Global Cybersecurity Alert - There Might Be Some Lessons Here.

Published a few minutes ago - the attack has gone global.

Ransomware attack shuts down NHS hospitals as malware spreads globally; 'evidence' of U.S. attack, says HHS

by Evan Sweeney 

May 12, 2017 3:40pm

A massive ransomware attack spread throughout countries in Europe and Asia on Friday, including Britain, where hospitals were forced to divert patients after malware prevented clinicians from accessing medical records. Meanwhile, officials with the Department of Health and Human Services said there was "evidence" of an attack in the U.S.

"HHS is aware of a significant cyber security issue in the UK and other international locations affecting hospitals and healthcare information systems," Laura Wolf, critical infrastructure protection lead at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, said in a statement. "We are also aware that there is evidence of this attack occurring inside the United States. We are working with our partners across government and in the private sector to develop a better understanding of the threat and to provide additional information on measures to protect your systems. We advise that you continue to exercise cybersecurity best practices—particularly with respect to email."

By midafternoon, officials with NHS Digital, which oversees cybersecurity for the national health system, told the New York Times that at least 25 hospitals had been hit by the attack.

A statement from NHS Digital released earlier in the day said at least 16 hospitals had been affected, but there was no evidence that patient data had been accessed.

Anne Rainseberry, incident director at NHS, issued a statement reassuring patients that they could access services in an emergency but cautioned that hospitals were still dealing with the aftermath of the attack.

“More widely we ask people to use the NHS wisely while we deal with this major incident which is still ongoing. NHS Digital are investigating the incident and across the NHS we have tried and tested contingency plans to ensure we are able to keep the NHS open for business,” she said.

According to The Guardian, British Prime Minister Theresa May said the attack on NHS was part of a larger attack that struck 11 other countries, including Spain, Germany, Russia and Japan.

NHS officials believed the attack was a variant of Wanna Decryptor, a type of malware that locked down hospital computers so clinicians could not access patient records unless they paid the $300 Bitcoin ransom. The Times reported that the malware was developed by the U.S. National Security Agency and then leaked by a hacking group. Although Microsoft had released a patch for the vulnerability, many hospitals had not updated their systems.

More is found here:

http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/privacy-security/ransomware-attack-shuts-down-nhs-hospitals-as-malware-spreads-across-12-countries

 Certainly makes sense to refresh your anti-virus definitions and scan - NOW! I will leave commentary about lessons learnt to others. Note: Windows Systems updated after March 14 are protected according to WaPo.

David.

Addendum - 10am 13/5/2017

Today's Massive Ransomware Attack Was Mostly Preventable--Here's How To Avoid It

http://gizmodo.com/today-s-massive-ransomware-attack-was-mostly-preventabl-1795179984

  Here's what happened: Unknown attackers deployed a virus
 targeting Microsoft servers running the file sharing protocol
 Server Message Block (SMB). Only servers that weren't updated
 after March 14 with the MS17-010 patch were affected; this
 patch resolved an exploit known as ExternalBlue, once a
 closely guarded secret of the National Security Agent, which
 was leaked last month by ShadowBrokers, a hacker group that
 first revealed itself last summer.  The ransomware, aptly
 named WannaCry, did not spread because of people clicking on
 bad links. The only way to prevent this attack was to have
 already installed the update.

For Info.

D.