HACKERS HOLD NHS TO RANSON
8 Scots health boards hit by scam that demands cash or data will be deleted
EIGHT Scottish health boards have reported problems caused by the cyber ransom attack which began in England yesterday.
A pop-up on computer screens told workers their data had been encrypted.
It said to pay $300 in untraceable Bitcoin online currency to get the data back or it would be deleted.
It caused chaos down south – forcing operations to be cancelled, wrecking phone systems and shutting A&E units. Staff had no access to medical records and resorted to pen and paper.
NHS Dumfries and Galloway were the first board north of the Border to confirm they had been hit. They said systems at three GP surgeries were affected.
Four practices in Greater Glasgow and Clyde were also hit, as were medical and dental surgeries in Forth Valley.
NHS Lanarkshire said only those needing emergency treatment should go to A&E as they dealt with the crisis. Borders, Fife and Western Isles also had problems.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon chaired a meeting of Scotland’s resilience committee last night.
There have been reports of infections in the US, China, Russia, Spain, Italy, Vietnam, Taiwan and almost 70 more countries. It’s believed the malware got in via email.
One cyber-security researcher tweeted that he had detected 36,000 instances of the ransomware, called WannaCry and variants of that name. He said: “This is huge.”
In more than 30 NHS organisations south of the Border, alarmed medics were left completely unable to access vital patient data or documents.
Hospitals were forced to divert ambulances carrying emergency patients and operations planned months in advance were axed. IT services affected included systems for X-ray images, pathology test results and patient admin systems.
The NHS in Wales said they had a separate IT system and had not been affected by the cyber attack. A Patients’ Association spokesman said: “Responsibility for today’s apparently attack on NHS IT systems, and for any harm that occurs to patients as a result lies with the criminals who have perpetrated it.
“However, that something of this sort could happen will surprise few people. It has long been known that the NHS struggles with IT in multiple respects and that this includes serious security problems.” Scottish Health Secretary Shona Robison said: “Scottish Government health officials are working closely with affected boards to assess the extent of the problem and take steps to isolate affected systems
“We are taking immediate steps to minimise the impact across NHS Scotland and restrict any disruption.”
Theresa May said the Government were not aware of any evidence that patient records have been compromised.
The Prime Minister said the ransomware hit was “not targeted” at the NHS.
The National Cyber Security Centre are working to support the NHS.
Any harm that comes to patients as a result lies with the online criminals CAMPAIGNERS