NHS is planning on spending £150m to strengthen their cyber-security due to growing threat of cyber-attacks that followed WannaCry.
Amidst the warnings that Russian hackers and other countries have been targeting the infrastructure of Britain, including their power grid; a new security agreement has been agreed with Microsoft.
The Department of Health and Social Care claim that the package would not only enhance security intelligence but will also give individuals the ability to detect threats, mitigate malicious viruses before they spread and be able to isolate infected machines and devices.
The Health secretary, Jeremy Hunt says that, “We know cyber attacks are a growing threat, so it is vital our healthcare organizations have secure systems which patients trust.
“We have been building the capability of NHS systems over a number of years, but there is always more to do to future-proof our NHS against this threat.
“This new technology will ensure the NHS can use the latest and most resilient software available – something the public rightly expect.”
It comes after the global WannaCry cyber-attack caused great destruction and crippled parts of the NHS in May 2017. It also led to data being locked on computers with demand for money. This global ransomware caused 60 health trust and 603 NHS organizations along with GP practices to be disrupted.
WannaCry even led to 20,000 hospital operations and appointments to get cancelled as ambulances were diverted.
A report by the National Audit Office claims that this “unsophisticated” attack could have been prevented of NHS had followed basic IT security best practice. Amyas Morse the head aid at that time, “There are more sophisticated cyber threats out there than WannaCry so the Department and the NHS need to get their act together to ensure the NHS is better protected against future attacks.”
