cyber attack on our health service and other countries

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by blue matt

:thumbup: cheers

as did the others :wave:

---

You said:
"the NHS are not under a specific attack, the attackers did not set out to attack them"

Made no sense at the time. Makes a bit more sense now that the story has evolved ;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

When you think about it, the technological advances made in the past quarter of a century have been gigantic. Those of us old enough to remember what was considered cutting edge back in the early nineties can only shake our heads in wonderment at what's possible now. However, although humans have been responsible for creating the environment in which these amazing leaps forward have been achieved, I can't help thinking that our race is, if anything, regressing as all of the things that are supposed to improve the quality of our lives become taken for granted.

I say that in particular when it comes to things like morality, ordinary decency and ethics. That probably makes me sound like some sort of prude, but, increasingly, I look at some many facets of our existence today and think that the human race took a wrong turning somewhere around the end of the last century. There have always been financially greedy people around, but there's almost a greed is good culture these days which extends into so much of our lives in ways that stretch beyond the corporate and political spheres.

I see some in this thread have said that this cyber attack was not aimed at the NHS. Now, maybe I'm jumping to a wrong conclusion here and I apologise in advance to those involved if I am, but that sounds to me as if they are, if not condoning what happened yesterday, then implying at least that it's not as bad as has been made out.

My view is quite different to that - if there is any evidence that a single person died or will die as a result of how the NHS was effected yesterday, I hope the greedy bastards responsible are charged with murder if they are identified.

---

I think Blue Matt is correct. The NHS got "unlucky". But me saying that isn't implying it's any less serious.

The UK Government states, categorically, that it will pay no ransoms for victims of kidnap. The same policy should apply here, so it's up to the IT Crowd to fix it. I'm sure they can, if their network is being replicated and backed up.

However, once back up, the fallout will be a scam of internet sites visited by employees using NHS hardware. Any abuses are likely to be dealt with severely - even if they were not the cause of this incident.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vimana.

You said:
"the NHS are not under a specific attack, the attackers did not set out to attack them"

Made no sense at the time. Makes a bit more sense now that the story has evolved ;)

---

I thought it made perfect sense at the time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vimana.

You said:
"the NHS are not under a specific attack, the attackers did not set out to attack them"

Made no sense at the time. Makes a bit more sense now that the story has evolved ;)

---

The story had evolved long before Matts comment. Give the guy a break ffs,

I've just smashed my computer up to be sure I don't get infected.

Microsoft have released a patch that will close off this weakness in XP

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by J R Hartley

The story had evolved long before Matts comment. Give the guy a break ffs,

---

feck me ! Behavioral advice from Polo :facepalm: :hehe:

Yeah sure I can do that. I know when I'm in the wrong and happy to admit it when I am - as Matt knows.

Perhaps you, Tandy and 'Kris' (sadly, still little better than a grudge-bearing pedant!) could chug on a bit of self-awareness and humility now and again :thumbup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vimana.

feck me ! Behavioral advice from Polo :facepalm: :hehe:

Yeah sure I can do that. I know when I'm in the wrong and happy to admit it when I am - as Matt knows.

Perhaps you, Tandy and 'Kris' (sadly, still little better than a grudge-bearing pedant!) could chug on a bit of self-awareness and humility now and again :thumbup:

---

Will try my best

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...dated-10413160

"decided not to extend a £5.5million one-year support deal with Microsoft for Windows XP. "

XP .. :ohwell:

There's no money for anything in the NHS nor Local Gov't.
Not going to get any better during the Brexit negotiation period either.
And after Brexit - none of us can know - yet.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vimana.

'Kris' (sadly, still little better than a grudge-bearing pedant!)

---

:facepalm:

https://amp.theguardian.com/technolo...e-cyber-attack

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vimana.

"decided not to extend a £5.5million one-year support deal with Microsoft for Windows XP. "

XP .. :ohwell:

There's no money for anything in the NHS nor Local Gov't.
Not going to get any better during the Brexit negotiation period either.
And after Brexit - none of us can know - yet.

---

I agree. We can't blame the Government directly, but it's happened on their watch that the NHS took a risk because it had to.

Remember, under the snooper's charter, organisations such as this will have access to all sorts of data. Apparently, this data will be stored securely. I'm confident.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Rjk

https://amp.theguardian.com/technolo...e-cyber-attack

---

What happens if the source code is changed to look at a new URL?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Kris

I agree. We can't blame the Government directly, but it's happened on their watch that the NHS took a risk because it had to.

Remember, under the snooper's charter, organisations such as this will have access to all sorts of data. Apparently, this data will be stored securely. I'm confident.

---

Indeed.

Having said all that, I've been involved in Windows OS upgrade rollouts I can understand that there are other reasons, but it all comes down to cost in the end.

The trouble is - old programs and systems that are still in use and relied on - but with no upgrade path - and which may simply not work with newer versions of Windows, or Office or 64bit OS et etc.
There is little point in rolling out any Windows OS other than 10 because the same pain will happen again when end of support occurs
There may dozens of these old apps that make the OS upgrade an almost unthinkable task, and of course while that happens the aging OS (XP in this case) becomes increasingly more vulnerable.
It needs money - money and time for developers to find a solution to the aging programs and money, time and effort for a massive, orchestrated OS roll out.

They really should have paid for the extended support for XP, even though it seems ridiculous.
And now they will likely be be forced to roll out an OS upgrade rollout too quickly, underfunded 9as not budgeted for) and under huge pressure. And thus feck it up.

As will other Organisations who have been chancing it because 'its all a bit to difficult/costly', and who now cannot risk chancing it any longer.

All down to money, and too little of it where it is needed.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ninianclark

No one yet knows who is responsible - doubtful we will ever know for sure - and as per all cyber attacks it could be a number of people / criminal gangs.

Bob - malware is a script written by someone to exploit weaknesses in certain operating systems , the Malware doesnt know what the organisation is, it could be your company's server and PCs - it could be a childrens school. It just looks for weaknesses - then delivers the payload - and then waits for money to be transferred to bank account, often Northern Cyprus or such unregulated areas - or bitcoin.

The method of delivery could be anything from infected usb sticks - that run a script automatically when plugged in. They could have been given away for free by someone at an exhibition or it could be spread via email.

Malware is a cat and mouse game - when the mouse is caught a new mouse appears somewhere else - unfortunately

---

Yes, I'm aware what malware is, but anyone who uses it as a means of making money for themselves must be aware that there could be consequences that spring from their actions. If people end up dying because of yesterday who would otherwise be alive, then the book should be thrown at those responsible - although, as you say, I wonder if we'll ever find out who it was.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Vimana.

"decided not to extend a £5.5million one-year support deal with Microsoft for Windows XP. "

XP .. :ohwell:

There's no money for anything in the NHS nor Local Gov't.
Not going to get any better during the Brexit negotiation period either.
And after Brexit - none of us can know - yet.

---

I'm biased I know, but it seemed to me that all Amber Rudd was interested in doing in the radio interview I heard this morning was deflect attention away from the Government.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

Yes, I'm aware what malware is, but anyone who uses it as a means of making money for themselves must be aware that there could be consequences that spring from their actions. If people end up dying because of yesterday who would otherwise be alive, then the book should be thrown at those responsible - although, as you say, I wonder if we'll ever find out who it was.

---

Given the nature of the crime, perhaps they should throw a notebook...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I'm biased I know, but it seemed to me that all Amber Rudd was interested in doing in the radio interview I heard this morning was deflect attention away from the Government.

---

A month or so ago, when she was doing her necessary hashtags thing, she was calling for backdoors built-in to software to stop terrorism. This is the type of thing that happens when there are backdoors.

Can anyone really say its worth it?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ninianclark

Good luck with tracing down some anonymous gang in North Cyprus or the Cayman Islands etc.

Hopefully this is a wake up call for the individual health boards to cyber sec a bit more seriously. They have access to free IT cyber advice from the Govt, as well as an almost endless supply of resource for this.

in 2013 the Govt placed Cyber crime as a tier 1 threat - which is basically on the level as nuclear war, national security secrets, terror attacks etc.

---

:sherlock:

Attachment 1482
Private eye from back in 2014.
This was predictable.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ninianclark

Good luck with tracing down some anonymous gang in North Cyprus or the Cayman Islands etc.

Hopefully this is a wake up call for the individual health boards to cyber sec a bit more seriously. They have access to free IT cyber advice from the Govt, as well as an almost endless supply of resource for this.

in 2013 the Govt placed Cyber crime as a tier 1 threat - which is basically on the level as nuclear war, national security secrets, terror attacks etc.

---

An over-arching IT overhaul takes Money. It really does.
Is there any?
As far as we know - no - there is not.

Governments will bail out Banks - they 'cannot be allowed to fail'.
But the NHS?
Will the Gov't - or prospective Gov't - offer to fund an IT overhaul of the NHS (or any other vital but underfunded National services )?