WTF? Thousands of Computers Beseiged in UK Hospitals.

[cronus]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ho ... 32816.html

NHS cyber attack: Large-scale hack plunges hospitals across England into chaos

Dozens of hospital trusts across the country have been hit by a huge cyber attack, plunging the NHS into chaos.

IT systems appear to have broken and emergency patients are being diverted to other areas, with hospitals across England and Scotland affected.

The NHS was just one of the victims of the huge attack, which spread across the world infecting computers in 74 countries in Europe and Asia.

On Friday night, US firm Fedex announced its operations in the US were also affected. Russia's interior and emergencies ministries, as well as the country's biggest bank, Sberbank, also said they were targeted.

The hack appears to be an example of ransomware – malicious hackers breaking into computers and only allowing their owners back in when they pay enough money.

(continued, moral of the tail being don't click on strange pron invites that appear in your email box....)

[pErvinalia]

Ebola.

[JimC]

On the orders of Putin...

[Hermit]

On the orders of Putin...

You missed a golden opportunity to gloat about a certain computer operating system, Jim.

[JimC]

An Apple for the teacher has certainly been my golden rule...

[Scot Dutchy]

Their systems are running on unprotected Windows XP

[Alan B]

"The NHS is safe in our hands."

Now, where have I heard that before?

[Alan B]

Their systems are running on unprotected Windows XP

It wouldn't surprise me. Jeez! MS stopped supporting XP yonks ago.

This suggests that there are many 'lone' PCs out there in the NHS which are not connected to a server with a dedicated IT unit...

[Scot Dutchy]

The trouble is that the NHS apparently uses plenty of dedicated apps which will cost a fortune to update! When will they ever learn. Not keeping up to date is going back at the speed of light.

[Alan B]

Daily Mail

Where's Jeremy? Absent Health Secretary 'should be roasted in Parliament' say experts after NHS did nothing to fix cyber security despite Microsoft warning TWO MONTHS ago

Experts have hit out at Government and NHS bosses over the cyber attack which had crippled hospitals across the country despite warnings over preventative measures that 'could have been taken months ago'.

Many are questioning where Jeremy Hunt is after the Health Secretary remained tight-lipped on the unprecedented attack.

The health service faces a weekend of chaos after the unprecedented attack forced hospitals to cancel routine operations and delay treatment for patients.

But Home Secretary Amber Rudd fielded questions on the state of the NHS this morning, prompting patients to ask why the Health Secretary has not spoken out on the crisis.

Cambridge University professor Ross Anderson said the attack looked to have exploited a weakness in Microsoft software that was previously fixed by a patch released earlier this year.

He said the patch may not have been installed on NHS computers and added Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt should be 'roasted' in Parliament if that was the case.

Yeah, like I said earlier "The NHS is safe in our hands." Bollocks, it is!

And there are another '99 or so' countries in the same boat. Just goes to show the ignorance and stupidity of those 'in charge' of their country's IT systems. They were all warned but with people with the mentality of 'Hunt the Cunt' running the show, what chance do they have?

[pErvinalia]

[Alan B]

While not condoning this attack, I can see that this is a not too soon 'wake up' call to get IT systems up-to-date with the latest protection. The success of this attack is an indication of several situations:

Those 'in charge' are ignorant about IT and the importance of security maintenance.
Those 'in charge' are constrained by technology ignorant accountants and financiers.
Computer companies, e.g. Microsoft et al, continue to 'upgrade' to new operating systems which are not backwards compatible.
Instead of maintaining the security of an old system, support is withdrawn to force consumers to use the 'new' system.
New hardware is sometimes required to accommodate the new operating systems - more expense.
Software companies have therefore to write new software at extra expense to the consumer who can't afford it.
Countries cannot always afford to accommodate the 'whim' of the computer companies with their shiny new 'Best Ever' systems.
The 2008 'crash' is still leaving its mark world-wide.

Any more?

[Brian Peacock]

My internet was dropping out all day yesterday and is intermittent today. Every time I'm disconnected the browser kicks in to this silly 'diagnostic' page where they show you a picture and tell you to check all your leads one at a time - with a 2 minute spinner between each step. Finally it says "Sorry, your connection cannot be established. Please follow the step-by-step guide on the Connection Diagnosis page," and the whole thing starts all over again. It's not MY connection, it's YOURs connect mofos. My computer is connected to the network and tells me that you're server is rejecting PPP logins from my IP - sort it out.

/rant

[pErvinalia]

I found malware on my laptop this morning. The win 10 one, not the XP/Linux one.

[Brian Peacock]

So it's all your fault my internet it dropping out!!