The General Chat Thread (2016-2022)

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I was somewhat surprised to not read any mention of the global cyber attack - ransomware - affecting 74 countries, Russia in particular. Here in UK it has affected about 40 NHS trusts - computers locked down - leading to chaos....operations cancelled etc. Staff have to resort to pen and paper with inadequate back up files. There seems to be no solution to this situation, i.e. undoing it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/world/europe/uk-national-health-service-cyberattack.html
 
Questions your husband asks you on a Saturday night: Do I need to sterilise the angle grinder before we take it to HP (our rooster)?
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creative said:
I was somewhat surprised to not read any mention of the global cyber attack - ransomware - affecting 74 countries, Russia in particular. Here in UK it has affected about 40 NHS trusts - computers locked down - leading to chaos....operations cancelled etc. Staff have to resort to pen and paper with inadequate back up files. There seems to be no solution to this situation, i.e. undoing it.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/world/europe/uk-national-health-service-cyberattack.html
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Mainly because I suspect that this is simply a virus designed to affect normal computer users to extort money and is not really [as the media insist] a 'global cyber attack'!!!!! I had a very similar virus some while ago and ended up having to reload windows and restart everything from scratch [which is why I now use Linux]. The anti-virus programs got a hold of it and it ceased to be a threat. This will just be the new version. Unfortunately for the creators it has IMHO over reached its programming and now they will the target of every cyber security organization in the world [including Russia] and that is some really heavy [and possibly dangerous] stuff.
As for the NHS, it worked 100% better BEFORE we decided that computers were a huge 'improvement' [ ??!! ] so maybe we should learn a lesson anyway and bin the things and yes actually go back to written notes [although I admit that with some of the NHS staff I have dealt with recently it may be necessary to teach them to write first].
 
sidevalve said:
Mainly because I suspect that this is simply a virus designed to affect normal computer users to extort money and is not really [as the media insist] a 'global cyber attack'!!!!! I had a very similar virus some while ago and ended up having to reload windows and restart everything from scratch [which is why I now use Linux]. The anti-virus programs got a hold of it and it ceased to be a threat. This will just be the new version. Unfortunately for the creators it has IMHO over reached its programming and now they will the target of every cyber security organization in the world [including Russia] and that is some really heavy [and possibly dangerous] stuff.
As for the NHS, it worked 100% better BEFORE we decided that computers were a huge 'improvement' [ ??!! ] so maybe we should learn a lesson anyway and bin the things and yes actually go back to written notes [although I admit that with some of the NHS staff I have dealt with recently it may be necessary to teach them to write first].
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Firstly it is not just a virus as such but ransomware. Are you familiar with this? Furthermore it is NOT just affecting normal computers....

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4500738/NHS-hack-huge-global-cyber-attack.html

As for the NHS working better previously, is this before all the cutbacks I wonder? Hmmm... Your last derogatory comment is shameful. NHS staff do an excellent job under dire, stressful and exhausting circumstances. Perhaps you have not visited a hospital recently.
 
sidevalve said:
Mainly because I suspect that this is simply a virus designed to affect normal computer users to extort money and is not really [as the media insist] a 'global cyber attack'!!!!! I had a very similar virus some while ago and ended up having to reload windows and restart everything from scratch [which is why I now use Linux]. The anti-virus programs got a hold of it and it ceased to be a threat. This will just be the new version. Unfortunately for the creators it has IMHO over reached its programming and now they will the target of every cyber security organization in the world [including Russia] and that is some really heavy [and possibly dangerous] stuff.
As for the NHS, it worked 100% better BEFORE we decided that computers were a huge 'improvement' [ ??!! ] so maybe we should learn a lesson anyway and bin the things and yes actually go back to written notes [although I admit that with some of the NHS staff I have dealt with recently it may be necessary to teach them to write first].
Click to expand...
ATC in parts of Spain hit as well, with planes coming closer than they should. Skies were quiet last night, FedEx hit.
 
creative said:
Firstly it is not just a virus as such but ransomware. Are you familiar with this? Furthermore it is NOT just affecting normal computers....

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4500738/NHS-hack-huge-global-cyber-attack.html

As for the NHS working better previously, is this before all the cutbacks I wonder? Hmmm... Your last derogatory comment is shameful. NHS staff do an excellent job under dire, stressful and exhausting circumstances. Perhaps you have not visited a hospital recently.
Click to expand...
I have visited hospitals and so have several friends.
Example 1 - patient goes for eye appointment receives pre med then left to wait for 6 hours - accepts that things are perhaps busy so waits patiently - finally asks one of the nurses [who was by now going home] to be told discover he had been forgotten and the surgeon had now gone. Is it complicated - list of patients - list of prepared patients - ticked off list of attended to patients - simple
Example 2 - 80 year old lady has operation and is discharged only to discover that no one has made any provision for a home visit to have her dressing changed. Note on case file - contact social services for home visit. simple
Example 3 - Friend in hospital for kidney operation after which he received NO pain medication. When he Begged [and yes it was that bad] he was told [this is in a major teaching hospital] "sorry there are no doctors available at night". Again note on file - patient will require pain medication - simple again - no computer access required.He had to suffer for nearly three hours in extreme pain - had he been able to walk out of the hospital door and ring an ambulance he would have been given pain medication within a few minutes by a paramedic.
Finally my wife is now a lifelong cripple because the current 'tired' staff saw fit to ignore her neck pain and only reacted when she lost all use of her legs and one arm and spent an entire day collapsed on the landing. Only after an emergency operation [carried out in a panic during which I was informed that she may not survive] has she regained limited use of her limbs.
Asked for a simple doctors appointment to be told immediately 'none available for at least three weeks'. When asked politely to check the actual appointment lists [which of course had never even been glanced at] it suddenly seemed one was available within three days.
I have many other examples but that is sufficient. In most cases it is a complete lack of communication and the ability to fill in a computer screen is not enough
This is basic patient care and yes as my wife was a nurse I do know. Finally I did not mention 'cuts' I stated that it is the dependence on computers that is the failing and it always will be - it provides a hang up for good workers and an excuse for bad ones. Put something on a computer and it can easily disappear into an electronic abyss - written down on paper it is much harder to avoid.
As for the ransomware that is my whole point - it is NOT intended for major government utilities [who will not pay] but for average users who can be bullied into 'paying up'. The perpetrators want money not half the cyber police in the world on their case. A true cyber attack would be much more dangerous and would not be asking for money. It is indeed a money scam and it may well have backfired on those who devised it.
 
sidevalve said:
I have visited hospitals and so have several friends.
Example 1 - patient goes for eye appointment receives pre med then left to wait for 6 hours - accepts that things are perhaps busy so waits patiently - finally asks one of the nurses [who was by now going home] to be told discover he had been forgotten and the surgeon had now gone. Is it complicated - list of patients - list of prepared patients - ticked off list of attended to patients - simple
Example 2 - 80 year old lady has operation and is discharged only to discover that no one has made any provision for a home visit to have her dressing changed. Note on case file - contact social services for home visit. simple
Example 3 - Friend in hospital for kidney operation after which he received NO pain medication. When he Begged [and yes it was that bad] he was told [this is in a major teaching hospital] "sorry there are no doctors available at night". Again note on file - patient will require pain medication - simple again - no computer access required.He had to suffer for nearly three hours in extreme pain - had he been able to walk out of the hospital door and ring an ambulance he would have been given pain medication within a few minutes by a paramedic.
Finally my wife is now a lifelong cripple because the current 'tired' staff saw fit to ignore her neck pain and only reacted when she lost all use of her legs and one arm and spent an entire day collapsed on the landing. Only after an emergency operation [carried out in a panic during which I was informed that she may not survive] has she regained limited use of her limbs.
Asked for a simple doctors appointment to be told immediately 'none available for at least three weeks'. When asked politely to check the actual appointment lists [which of course had never even been glanced at] it suddenly seemed one was available within three days.
I have many other examples but that is sufficient. In most cases it is a complete lack of communication and the ability to fill in a computer screen is not enough
This is basic patient care and yes as my wife was a nurse I do know. Finally I did not mention 'cuts' I stated that it is the dependence on computers that is the failing and it always will be - it provides a hang up for good workers and an excuse for bad ones. Put something on a computer and it can easily disappear into an electronic abyss - written down on paper it is much harder to avoid.
As for the ransomware that is my whole point - it is NOT intended for major government utilities [who will not pay] but for average users who can be bullied into 'paying up'. The perpetrators want money not half the cyber police in the world on their case. A true cyber attack would be much more dangerous and would not be asking for money. It is indeed a money scam and it may well have backfired on those who devised it.
Click to expand...
You did not need to go into detail about the current state of the NHS - I am only too acutely aware of the situation e.g. with my mother's health and subsequent demise last year.....I spent a LOT of time in hospital! Of course the current situation has everything to do with cutbacks so I don't know how you can appraise the reality of the current situation without this very stark and major influencing factor. Cutbacks in wards/beds, longer hours resulting in errors etc etc. Surely you know this??

Obviously old computers with old systems do not help, especially if not properly patched but that is not the major reason why people are being treated in corridors or for the A & E service being overwhelmed so needs to be put into context.

Lastly, some good news re. the recent ransomware cyber hack. All but 6 of the NHS trusts have now been restored/working once again due to NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre)
default_clap.gif

 
creative said:
You did not need to go into detail about the current state of the NHS - I am only too acutely aware of the situation e.g. with my mother's health and subsequent demise last year.....I spent a LOT of time in hospital! Of course the current situation has everything to do with cutbacks so I don't know how you can appraise the reality of the current situation without this very stark and major influencing factor. Cutbacks in wards/beds, longer hours resulting in errors etc etc. Surely you know this??

Obviously old computers with old systems do not help, especially if not properly patched but that is not the major reason why people are being treated in corridors or for the A & E service being overwhelmed so needs to be put into context.

Lastly, some good news re. the recent ransomware cyber hack. All but 6 of the NHS trusts have now been restored/working once again due to NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre)
default_clap.gif
Click to expand...
It wasn't just the NHS or this country. Air Traffic Control in parts of Spain, around some airports, were hit. Two jets coming less than 20 feet away from contact, mid-air. If contact had been made and had it been over any sizeable city...

ATC in this country wasn't fully operational either, but that's slipped the news sofar.

And it wasn't the NCSC either.
Media reports today have rightly praised the efforts of MalwareTech to tackle the Wannacry cyber attack. The NCSC has been working in collaboration with a number organisations in the cyber security community, including MalwareTech and 2SEC4, to understand and mitigate the current Wannacry ransomware threat.

Worth reading
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blogs-feed-author/370
 
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creative said:
You did not need to go into detail about the current state of the NHS - I am only too acutely aware of the situation e.g. with my mother's health and subsequent demise last year.....I spent a LOT of time in hospital! Of course the current situation has everything to do with cutbacks so I don't know how you can appraise the reality of the current situation without this very stark and major influencing factor. Cutbacks in wards/beds, longer hours resulting in errors etc etc. Surely you know this??

Obviously old computers with old systems do not help, especially if not properly patched but that is not the major reason why people are being treated in corridors or for the A & E service being overwhelmed so needs to be put into context.

Lastly, some good news re. the recent ransomware cyber hack. All but 6 of the NHS trusts have now been restored/working once again due to NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre)
default_clap.gif
Click to expand...

If someone wants to hack, they will regardless of who they target and what software protection you have.
 
Lullabelle said:
If someone wants to hack, they will regardless of who they target and what software protection you have.
Click to expand...
Well they will TRY, however the point is that Windows XP is more vulnerable to hacking/less secure. It's all relative.
 
classic33 said:
It wasn't just the NHS or this country. Air Traffic Control in parts of Spain, around some airports, were hit. Two jets coming less than 20 feet away from contact, mid-air. If contact had been made and had it been over any sizeable city...

ATC in this country wasn't fully operational either, but that's slipped the news sofar.

And it wasn't the NCSC either.
Media reports today have rightly praised the efforts of MalwareTech to tackle the Wannacry cyber attack. The NCSC has been working in collaboration with a number organisations in the cyber security community, including MalwareTech and 2SEC4, to understand and mitigate the current Wannacry ransomware threat.

Worth reading
https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blogs-feed-author/370
Click to expand...
Yes I had already given a link into how wide the ransomware was this time. NCSC were involved in the solution to the NHS trusts situation which is what I quoted.
 
creative said:
Yes I had already given a link into how wide the ransomware was this time. NCSC were involved in the solution to the NHS trusts situation which is what I quoted.
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The NHS wasn't the only thing affected. You may have noticed that the skies were quieter last night as well.
 
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