WannaCry ransomware disrupted the computer systems at NHS on May 11th, 2017 and this made the hospital authorities stop digital update of patient records for a couple of weeks and instead switch to manual work.
Very recently, Britain government reacted to this cyber mayhem and announced an action plan to make the NHS more resilient to cyber attacks. They are planning to include some further investment to strengthen the systems and are in an intention to make hospital chief’s more accountable for all IT related troubles.
Lord O’Shaughnessy, health minister of England announced an immediate fund of 21 million pounds on Wednesday and added that this will be an initial fund release to strengthen cyber defenses at some big trauma centers.
Referring to the Wannacry Virus that encrypted the digital systems at NHS, the health minister announced that the NHS Digital, a key agency to deal with cyber preparedness in the NHS, will from now on broadcast alerts about cyber threats and will provide a hotline for dealing with the incidents.
The minister added that NHS Digital will from now on share the best practices in the industry with the hospital authorities and will carry out on-site assessments of cyber defenses.
Cybersecurity Insiders has learned from its sources that NHS England has about 70,000 running on Windows XP, and has more than 1.5 million devices connected to the internet.
More details are awaited!
