NHS hit by Cyber Attack

Hmmm, maybe not as clear as previously thought then:

I have previously mentioned my mate who will shortly pass on from this life.

In the past 5 years he has attended something like 20+ Cyber Security meetings in London - Cabinet Office, Select Committee level etc.

Also in attendance were “Major” Buiness Influencers and teams from Home Office and GCHQ. Seminars were held, initiatives were launched, notices were issued. Multi Billion pound budgets and strategies were allocated and created.

And at the end of the day when Companies and Enterprises were asked to pay monthly subscritions ranging from 100 pound upwards they all said the same.

We have antivirus.

Those subscriptions included CHECKING that every piece of IT kit on your network HAD ALL THE LATEST UPDATES. It spread to include IoT devices.

We have antivirus. We have Apple

Well, the fact is nobody NEEDS antivirus, because everyone will get hit. What everyone needed was Threat Detection, and Recovery Plans, but nah, nobody can afford to pay 3rd rate IT managers anymore.

This attack is nothing to do with the NHS it is to do with COMPLACENCY across the entire planet. We’ve all read stories about Vending Machines taking down complete networks in Denial of Service attacks and laugfhed at them, but none of us do anything.

What can you do? Buy an external hard drive and back up monthly and keep it disconnected from the Internet and your home IT and use once a week and then disconnect. Then make sure you abuse Microsoft One Drive or Drop Box or Google to store another set of back ups and change your passwords once a month.

It is never about IF it is about when.

I HATE myself for backing up something that May says but she IS right. Trying to claim political points here just makes the problem worse. Everyone should be writing their Strategy to make sure they are not affected again.

And even IF the NHS had installed every patch, their IT now links to so many outsource partners you can attack them via some “Mom & Pop Shop”

There is no Cyber Security. There is only a mind set. People ignored this too long

PM denies claims Government ignored cyber-attack warnings

Theresa May has rejected claims the government ignored warnings the NHS was vulnerable to a possible cyber security attack.

The Prime Minister said warnings had been given to hospital trusts.

During a visit to Oxfordshire, she insisted cyber security was being taken seriously in Whitehall.

Asked if warnings had been ignored, May said: “No. It was clear warnings were given to hospital trusts but this is not something that focused on attacking the NHS here on the UK.”

May said the Government was putting ÂŁ2 billion into cyber security.

She added: “Europol say there are 200,000 victims across the world.

“Cyber security is an issue that we need to address. That’s why the Government, when we came into Government in 2010, put money into cyber security.

“It’s why we are putting £2 billion into cyber security over the coming years and, of course, created the National Cyber Security Centre.

“We take cyber security seriously.”

1 Like

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/board-member-confused-wondering-how-cybercrime-hacking-david-shearmon

Hmm, given @dubai_phil 's rants should I click on those links?

3 Likes

Hmm, given @dubai_phil 's rants should I click on those links?

Nah just send me a Cheese Burger & a Pint of Ale I’ll exempt you from the next wave :wink:

1 Like

A trust admitted that it was hit by ransomware way before this outbreak as well.

Be honest, @chertsey-saint . If either of us walked into an organisation that was still running 90% Windows XP, we’d think them utter fucking clowns.

Meanwhile…

1 Like
1 Like

Oh, 100%. Shouldn’t be working on XP at all.

1 Like

Well one unwelcome side effect of this is the amount of spam I am receiving from IT companies hoping to get some business out of it.

As funny as it has been to see people making Political Capital out of this global attack, spare a thought for those poor MBA’s who come up with Corporate Marketing Messages.

In the world of the Security Industry, this will take a lot of living down.

![](https://fb-s-d-a.akamaihd.net/h-ak-fbx/v/t34.0-12/18492581_1755299588064096_747929646_n.jpg?oh=d4801ec4f33c1b86defbff33a5958a58&oe=591C7D60& gda =1495099823_69780127453315a25b633a3543efdccd)

(Just to point out the annual Regional IT Security Conference opens here next week followed by the e-crime congress so this is getting a lot of lols, oops sorry, publicity)

And remember when knocking XT in the NHS, the US Space shuttles ran on Intel X86 CPU’s used to get regular calls trying to source this stuff.

Some machines and some Apps like many posters on here are simply old and don’t need upgrading as they plod along doing what they always did

in 1981 nasa sent up the first space shuttle, which used intel 8086 processors for a host of diagnostic equipment. more than 20 years on these chips are still being used to make sure the shuttle’s twin booster rockets are safe for blast-off, and nasa is finding it increasingly hard to replace any faulty chips.

in the future the space agency plans to create a new us$20 million dollar automated checking system, but in the meantime it has to rely on the old equipment–if something breaks it has to be replaced. up until recently replacement chips have been found in old medical equipment that nasa buys in bulk, but even these reserves are running low now, and the internet seems to be nasa’s last resort.

it is not just the 8086 chips that are required; old circuit boards, 8-inch floppy drives, and a plethora of obsolescent parts are putting a strain on scheduled testing. auction sites such as ebay and yahoo! sell just about everything and have been used by nasa for some of the more hard-to-find items. this search can only get harder however, especially with the current space shuttles scheduled to be in service until at least 2010 (and maybe even 2020)

No investment…

The National Cyber Security Center was opened by the government in February 2017 to provide a single body for cyber security at a national level. It’s part of a five-year strategy announced in late November that’s backed by a £1.9 billion investment.

Interesting to hear that N Korea are being implicated in the cyber attacks. Another WMD scenario to justify US military action against them?

Stranger things have happened…

1 Like

Considering that it properly did over Russia and China, I would say that it was a fucking stupid thing to do from Kim Wrong’un POV

As someone who has made a career out of spotting the bleedin obvious, why is this not yet a thing?

It’s the same kind of “oh wow so what” reaction that I saw from every IT head I spoke to for 5 years about Security.

Anyway, enjoy the day that the Grandkids Cabbage Patch Doll V 3.0 becomes Chucky either because AI decided it was time for Skynet or some Nerd thought it would be funneh.

An 11-year-old “cyber ninja” has stunned an audience of security experts by hacking into their Bluetooth devices to manipulate a robotic teddy bear, showing in the process how interconnected smart toys “can be weaponised”.

Maybe we should try and stick with XP it’s connectivity to IoT is more limited :wink: