Security News > 2020 > January > Only 6 ransomware attacks on the UK's NHS since WannaCry worm hit in 2017 – report
The NHS has suffered 209 successful ransomware attacks since 2014, according to new figures based on Freedom of Information requests, but with a dramatic improvement since 2017, the year WannaCry ransomware hit the health service.
The WannaCry attack in 2017 - famously thwarted by Brit white hat hacker Marcus Hutchins - caused a spike to 101 incidents and we know many of these were severe.
What did the NHS do to improve its security? Following WannaCry, there was a "Lessons learned" review.
The WannaCry incident was in May 2017, and the review noted: "None of the 80 NHS organisations affected by WannaCry had applied the Microsoft update patch21 advised by NHS Digital's CareCERT bulletin on 25 April 2017 following the receipt of intelligence of a specific threat from BT on 24 April 2017.".
Last year Symantec reported that while overall ransomware was down by 20 per cent, enterprise ransomware was up by 12 per cent.
News URL
https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/01/29/ransomware_in_the_nhs_survey/
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