5 ms·

For $300, even per machine, it seems like a cheap "mind your backup/restore system" lesson.

by MichaelGG 9y ago

Raphmedia 9y ago
300 Bitcoin equals 524982.00 US Dollar Edit: Oh, it's indeed USD$300 in Bitcoin that is asked. Cheap!
- raverbashing 9y ago
  It's not 300 bitcoin
stestagg 9y ago
This could have been a shophisticated attempt to guess how much spare cash the NHS actually has these days
k-mcgrady 9y ago
>> $300, even per machine Plus potentially hundreds of cancelled procedures, including all electives for the next two days, cancelled GP appointments, etc. etc. The lesson is going to cost a lot more than $300 per machine (and as it's per machine that could end up being $300k per hospital when you consider the number of machines they have).
- MichaelGG 9y ago
  Why would they have even anything close to 1000 machines storing data though? Not even sloppy, that just seems outright difficult to manage.
  - k-mcgrady 9y ago
    I didn't consider the 'storing data' aspect as I'm not sure how the ransomware works. I thought it was taking each machine hostage (not just the networked storage).
- yabatopia 9y ago
  With all the extra funds that the NHS will be getting thanks to Brexit, paying for that lesson won't be a problem. /s
Silhouette 9y ago
A GP in the NHS may see as many as 70 or more patients per day. Multiply that by half a dozen or more of those doctors working in a medium or large practice, and even just losing this morning's data potentially means hundreds of patients being affected if the server at that surgery is compromised. That's for a single surgery; there are dozens of surgeries in my city alone. In the NHS, GPs are usually the first point of contact for anything serious that doesn't result in an immediate trip to hospital, as well as for general medical advice or minor treatment, so the effects could be anything from disrupting someone's recovery from a sports injury to losing a referral to a specialist for something serious like cancer or a heart condition. Obviously if this affects the systems used by the specialists who are actively treating serious conditions, the consequences could also be horrendous: lost records of appointments, medical histories, test results that can take weeks to obtain, etc. There will, sadly, be nothing cheap about the lesson here. The cost will almost certainly be measured in human lives, and whoever did this should be charged with at least attempted murder.

For $300, even per machine, it seems like a cheap "mind your backup/restore system" lesson.

Raphmedia 9y ago

300 Bitcoin equals 524982.00 US Dollar Edit: Oh, it's indeed USD$300 in Bitcoin that is asked. Cheap!

raverbashing 9y ago
It's not 300 bitcoin

stestagg 9y ago

This could have been a shophisticated attempt to guess how much spare cash the NHS actually has these days

k-mcgrady 9y ago

>> $300, even per machine Plus potentially hundreds of cancelled procedures, including all electives for the next two days, cancelled GP appointments, etc. etc. The lesson is going to cost a lot more than $300 per machine (and as it's per machine that could end up being $300k per hospital when you consider the number of machines they have).

MichaelGG 9y ago
Why would they have even anything close to 1000 machines storing data though? Not even sloppy, that just seems outright difficult to manage.
- k-mcgrady 9y ago
  I didn't consider the 'storing data' aspect as I'm not sure how the ransomware works. I thought it was taking each machine hostage (not just the networked storage).
yabatopia 9y ago
With all the extra funds that the NHS will be getting thanks to Brexit, paying for that lesson won't be a problem. /s

Silhouette 9y ago

A GP in the NHS may see as many as 70 or more patients per day. Multiply that by half a dozen or more of those doctors working in a medium or large practice, and even just losing this morning's data potentially means hundreds of patients being affected if the server at that surgery is compromised. That's for a single surgery; there are dozens of surgeries in my city alone. In the NHS, GPs are usually the first point of contact for anything serious that doesn't result in an immediate trip to hospital, as well as for general medical advice or minor treatment, so the effects could be anything from disrupting someone's recovery from a sports injury to losing a referral to a specialist for something serious like cancer or a heart condition. Obviously if this affects the systems used by the specialists who are actively treating serious conditions, the consequences could also be horrendous: lost records of appointments, medical histories, test results that can take weeks to obtain, etc. There will, sadly, be nothing cheap about the lesson here. The cost will almost certainly be measured in human lives, and whoever did this should be charged with at least attempted murder.