing to do. The radio news said 45 NHS trusts are affected. I hope the government will give the NHS enough money to update and protect the computer systems.

As I understand it, it wasn't a direct attack on the NHS. It affected all sorts of systems world wide. A news spokesman said it would be difficult for large organisations to update systems regularly as it would mean shutting down vast areas which, for the NHS, would cause chaos in itself. Difficult situation.

Maybe we'll depend on computers less now? It was only a matter of time the firewalls can only keep the criminals and anarchists out for so long - imagine defence, banks, etc

Very vulnerable, mawb, really pleased paw's treatment not impacted. Hope the transfusion helps.

At the Royal Free with DH late yesterday afternoon for his echocardiogram and relieved it was apparently unaffected because a wasted 1 1/2 hour (taxi) journey each way would have been an expensive annoyance. His blood transfusion at MKH in the morning also fortunately unaffected.
On a serious level though, this is appalling , how vulnerable are we?

As a very lowly pen pusher in the NHS I got an early finish today!!!?

I do feel that organisations like the NHS haven't really got the hang of cyber security yet. They are always being warned about how out of date some of their systems are. Hopefully this is just low lifes wanting to cause trouble, but think what an enemy government could do.

I'm not sure, hackers never strike me as being very clubbable, always wanting to be one up on everyone else. You rarely see groups of hackers being brought up in court, just rather sad, pathetic individuals.

However.I feel sure something like this would be well within the capacity of GHQ, for example, so I think, therefore that the size and distribution of this attack suggests that a country with a well developed cyber war capacity is behind it.

Perhaps hackers get together on these kind of things Monica