NHS Experiencing Ransomware Attacks Across Britain

[Judge]

(KTVN/AP) Several British hospitals say they are having major computer problems as the result of an apparent cyberattack.

Hospitals in London, northwest England and other parts of the country are reporting problems with their computer systems Friday. They have asked patients not to come to the hospitals unless it was an emergency.

NHS Merseyside, which operates several hospitals in northwest England, tweeted that "following a suspected national cyberattack, we are taking all precautionary measures possible to protect our local NHS systems and services."

Britain's National Health Service is a great source of pride for many in the nation but has been facing substantial budget issues.

Pictures posted on social media showed screens of NHS computers with images demanding payment of $300 worth of the online currency Bitcoin, saying: "Ooops, your files have been encrypted!"

United Kingdom's Health Service Hit by Ransomware Attack

 

[Southern Discomfort]

Really? $300? Well done there, hackers. What a score that must be.

 

[Judge]

Another uptake on this event from Reuters:

English hospitals divert ambulances after 'ransomware' cyber attack

 

[Mike D.]

Really? $300? Well done there, hackers. What a score that must be.

These attacks are either automated, or semi-automated and run by unskilled hackers using bought tools.

It doesn't surprise me they'd undervalue a big target. It does surprise me that a target as big as the NHS actually got hit by this to the point where health services were disrupted (instead of simply losing some patient records or something).

 

[Judge]

These attacks are either automated, or semi-automated and run by unskilled hackers using bought tools.

It doesn't surprise me they'd undervalue a big target. It does surprise me that a target as big as the NHS actually got hit by this to the point where health services were disrupted (instead of simply losing some patient records or something).

That's assuming ransom is the actual intent rather than cyber-terrorism. I'd be inclined to wait and see as to what the real intention of this act and who the actual perpetrators just might be.

It could also be a sort of "dress rehearsal" for a state actor.

 

[Mike D.]

That's assuming ransom is the actual intent rather than cyber-terrorism. I'd be inclined to wait and see as to what the real intention of this act and who the actual perpetrators just might be.

It could also be a sort of "dress rehearsal" for a state actor.

Ah, I left out a word. I meant Ransomware attacks are typically automated or unskilled users.

You're right, this could be something bigger.

 

[Judge]

Ah, I left out a word. I meant Ransomware attacks are typically automated or unskilled users.

You're right, this could be something bigger.

The other article alluded to happenings in Spain. Though they haven't concluded that they may be related.

"Spain's government said on Friday a large number of companies, including telecommunications giant Telefonica, had been attacked by cyber criminals who infected computers with ransomware.

"The investigation is at an early stage but we believe the malware variant is Wanna Decryptor," NHS Digital, the computer arm of the English health service, said in a statement.

"This attack was not specifically targeted at the NHS and is affecting organizations from across a range of sectors."

English hospitals divert ambulances after 'ransomware' cyber attack

 

[toothless]

i hope the scummy blackhats who did this get found out for this and brought to justice....though not made into some martyr for the tons of script kiddies out there,as what tends to happen.

 

[Southern Discomfort]

It doesn't surprise me they'd undervalue a big target.

Dunno, maybe they realised the NHS is skint anyway.

 

[xudo]

Apparently, 74 countries have been hit by ransomeware attacks. The news app I have on my phone doesn't really have too much information on how it has affected other countries, or what institutions/companies have been hit.

 

[Danny 74]

Probably communists

 

[Gritches]

Aahahahahaha three hundred ****ing dollars? I have ****ing shoes that cost more than that, is that really the scope of their ambitions? Hahahahaha I got my laugh for today.

 

[xudo]

Aahahahahaha three hundred ****ing dollars? I have ****ing shoes that cost more than that, is that really the scope of their ambitions? Hahahahaha I got my laugh for today.

Maybe they know how little money the NHS has

 

[Judge]

So seeing how many individuals and institutions were probably hit with this semi-global attack, just doing the math explains the logic of a mere $300 ransom. The perpetrators were being quite expedient in persuading their victims to pay up promptly.

Of course for potentially hundreds of millions of victims much like any mass-distributed scam, if only 100,000 victims paid up, that amounts to thirty million dollars to the perpetrator$.

Uh-huh...

 

[LoLz_lava]

Ah, I left out a word. I meant Ransomware attacks are typically automated or unskilled users.

You're right, this could be something bigger.

I feel that it is automated as it was so horribly wrote and uses known NSA exploit tools so was probably sold on the darknet for say 1.5BTC beacuse tools are that cheep, this would explain why it was terribly made(I.e. Having a failsafe site address), and as most ransomeware or all are automated IP scanner. Sure the whole thing was originally targeted but it only took one person to run the PDF (PDF In Email) then it spread automatically from there. it wouldn't surprise me if this was made with one of those ransomed ware kits you can get for quite cheep on the darknet. it also wouldn't suprise me if whoever made it probably has a stressed to see if they are attacking windows boxes effectively rather then DDosing them (this would make it obvious that something is up)

 

[Danny 74]

These people disgust me . fancy doing that to hospitals.. Is there no decency in the world anymore? Complete scum.

 

[xudo]

I had a news notification on my phone this morning about this. NHS England had purportedly been sent information about a security patch which have stopped this attack affecting them a month ago.

 

[Mia]

Originally National Security Agency exploit tools, revealed on wiki leaks then used by amateur hackers who copied the code and or simply used already created software.

 

[Judge]

It could also be a sort of "dress rehearsal" for a state actor.

Interesting article:

"On Monday, Google researcher Neel Mehta issued a cryptic tweet containing only a set of characters. They referred to two portions of code in a pair of malware samples, along with the hashtag #WannaCryptAttribution. Researchers immediately followed Mehta’s signposts to an important clue: An early version of WannaCry—one that first surfaced in February—shared some code with a backdoor program known as Contopee. The latter has been used by a group known as Lazarus, a hacker cabal increasingly believed to operate under the North Korean government’s control."

The Ransomware Outbreak Has a Possible Link to North Korea

 

[Judge]

Looks like another round of ransomware is making its way across Europe again.

Keep your OS and security programs updated!

Ransomware virus hits computer servers across Europe