LONDON — Hackers exploiting data stolen from the United States government conducted extensive cyberattacks on Friday that hit dozens of countries, severely disrupting Britain’s public health system and wreaking havoc on tens of thousands of computers elsewhere, including Russia’s ministry for internal security.
Hospitals in Britain appeared to be the most severely affected by the attacks, which aimed to blackmail computer users by seizing their data. The attacks blocked doctors’ access to patient files and forced emergency rooms to divert people seeking urgent care.
Corporate computer systems in many other countries — including FedEx of the United States, one of the world’s leading international shippers — were among those affected.
Kaspersky Lab, a Russian cybersecurity firm, said it had recorded at least 45,000 attacks in as many as 74 countries. The worst hit by far was Russia, followed by Ukraine, India and Taiwan, the company said. Users in Latin America and Africa were also struck.
It was not immediately clear who was behind the attacks, but the acts deeply alarmed cybersecurity experts and underscored the enormous vulnerabilities to internet invasions faced by disjointed networks of computer systems around the world.
“When people ask what keeps you up at night, it’s this,” said Chris Camacho, the chief strategy officer at Flashpoint, a New York security firm tracking the attacks.
Russia’s powerful Interior Ministry, after denying reports that its computers had been targeted, confirmed in a statement that “around 1,000 computers were infected,” which it described as less than 1 percent of the total. The ministry, which oversees Russia’s police forces, said technicians had stopped the attack and were updating the department’s “antivirus defense systems.”
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/hackers-hit-dozens-of-countries-exploiting-stolen-nsa-tool/ar-BBB450m?OCID=ansmsnnews11
Another story:
Cyber attack: Nissan latest to fall victim as NHS forced to cancel or delay operations
The Home Secretary has urged NHS trusts to urgently upgrade their computer systems as the health service continues to struggle with the fall-out from Friday’s massive cyber attack.
Amber Rudd’s call came amid a growing row over whether NHS managers had failed to heed repeated warnings about out-of-date computer systems being vulnerable to such attacks.
Less than six months ago it was reported that nearly all NHS trusts were using an obsolete version of Windows that Microsoft had stopped providing security updates for in April 2014.
This left them vulnerable to the sort of attack which on Friday crippled the system of 45 hospitals and clinics.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/13/nhs-accused-failing-protect-computers-against-attack-home-secretary/
