Security News

Unmanned drones to slash NHS delivery times to one-fifth of road 'n' rail transport
2020-05-26 14:41

Remote-control drones are to be used to deliver coronavirus testing kits to a remote Scottish hospital - and they're being flown outside of the operators' direct line of sight. Backed by the local NHS trust, drone firm Skyports will fly drones between the Isle of Mull and Oban, the closest town on the Scottish mainland.

Unmanned drones to slash NHS delivery times to one-fifth of road 'n' rail transport
2020-05-26 14:41

Remote-control drones are to be used to deliver coronavirus testing kits to a remote Scottish hospital - and they're being flown outside of the operators' direct line of sight. Backed by the local NHS trust, drone firm Skyports will fly drones between the Isle of Mull and Oban, the closest town on the Scottish mainland.

Open letter from digital rights groups to UK health secretary questions big tech's role in NHS COVID-19 data store
2020-05-19 11:55

A broad-based campaign group has written to UK health secretary Matt Hancock calling for greater openness in the government's embrace of private-sector tech companies contracted to provide a data store and dashboards as part of the NHS response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Campaign groups including Liberty, openDemocracy and Privacy International have now written to Hancock saying that promises of openness about the role of multiple private-sector tech firms in handling the health data of millions of UK citizens have not been fulfilled.

Open letter from digital rights groups to UK health secretary questions big tech's role in NHS COVID-19 data store
2020-05-19 11:55

A broad-based campaign group has written to UK health secretary Matt Hancock calling for greater openness in the government's embrace of private-sector tech companies contracted to provide a data store and dashboards as part of the NHS response to the COVID-19 outbreak. Campaign groups including Liberty, openDemocracy and Privacy International have now written to Hancock saying that promises of openness about the role of multiple private-sector tech firms in handling the health data of millions of UK citizens have not been fulfilled.

Leaked NHS Docs Reveal Roadmap, Concerns Around Contact-Tracing App
2020-05-13 19:07

The NHS app is no exception, with detractors concerned about how the information it collects could be used. The leaked NHS documents, reported by Wired, show that the officials behind the initiative are also concerned - specifically about how unverified information could be used.

Academics demand answers from NHS over potential data timebomb ticking inside new UK contact-tracing app
2020-04-29 14:48

A group of nearly 175 UK academics has criticised the NHS's planned COVID-19 contact-tracing app for a design choice they say could endanger users by creating a centralised store of sensitive health and travel data about them. The app will emit an electronic ID from your phone and receive the IDs of other phones with the app installed.

WannaCry ransomware attack on NHS could have triggered NATO reaction, says German cybergeneral
2020-02-03 09:15

Western military alliance NATO could have reacted with force to the 2017 WannaCry ransomware outbreak that locked up half of Britain's NHS, Germany's top cybergeneral has said. During a panel discussion about military computer security, Major General Juergen Setzer, the Bundeswehr's chief information security officer, admitted that NATO's secretary-general had floated the idea of a military response to the software nasty.

WannaCry ransomware attack on NHS could have triggered NATO reaction, says German cybergeneral
2020-02-03 09:15

Western military alliance NATO could have reacted with force to the 2017 WannaCry ransomware outbreak that locked up half of Britain's NHS, Germany's top cybergeneral has said. During a panel discussion about military computer security, Major General Juergen Setzer, the Bundeswehr's chief information security officer, admitted that NATO's secretary-general had floated the idea of a military response to the software nasty.

Only 6 ransomware attacks on the UK's NHS since WannaCry worm hit in 2017 – report
2020-01-29 14:03

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.

Radio ham who sipped NHS pager messages then streamed them via webcam may have committed a crime
2019-10-31 16:09

Our old friend the Investigatory Powers Act says so A radio ham has been caught eavesdropping on NHS medics' pager messages, translating the signals into text while broadcasting them on the...