NHS Hacked

[Stephen]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/0

[david63]

Stupid, well I would say people but that is too good for them. Don't they realise that they are literally putting people's lives at risk?

[Mervyn and Trish]

If they're caught they should be locked up for a long long long time. Idiots. And that's polite. What I really want to say would come out a bit like ******* *****.

[Onelife]

Just what l was thinking Sir Merv......The person/s who did this needs to be publicly hung, drawn and quartered.

[towny44]

It's interesting that this has occurred only 2 weeks after a Chicago Med TV show aired with exactly the same blackmail demand after a virus froze the hospital computer system.
I imagine this will be a criminal gang of some sort and I doubt they will be put off by the threat of throwing away the prison keys.
Or it could be N Korea, Russia or the CIA, or even a competitor like BUPA.

[Stephen]

More like some spotty oik and their mates in a bedroom somewhere going by the low pocket money ransom they are after. And even if the little sh*t does get caught they'll cry 'aspergers syndrome' via their lawyer and get off with a slapped wrist and a fine.

[qbman1]

Our IT geeks reckon it most likely gets into the system by someone opening a dodgy e-mail attachment and then spreading itself throughout the system. It is amazing how many people can't resist opening e-mails and attachments even if they don't know the source

[qbman1]

Of course, the fact that many NHS Trusts are still running Windows XP could have an influence.....!!

[david63]

Of course, the fact that many NHS Trusts are still running Windows XP could have an influence.....!!

Not only could, but probably did.

The issue is probably more to do with legacy systems that they are running that will not work on later versions of Windows than not upgrading.

More like some spotty oik and their mates in a bedroom somewhere going by the low pocket money ransom they are after. And even if the little sh*t does get caught they'll cry 'aspergers syndrome' via their lawyer and get off with a slapped wrist and a fine.

From what I have read/heard that probably was not the case - it was more likely to be "organised" crime as it was a much wider attack than the NHS

[Mervyn and Trish]

And the seemingly small fee is per PC. So adds up to big bucks. But I love the story now emerging of the hero geek who seemingly stopped it getting worse accidentally!

[david63]

Having spent some time in the doctor's surgery yesterday one thing that is evident is that there was no contingency plan in place for such an event - be it a deliberate attack, as in this case, or some other issue which causes the loss of the IT systems