NHS Under Attack

[tiffinboys]

No! not by Tories or inept Labour.

This time it is under Cyber Attack. Hope patients' data is safe and there was full back up.

[Tinkers]

It's not just the NHS and it's not just the UK either. All sort of companies and countries affected.

[hermanmunster]

Looks like telefonica got hacked in spain. Telefonica manage the N3 network in the UK - used by the NHS. Half of our out of hours services are down this evening

[KenR]

No surprise that PCT/NHS Digital's PCs have been subject to a cyber ransomware attack - most are still running Windows XP which Microsoft stopped providing Security Support Patches for in 2014. The security risks have been flagged for years.
http://www.cbronline.com/news/enterpris ... data-risk/

In the Ministry of Justice we migrated the vast majority of users years ago and forced the few remaining Windows XP users to operate in a standalone mode only and not connected to the MoJ secure network.

[hermanmunster]

I'm not sure that there are that many XPs around now - most are on Win & I think, lots changed over when the support for XP stopped.

Main problem is that lack of clear advice - some areas saying to unplug everything until sorted out and stick to pen and paper - however IT where I am is letting us run at the mo.

[KenR]

I'm not sure that there are that many XPs around now - most are on Win & I think, lots changed over when the support for XP stopped.

Main problem is that lack of clear advice - some areas saying to unplug everything until sorted out and stick to pen and paper - however IT where I am is letting us run at the mo.

Unfortunately there are still huge numbers of Windows XP PCs around many NHS areas - sounds like someone did a good job and upgraded your area.

[marigold]

My husband is on call this weekend in a computerless hospital, A and E and theatres all shut. Yesterday they had to write loads of notices by hand to tell people outpatients had closed as all the printers were linked to the computers. God help them if there is a major incident in the area.

[kenyancowgirl]

I hope every security service in the world comes down on them like a tonne of bricks. Deliberately targeting the sick and disabled is the lowest of the low. I probably feel even more sorry for every single person working in any NHS institution that is affected. They are already emotionally and physically at breaking point but still do their utmost for, very often, hugely ungrateful patients. This will tip many of them over the edge as they literally cannot help, not to mention putting people's lives at risk. Despicable.

[hermanmunster]

I'm not sure that there are that many XPs around now - most are on Win & I think, lots changed over when the support for XP stopped.

Main problem is that lack of clear advice - some areas saying to unplug everything until sorted out and stick to pen and paper - however IT where I am is letting us run at the mo.

Unfortunately there are still huge numbers of Windows XP PCs around many NHS areas - sounds like someone did a good job and upgraded your area.

Sounds like they did - we got upgraded a while back, hadn't realised so many others hadn't

[hermanmunster]

I hope every security service in the world comes down on them like a tonne of bricks. Deliberately targeting the sick and disabled is the lowest of the low. I probably feel even more sorry for every single person working in any NHS institution that is affected. They are already emotionally and physically at breaking point but still do their utmost for, very often, hugely ungrateful patients. This will tip many of them over the edge as they literally cannot help, not to mention putting people's lives at risk. Despicable.

I don't think it was deliberately aimed at the NHS - loads of other places have been hit now. The NHS caught it off Telefonica who manage the network (I didn't know before last night that the super secure highly sensitive system was managed from abroad ) .

There was a prescient article in the BMJ on Thursday about the very scenario that played out yesterday, interesting if you can get access to it.