NHS cyber attack ..

Nitefly

I'm reminded of the Y2K fiasco...

monquixote

Nitefly said:

I'm reminded of the Y2K fiasco...

Surely this is the opposite?

ewal

It is absolutely the opposite - that was money spent when no threat existed.

Axe_meister

ewal said:

It is absolutely the opposite - that was money spent when no threat existed.

The thread did exist. Because so much money was spent bugger all happened.

ThePrettyDamned

Consider my anxiety running at a high. @Danny1969 NiNite, Avast and Malwarebytes (free versions) all installed. Hopefully my computer is a wee bit safer... 

I figured, if I'm photo editing and these slow things down I can always disable them and use Windows Defender just while I'm doing that. Windows defender doesn't need to be uninstalled, it apparently cleverly turns itself off when it detects other software going on. 

ThePrettyDamned

Although Avast is still doing it's utmost to persuade me to spend £50 a year on it... 

I think when I've got a job I'll probably get some paid one, just so it leaves me the fuck alone. 

mellowsun

I worked on the ConnectingForHealth project back in 2004. Ironically the argument made for a centralised messaging 'spine' plus local data was a security one - web based systems were considered too easy to hack. And data protection concerns prevented data from being stored in the cloud.

Heartfeltdawn

digitalscream said:

4 - Everybody else on the planet can deal with this sort of thing in relatively trivial fashion.

Can they? Looking at the scale of the attack, it seems they can't. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_cyber_attack

It's not often you'll see an event that links the NHS to Renault, Nissan, and Deutsche Bann but this has done so. It's fucked everything from medical operations in this country to the Renault F1 team in qualifying yesterday. 

bingefeller

If these firms have of been using Apple systems this never would have happened.  That's what I like about Macs - they just work!

digitalscream

Heartfeltdawn said:

digitalscream said:

4 - Everybody else on the planet can deal with this sort of thing in relatively trivial fashion.

Can they? Looking at the scale of the attack, it seems they can't. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_cyber_attack

It's not often you'll see an event that links the NHS to Renault, Nissan, and Deutsche Bann but this has done so. It's fucked everything from medical operations in this country to the Renault F1 team in qualifying yesterday. 

I was referring to OS upgrades and a rolling patch regime.

bingefeller said:

If these firms have of been using Apple systems this never would have happened.  That's what I like about Macs - they just work!

darthed1981

bingefeller said:

If these firms have of been using Apple systems this never would have happened.  That's what I like about Macs - they just work!

I was going to write something here, but the Fry meme nailed it!

Heartfeltdawn

digitalscream said:

I was referring to OS upgrades and a rolling patch regime.

Agreed, I wasn't snarking at you specifically so apologies if it came over that way. The scale of all of this is just remarkable to me. 

bingefeller

digitalscream said:

Heartfeltdawn said:

digitalscream said:

4 - Everybody else on the planet can deal with this sort of thing in relatively trivial fashion.

Can they? Looking at the scale of the attack, it seems they can't. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WannaCry_cyber_attack

It's not often you'll see an event that links the NHS to Renault, Nissan, and Deutsche Bann but this has done so. It's fucked everything from medical operations in this country to the Renault F1 team in qualifying yesterday. 

I was referring to OS upgrades and a rolling patch regime.

bingefeller said:

If these firms have of been using Apple systems this never would have happened.  That's what I like about Macs - they just work!

I was joking of course!!  

Danny1969

I'm no expert but you would have thought patients records would have read only attrib's modifiable only by a piece of bespoke NHS software ........ I mean was all this important shit just in the My Docs folder in text doc format ?

I did a ransom ware recovery job for a local pub recently.... all their files were changed to a .SHIT file extension and the ransom was £120 via a Russian site. I used Data recovery software to retrieve the original versions  before the encryption was done, was bout 75% successful  ... not an option for the NHS I know but if anyone here gets done it's a neat trick 

Garthy

ewal said:

As a local authority IT service, we are under threat from the cabinet office of disconnection from the public services network if we don't commit budget and resources to eliminate all unsupported technology. It is a pain in the arse but there are always ways of dealing with legacy systems etc. I'm surprised that the same rules don't appear to apply to NHS Trusts.

Maybe it just isn't that straight forward with an MRI scanner.

digitalscream

Garthy said:

ewal said:

As a local authority IT service, we are under threat from the cabinet office of disconnection from the public services network if we don't commit budget and resources to eliminate all unsupported technology. It is a pain in the arse but there are always ways of dealing with legacy systems etc. I'm surprised that the same rules don't appear to apply to NHS Trusts.

Maybe it just isn't that straight forward with an MRI scanner.

Then how come a number of the NHS Trusts have managed it perfectly well, and avoided this whole incident?

That proves that it's a) possible, and b) possible within budget. The fact that most Trusts didn't bother is down to incompetence, pure and simple. Last night I was talking to a couple of friends from school who also happen to be doctors within the NHS, and they're pretty angry about the whole thing because the prevailing attitude is "Ahhh, it'll be fine, don't worry", and there are no technical reasons why it hasn't been done.

Jimbro66

ThePrettyDamned said:

Consider my anxiety running at a high. @Danny1969 NiNite, Avast and Malwarebytes (free versions) all installed. Hopefully my computer is a wee bit safer... 

I figured, if I'm photo editing and these slow things down I can always disable them and use Windows Defender just while I'm doing that. Windows defender doesn't need to be uninstalled, it apparently cleverly turns itself off when it detects other software going on. 

If you are using a stand-alone version of Lightroom, rather than CC, you can simply disable your internet connection and edit offline. Then it is safe to disable the security applications temporarily to minimise any slow-down whilst editing. That is just one of the reasons I have resisted Adobe's pressure to go over to CC and all my image files are still stored, and backed up, locally and off-site - not on a fluffy cloud.

Axe_meister

It comes down to the fact that the private sector can attract the best IT managers, leaving the dregs to the NHS. Yes there will be some good ones for whom the NHS fits into their life choices and those were the trusts that had no problems

ThePrettyDamned

Jimbro66 said:

ThePrettyDamned said:

Consider my anxiety running at a high. @Danny1969 NiNite, Avast and Malwarebytes (free versions) all installed. Hopefully my computer is a wee bit safer... 

I figured, if I'm photo editing and these slow things down I can always disable them and use Windows Defender just while I'm doing that. Windows defender doesn't need to be uninstalled, it apparently cleverly turns itself off when it detects other software going on. 

If you are using a stand-alone version of Lightroom, rather than CC, you can simply disable your internet connection and edit offline. Then it is safe to disable the security applications temporarily to minimise any slow-down whilst editing. That is just one of the reasons I have resisted Adobe's pressure to go over to CC and all my image files are still stored, and backed up, locally and off-site - not on a fluffy cloud.

I'm Lightroom cc - as far as I know it's not really for backup unless you pay for extra space, so I still have a couple of hard drives for physical backup of raw, export and the lr.cat.

It does work with the Internet off, as I sync very little to the cloud anyway, so I could do that. I just put 6mp exports for web and social media onto the cloud, and only if I know I want to share it. 

Jalapeno

Axe_meister said:

I know a number of project managers/IT consultants (myself included) who got burnt on the NHS project for telling the truth and not following the Party line.

The chap running it was a totally arrogant knobber IIRC