How SolarWinds Patch Manager Can Help the NHS Avoid Ransomware Attacks

In May of 2017, the WannaCry virus took a dramatic toll on the U.K.'s National Health Service (NHS)-the largest single-payer healthcare system in the world.

According to a report released by the National Audit Office (NAO)*, the attack is believed to have infected machines at 81 health trusts-which accounts for nearly one-third of NHS trusts in the U.K. In addition, according to the report, 19,500 medical appointments were cancelled, computers at 600 general practices were locked, and five hospitals had to divert ambulances to other medical facilities.

WannaCry works by infecting an organisation's infrastructure and encrypting its data, then requiring a ransom payment to unencrypt the data and have it be accessible once again. 'The WannaCry cyberattack... was a relatively unsophisticated attack and could have been prevented by the NHS following basic IT security best practice,' stated Amyas Morse, head of the National Audit Office, in conjunction with issuing the report. 'There are more sophisticated cyberthreats out there than WannaCry, so the NHS needs to get their act together to ensure they are better protected against future attacks.'

According to the report, the vulnerability was able to penetrate the system because of a lack of patching. Patches are provided by vendors to resolve known vulnerabilities.