This page permanently redirects to gemini://gemini.techrights.org/2010/02/10/leeds-hospital-conficker/.
Posted in Europe, Security, Windows at 5:21 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Leeds hospital is under attacks from Windows malware/botnets (a familiar story from many other UK hospitals)
A few days ago we showed that Microsoft was trying to make the healthcare system more dependent on Microsoft software [1, 2, 3]. Well, guess what?
Leeds hospital has come under attack by Conficker and/or Microsoft Windows zombies. This puts many lives at risk and probably causes increased casualties.
=> ↺ has come under attack by Conficker and/or Microsoft Windows zombies
Servers on the network of NHS Leeds were struck down by the Conficker worm late last week.
This is not the first of its kind and the NHS has been suffering a lot from its dependency on Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Related posts on Conficker/malware at hospitals include:
Security Links: Another Hospital Falls Prey to Windows Spyware; Another Trojan and BotnetUS Army Becomes Zombies Army; London Hospitals Still Ill (Windows Viruses)NHS Never Learns: Windows Viruses Leave British Patients to Die, AgainHow Many People Must Die Before Abandoning Windows?Utah Has Novell, SCO, and… Conficker in the HospitalsNew Casualties of Microsoft Windows?
There is no simple solution within sight, but it’s obvious what the problem is. IDG writes about critical Windows flaws of which there were many this week:
=> obvious what the problem is | ↺ critical Windows flaws | ↺ there were many this week
Microsoft delivers huge Windows security updateThe 26 flaws fixed today were off the record of 34 set in October 2009 when Microsoft last issued 13 security bulletins. However, if Microsoft had waited until today to deliver the rush Internet Explorer (IE) update it released late last month — the IE patches were original slated to appear as part of today’s collection — this month’s lot would have tied the vulnerability record.
Well, these patches were mentioned twice already [1, 2]. They show that Windows will never be secure. But it’s actually worse than that. Based on some new numbers from McAfee, Windows zombies continue to ruin E-mail with about 1 trillion (that’s 1 with 12 trailing zeros) spam messages per week. We’re all paying for this.
=> 1 | 2 | ↺ some new numbers from McAfee | Windows zombies continue to ruin E-mail
Spam volumes decreased by 24% in the fourth quarter of 2009 sequentially, with an average of approximately 135.5 billion spam messages per day, according to McAfee’s threat report for the fourth quarter of 2009.
What can Microsoft do about it? Surely it can only deliver the illusion of security that one gets from software that is shrewdly labeled by marketing people. Based on this new report:
Even users running up-to-date anti-virus software still get infected with malware, according to stats from an online malware scanning service.Nearly a third (25,000 out of 78,800) of computers with up-to-date anti-virus software were discovered to be infected with malicious code when users scanned their PC using SurfRight’s HitmanPro 3 behavioural scan.
When will the time be right to impose bans? Life is at stake because hospitals are digitalised. █
Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.
Permalink Send this to a friend
=> Permalink | ↺ Send this to a friend
=> Techrights
➮ Sharing is caring. Content is available under CC-BY-SA.
text/gemini;lang=en-GBThis content has been proxied by September (ba2dc).