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Businesses and NHS brace for fresh impact as minister blames Labour for UK’s cyber-security failings
- Did you pay money as a victim of ransomware?
Russia had nothing to do with a massive global cyberattack, President Vladimir Putin said Monday, criticising the US intelligence community for creating the original software, AFP reports.
“As for the source of these threats, Microsoft’s leadership stated this directly, they said the source of the virus was the special services of the United States,” Putin said.
Three hospitals in Ireland have been targeted by the cyber attack.
Health chiefs blocked external communication to servers until Wednesday to stop the spread of the “ransomware” virus as officials confirmed that up to 20 computers had been affected.
The health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has broken his silence on the cyber- attacks after pressure to comment.
He said there has not been a second wave of cyber attacks after the NHS was struck by ransomware attacks on Friday, PA reports.
Thousands of NHS computers were still using the old Windows XP operating system, the government has revealed, though a Number 10 spokesman insisted other Windows’ systems were also affected.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the NHS had updated the vast majority of its systems but just under 5% were still operating Windows XP.
Health trusts across England were sent details of an IT security patch that would have protected them from the crippling ransomware attack, NHS Digital said.
NHS Digital, the arms-length body of the Department of Health that provides information, data and IT systems for the NHS, said it had made health trusts aware last month of IT protection that could have prevented the attack.
The French government cyber security agency ANSII knows of “fewer than 10” French companies that have fallen victim to a global hacking attack that hit car factories, hospitals and other organisations in about 100 countries, an ANSII spokesman said on Monday.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman has defended health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s lack of public statements or appearances since the cyberattack on Friday.
“This is an international cyber crime, committed on an unprecedented scale.
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.
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Few major problems have been reported in India with the hea of the government response team saying “everything seems to be normal, so far”, AP reports.
Experts estimated 5% of affected computers were in India, with the Computer Emergency Response Team of India issuing a red-colored “critical alert”.
Microsoft’s top lawyer has called on governments around the world to treat the international cyber attack as a “wake-up call” as he laid part of the blame at the door of the US administration, PA reports.
Brad Smith, the technology firm’s president and chief legal officer, criticised US intelligence agencies the CIA and the National Security Agency (NSA) for “stockpiling” software code which could be exploited by hackers.
“Hundreds of thousands” of Chinese computers at nearly 30,000 institutions including government agencies have been hit by the global ransomware attack, a leading Chinese security-software provider has said.
The enterprise-security division of Qihoo 360, one of China’s leading suppliers of anti-virus software, said 29,372 institutions ranging from government offices to universities, ATMs and hospitals had been “infected” by the outbreak as of late Saturday, AFP reports.
Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Blackpool Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS Fylde and Wyre CCG are still experiencing some IT problems.
They said services are open and operating “as best as possible” but asked patients only to attend A&E in life-threatening and urgent cases.
The Royal Liverpool and Broadgreen University Hospitals Trust reported their IT system had not been attacked and was operating normally.
Likewise the Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs hospitals in Manchester, Oldham and Rochdale, said they had not been affected by the attack but had taken precautionary measures to protect their IT systems.
The Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust said patient safety is being “maintained” but difficulties are continuing.
Patients scheduled to have operations today have been asked not to attend hospital unless they have been contacted directly.
European governments and companies appeared early Monday to have avoided further fallout from a crippling global cyberattack, the police agency Europol said.
“The number of victims appears not to have gone up and so far the situation seems stable in Europe, which is a success,” senior spokesman for Europol, Jan Op Gen Oorth told AFP.
No patient data has been lost in the ransomware attack on Scottish NHS computer systems, Nicola Sturgeon has said.
Eleven health boards as well as NHS National Services and the Scottish Ambulance Service were affected Friday’s attack, PA reports.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, arriving in Brussels for a meeting of EU foreign ministers, said the cyber-threat was not on the agenda.
He said: “Cyber-security is a huge issue for all of us in all our countries.
Three days on from the initial outbreak, fewer than a hundred victims of the WeCry malware appear to have given in and paid the ransom, according to analysis of the two bitcoin addresses to which the software demanded payment.
In order to restore encrypted files, the malware demands a payment of $ 300 in the cryptocurrency, sent to one of two addresses hardcoded into the software. Yet the contents of the addresses, which like all bitcoin wallets are publicly viewable, shows just under 14 bitcoin has been sent to them in total. At current exchange rates, that is worth slightly under $ 25,000, suggesting just 82 victims have paid the ransom.
Jeremy Hunt was warned last summer that the NHS was failing to prioritise cybersecurity and continued to use obsolete computer systems, the Times reported.
The Care Quality Commission and Dame Fiona Caldicott, the national data guardian, wrote to the health secretary to point out a worrying “lack of understanding of security issues” and that “the external cyberthreat is becoming a bigger consideration”.
York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which was hit by the attack on Friday, said some out-patient appointments had been cancelled on Monday – especially at Selby War Memorial Hospital – but most were not affected.
The trust said bone scan appoints had been cancelled in Scarborough and in Selby: “All outpatient appointments are cancelled except blood-taking and MSK physiotherapy.”
The British cybersecurity researcher described as an “accidental hero” for halting the global spread of the ransomware attack has spoken of his fears for his safety after a number of media outlets revealed his identity.
The 22-year-old, who tweets as @malwaretechblog, told the MailOnline: “In future someone might want to retaliate – they could find my identity within seconds.
Meanwhile in Japan, AP reports the ransomware attack hit computers at 600 locations but appeared to cause no major problems as Japanese started their workday Monday even as the attack caused chaos elsewhere.
Nissan Motor Co. confirmed some units had been targeted, but there was no major impact on its business.
As the UK wakes up on Monday braced for fresh impact as NHS returns to work, Chinese state media say more than 29,000 institutions across China have been infected by the global “ransomware” cyberattack, AP reports.
Xinhua News Agency reports that by Saturday evening, 29,372 institutions had been infected along with hundreds of thousands of devices. It cited the Threat Intelligence Center of Qihoo 360, a Chinese internet security services company.
Welcome to live coverage of the fallout from last Friday’s ransomware attack.
Ben Wallace, UK security minister has been on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme defending its record on investment in cyber-security.
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Ransomware attacks: 29,000 infections in China as working week begins - live updates
