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Computer virus infects three London hospitals
(Credit:
Barts and The London)
Three hospitals in London were forced to shut down their networks Tuesday after being infected with a computer virus.
"Emergency procedures have been activated to ensure that key clinical systems continue while network access is being established. We have maintained a safe environment for our patients throughout the incident," a statement on the site for Barts and The London NHS Trust hospital system said.
"Manual backup systems are in use and we are in the process of restoring the computer systems with priority being given to the most important areas for maintaining patients services," the statement said.
The hospitals affected are St. Bartholomew's, the Royal London Hospital, and The London Chest Hospital. The BBC quotes a spokesman for Barts and The London as saying the virus was "not malicious" and the infection was "self-contained."
Doctors are using pen and paper as backups as a result of the infection, according to The Register.
The virus is believed to be the Mytob worm, which spreads via e-mail and plants a backdoor Trojan on infected computers that can be used to remotely take control of the machine, according to security firm Sophos.
"There will, no doubt, be concerns that the confidentiality of patients' data may have been put at risk, and the hospitals will surely be keen to reassure the public that security has been maintained," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, wrote in a post on his blog.
Elinor Mills covers Internet security and privacy. She joined CNET News in 2005 after working as a foreign correspondent for Reuters in Portugal and writing for The Industry Standard, the IDG News Service, and the Associated Press. E-mail Elinor. 
http://www.sophos.com.au/security/analyses/viruses-and-spyware/w32mytobas.html
But how was it caused? End users clicking on blatantly obvious things they shouldn't have. Nothing new about that.
http://www.securitynowblog.com/endpoint_security/malicious-email-attachments-elude-signature-based-malware-defenses
Unfortunate, this sort of enterprise attack is very preventable with systems that minimize end-user discretion without enslaving end-user productivity.
The author, David Scott, has an interview that is a great exposure: http://businessforum.com/DScott_02.html -
The book came to us as a tip from an intern who attended a course at University of Wisconsin, where the book is an MBA text. It has helped us to understand that, while various systems of security are important, no system can overcome laxity, ignorance, or deliberate intent to harm. Necessary is a sustained culture and awareness; an efficient prism through which every activity is viewed from a security perspective prior to action.
In the realm of risk, unmanaged possibilities become probabilities ? read the book BEFORE you suffer a breach.
Desktop Computer
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(8 Comments)Desktop Computer
</a> , I hope the article on my blog will be usefull for you? and we can share each other. thank you? ;-)