NHS cyber attacks

Benji

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I've heard about ransomware before, being used against individuals. I didn't realise it had becoem sophisticated enough that it can attack something the size of the NHS though. I don't want to add fuel to any speculation fires, but from what I understand the previous cases have often originated in rural areas of Eastern Europe and Russia.
The article seems to think it is no more sinister than its previous attacks and it has just wound up at the NHS by mistake.
 

BeesKnees

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I've heard about ransomware before, being used against individuals. I didn't realise it had becoem sophisticated enough that it can attack something the size of the NHS though. I don't want to add fuel to any speculation fires, but from what I understand the previous cases have often originated in rural areas of Eastern Europe and Russia.
The article seems to think it is no more sinister than its previous attacks and it has just wound up at the NHS by mistake.
It doesn't really target. It's indiscriminate.
One person receives an email in a company and the software attached emails to others on the contact list or attempts to install on shared servers so other users are infected.

NHS can claim it isn't to blame but less than 6 months ago they were reported as still using 1000s of unsupported windows XP machines, making them extremely vulnerable.

http://www.silicon.co.uk/security/nhs-hospitals-data-risk-outdated-windows-xp-201761
 

DarkSithLord

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It doesn't really target. It's indiscriminate.
One person receives an email in a company and the software attached emails to others on the contact list or attempts to install on shared servers so other users are infected.

NHS can claim it isn't to blame but less than 6 months ago they were reported as still using 1000s of unsupported windows XP machines, making them extremely vulnerable.

http://www.silicon.co.uk/security/nhs-hospitals-data-risk-outdated-windows-xp-201761


NHS trusts 'ran outdated software'



Some who have followed the issue of NHS cyber security are sharing a report from the IT news site Silicon, which reported last December that NHS trusts had been running outdated Windows XP software.

The website says that Microsoft officially ended support for Windows XP back in April 2014, meaning it was no longer fixing vulnerabilities in the system - except for clients that paid for an extended support deal.

The UK government initially paid Microsoft £5.5 million to keep providing security support - but the website adds that this deal ended in May 2015.
 

BeesKnees

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Gladders

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If there was no NHS then there would be no NHS computers to infect!
 

Pilgrim Meister

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Similar happened with conflicor in the MOD a few years back now.

There needs to be strict procedures followed ref security. An upgrade to Windows 7 is the best at present due to the amount of security patches. If you upgrade to Windows 10 some holes may not be identified so again a problem.

Regular daily husbandry checks are vital to prevent this sort of farce, and if IT is outsourced, they will do the bare minimum for their money
 

Benji

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The trouble is that technology has become a major part of modern society and the people who make the modern decisions don't know the first thing about it. Some members of the government have been calling for backdoors to be built into security methods, and in some cases thinking encryption should be banned. The first case is fairly dumb, but the second is unforgiveably stupid, you can't enforce a ban on maths.

It seems to be getting resolved now, and fortunately (literally) it has been stopped from spreading. It would be good if this could kick start some change, and increase some understanding.

Has that spiteful coward Jeremy Hunt commented yet?
 

TheMinsterman

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Strong and stable IT in the national interest.

I blame Corbyn and the EUSSR

It all makes sense.

He wants to bring us back to the 1970s so he can serve his Soviet masters!
 

silkyman

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The trouble is that technology has become a major part of modern society and the people who make the modern decisions don't know the first thing about it. Some members of the government have been calling for backdoors to be built into security methods, and in some cases thinking encryption should be banned. The first case is fairly dumb, but the second is unforgiveably stupid, you can't enforce a ban on maths.

It seems to be getting resolved now, and fortunately (literally) it has been stopped from spreading. It would be good if this could kick start some change, and increase some understanding.

Has that spiteful coward Jeremy Hunt commented yet?

Didn't some IT chap stumble across a stop-switch by registering a domain he noticed the programme was checking before replicating?

And as of last night, I've seen nothing at all from Hunt. The Tories cuts made this happen, but they are absolute experts in playing 'hide the c***'. Mrs May will be on TV later saying 'strong and stable' repeatedly to an invited and carefully vetted dozen or so sycophants, though, so everything is ok.
 
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AFCB_Mark

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Sadiq Khan has said when asked, that the Met Police still have around 18,000 machines running Windows XP. A project he promised a year ago would sort it, has only managed to get that down from 26,000. So at that rate it'll be more than 2 years yet before the Met is off XP.

Best hope no coppers click on any links to dodgy cat videos or open any Nigerian prince scammer attachments.
 

spireite

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Running XP or 2003 machines isn't in and of itself a problem. It's common for a many companies to use outdated systems because in many cases they're the only OS that are compatible with some of the systems they use. There are a number of ways to lock these machines down with Bit9 or similar that plugs vulnerabilities.

With any cyber security issue you only need to look at the human element, because that's usually what you target. Some plank opening an obvious phishing email etc.

If I ever find out who wrote this Wannacry though... It's caused me massive headaches at work, mainly because of the other clients hitting the massive panic button and wanting g their entire estate patched with patches that don't even matter. Nightmare
 

spireite

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Didn't some IT chap stumble across a stop-switch by registering a domain he noticed the programme was checking before replicating?

And as of last night, I've seen nothing at all from Hunt. The Tories cuts made this happen, but they are absolute experts in playing 'hide the c***'. Mrs May will be on TV later saying 'strong and stable' repeatedly to an invited and carefully vetted dozen or so sycophants, though, so everything is ok.

Yes, that's right. Basically, the best way of studying a virus to see how it works and what it's doing is to deliberately affect a virtual machine with it. A virtual machine that is totally ringfenced, not connected to the internet and the virus can not leave. What these virtual machines do is 'pretend' that every website is up and live. The virus coder in this case knew this would happen and coded Wannacry to check a non-existent web page for up/down status before running. If this non-existent web-page reported as down, then it would go 'great, I'm on the real internet - infect as many other machines on this network as possible'. If it reported as up, then Wannacry knew it was being studied and deleted itself. A British security analyst realised this and so bought the webpage for a few quid and made it live, instantly creating a 'stop switch' and killed Wannacry. However the sad fact is that Wannacry will have had a new variant within a few hours. It's just a cat and mouse game with these guys.
 

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