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cyber attack on our health service and other countries
I think the media are holding back on how severe this attack is.
Here are some quotes going around online:
I'm a doctor in one of the affected hospitals, a major trauma center in London. Everything has gone down. No blood results, no radiology images, there's no group specific blood available. They've declared an internal major incident, the hospital is diverting major trauma and stroke patients. All elective surgery was cancelled from about 1pm. We're not doing anything in theatre that's not life or limb threatening. There will almost certainly be deaths as a result of this
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I was working on the wards this morning, currently in the hospital library. Half-tempted to see how the clinical services are coping but I know it'll be chaotic enough already.
SO MUCH is on those computer systems. Appointments, treatment plans, scan results; some hospitals have gone completely computer-based and use it for patient notes & prescriptions.
Unless this is sorted very quickly, there will be patient death and suffering across the country. The people responsible are holding thousands of vulnerable people hostage and should be treated as terrorists.
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This is severely affecting service delivery in the major trauma centre I work at. From the simplest thing like viewing a CT scan or blood results, to reading patient notes, even organising safe discharges of patients in the hospital. This is the equivalent of driving a bus up to the hospital doors and barricading the entrances. It is jeopardising the wellbeing of our patients. We are responding by working around the problem - paper notes, hand delivered requests and results, more doctors and nurses working overtime (who already work overtime).
Good luck living with yourselves lads. However much money you get. Edit - although I have just read:
a) It's not specific to the NHS - they are just victims. It is a worm and no conscious decision has been made to attack the NHS. This is just very bad luck. (and piss poor public sector IT)
b) It is spreading through a vulnerability in the Microsoft LAN file sharing protocol.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C_omQ0gXkAQkWsT.jpg
Windows 7 PC's are vulnerable apparently.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
From the comments, and map on the news, This appears to be English NHS.
NHS Wales must be on a different system.
edit: I don't mean to gloat about being in Wales here!!
Hope they learn to secure data from this.
Don't these big orgs back up their data?
On something like life-critical patient records, this should be a daily task (at least!)
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Jeez.
Looks lie a crypto-locker kind of infection.
Spreads like absolute wildfire and will genuinely wipe out all data it gets access to 'unless ransom is paid' - which is absolutely no guarantee/solution anyway.
Possibly unrecoverable on MS Server OS either way.
Major, major f*cked-ness.
If one was cynical and imagined that 'TPTB' UK wanted rid of the NHS. Oh .. here's another big nail.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
I've had a couple of clients caught with this type of crypto locker infection over the last couple of years. it's a bastard. all files / photos locked and encrypted.
generally they want about £500 to unlock them. The cases I've assisted meant full format of the hard drive and total data loss rather than risk sending money for nothing and for piece of mind, although some of these 'crooks' I believe do honour the payment.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
bobh
From the comments, and map on the news, This appears to be English NHS.
NHS Wales must be on a different system.
edit: I don't mean to gloat about being in Wales here!!
Hope they learn to secure data from this.
Don't these big orgs back up their data?
On something like life-critical patient records, this should be a daily task (at least!)
Thank god us folk in Wales haven't had them computer thingy's ,all that electricity was always going to create trouble
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vimana.
Jeez.
Looks lie a crypto-locker kind of infection.
Spreads like absolute wildfire and will genuinely wipe out all data it gets access to 'unless ransom is paid' - which is absolutely no guarantee/solution anyway.
Possibly unrecoverable on MS Server OS either way.
Major, major f*cked-ness.
If one was cynical and imagined that 'TPTB' UK wanted rid of the NHS. Oh .. here's another big nail.
They just said on the news that it's just going to keep spreading until it's worldwide, when I was trying to get rid of that virus before I read loads of stories about people being infected with things since Microsoft installed an update with all their spying settings, I think it was their spying I was actually trying to get rid of all that time, it kept on leaving a connection open so anything could get in, I knew it was not right.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
They want payment in bitcoin.
Coincidence that the value of bitcoins went through the roof recently?
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TH63
They want payment in bitcoin.
Coincidence that the value of bitcoins went through the roof recently?
And the colonel was banging on about liquidising his. :sherlock:
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mrs Steve R
They just said on the news that it's just going to keep spreading until it's worldwide, when I was trying to get rid of that virus before I read loads of stories about people being infected with things since Microsoft installed an update with all their spying settings, I think it was their spying I was actually trying to get rid of all that time, it kept on leaving a connection open so anything could get in, I knew it was not right.
microsoft updates can be treacherous. as a company they have created so much good but can be so bad.
the latest win 10 upgrade (creative edition i think) uses stealth to get people to use the Edge browser, those who still stick with IE have a new tab option that is Edge and it's a fixed feature. The conspiratists will say Edge collects more data, I think it probabbly does.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Michael Morris
I've had a couple of clients caught with this type of crypto locker infection over the last couple of years. it's a bastard. all files / photos locked and encrypted.
generally they want about £500 to unlock them. The cases I've assisted meant full format of the hard drive and total data loss rather than risk sending money for nothing and for piece of mind, although some of these 'crooks' I believe do honour the payment.
From memory, on a PC by PC basis! - with time! - it is recoverable , using utils that can restore 'shadow copy' I'm sure I remember a few successes a couple of years back when a version of crypto locker was doing the rounds.
It was hugely time consuming on a PC by PC basis, and as you say - on client/personal machines.
As I recall MS Server OS is not recoverable.
This damage in the NHS will affect any/all of their MS Server machines. Unrecoverable? If so .. feck ..
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
itkman
And the colonel was banging on about liquidising his. :sherlock:
Mate, after having many data-loss troubles in the past you could nuke my PC from orbit and I'd still be able to recover all my essential files from a variety of sources.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
is it really a attack though ? ? ?
surely the " Ransomware malware " that has spread in the NHS is just random, yes its got behind the firewall of the NHS, but they are not really being attacked
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
blue matt
is it really a attack though ? ? ?
surely the " Ransomware malware " that has spread in the NHS is just random, yes its got behind the firewall of the NHS, but they are not really being attacked
Maybe someone logged onto footymad in their lunch break?
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TH63
Maybe someone logged onto footymad in their lunch break?
:hehe:
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TH63
Maybe someone logged onto footymad in their lunch break?
:hehe:
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
blue matt
is it really a attack though ? ? ?
surely the " Ransomware malware " that has spread in the NHS is just random, yes its got behind the firewall of the NHS, but they are not really being attacked
??!
Ask the NHS to call Matt - to calm them down.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
TH63
Maybe someone logged onto footymad in their lunch break?
:hehe:
Fake Nooos.
It is not that bad
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vimana.
??!
Ask the NHS to call Matt - to calm them down.
I m sure you know what i mean
the NHS are not under a specific attack, the attackers did not set out to attack them
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
blue matt
I m sure you know what i mean
the NHS are not under a specific attack, the attackers did not set out to attack them
Nope. Don't get what you mean?
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Vimana.
Nope. Don't get what you mean?
Look mate, blue matt was best man at the NHS's wedding and the NHS specifically told him that if it ever felt under attack it would call him for assistance immediately so ergo, this is not an attack.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Michael Morris
microsoft updates can be treacherous. as a company they have created so much good but can be so bad.
the latest win 10 upgrade (creative edition i think) uses stealth to get people to use the Edge browser, those who still stick with IE have a new tab option that is Edge and it's a fixed feature. The conspiratists will say Edge collects more data, I think it probabbly does.
I nearly destroyed my laptop trying to stop it, I still don't think it's right, haven't done any updates for ages in case they put any more crap in.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Colonel Cærdiffi
Look mate, blue matt was best man at the NHS's wedding and the NHS specifically told him that if it ever felt under attack it would call him for assistance immediately so ergo, this is not an attack.
Oooof! Jeez.. Thanks. :thumbup:
Pheew!
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
What an absolutely ****ing horrible thing to do and target. I hope the private sector relinqueshes its resources as best it can to help in whatever way it can.
I don't care when they target people for money but to stop and prevent medical care to people is as low as it gets.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Mrs Steve R
I nearly destroyed my laptop trying to stop it, I still don't think it's right, haven't done any updates for ages in case they put any more crap in.
Microsoft have already patched this particular vunerability in a recent update. The NHS trusts haven't updated, so this ransomware has made it in.
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Re: cyber attack on our health service and other countries
It's not a targeted attack on the NHS. They just happen to have lots of machines that haven't had any security updates applied since at least March.
Some previous Crypto Ransomware has been cracked previously by anti virus companies and security types. Hopefully this variant will be cracked as well.