After the May’17 WannaCry Ransomware attack, National Health Service of UK, shortly known as NHS is reported to spend £150 million to boost its cyber attack defenses against growing cyber threats from countries like Russia and North Korea.
The healthcare organization is said to have signed a deal with Microsoft to enhance its security intelligence capabilities in such a way that the health services provider from now on have the ability to detect threats, isolate infected machines and kill malicious processes before they are able to spread.
NHS Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt agreed that NHS is currently witnessing cyber threats from various nations and so determined to secure its critical infrastructure with the right tools so that its patients start to trust it as there were doing a few years ago.
The latest technology resilience which is being provided by Microsoft is said to provide NHS a ‘Fool Proof’ solution to combat all cyber threats in near future.
Readers of Cybersecurity Insiders have to make a note of the fact that in May 2017, hackers targeted at least 80 health care trusts, 603 NHS organizations and GP practices by targeting them with ransomware. This led to the cancellation of 20K appointments including operations and made the emergency services run in manual mode.
According to a source from Microsoft, the new deal with NHS will ensure that the healthcare organization can use the latest Windows 10 software enhanced with Windows Defender software giving the Care Quality Commission (CQC) regulator the powers to supervise the cyber and data security measures on a proactive note.
Note- The 150 million pound fund will be spent in a 3-year span to bolster the cybersecurity capabilities of Britain’s NHS. Upgrade of protective firewalls, network infrastructure at major Trauma center hospitals and ambulance services will be done with the fund by the end of 2019. All computer systems working on the extinct Windows XP and 7 operating systems will be upgraded to the latest Windows 10 OS by the end of this year.
