Skip to main content

Windows 7 is putting UK hospitals at risk

The NHS is putting itself at risk of a cyberattack by failing to update its computers from Windows 7, new research has warned.

A government report has found that about three-quarters of NHS computers are still running Windows 7.

This is despite Windows 7 having less than half a year left before Microsoft ends officially supporting the outdated OS.

'Deeply concerning'

The news was discovered in an official response from the Department of Health and Social Care to Jo Platt MP, a shadow cabinet office minister after she posed an official parliamentary query.

"With less than six months before Windows 7 support expires, it is deeply concerning that over a million NHS computers, over three quarters of the total NHS IT estate, are still using this operating system," Platt said.

Questions have been raised over the cybersecurity capabilities of the NHS since it was ravaged by the WannaCry ransomware attack in May 2017. The NHS was hit with estimated costs of around £92m, with 20,000 appointments needing to be cancelled.

Platt added, "The WannaCry cyber attack two years ago starkly proved the dangers of operating outdated software. Unless the government swiftly acts and learns from their past mistakes they are risking a repeat of WannaCry."

The reply, from Jackie Doyle-Price, parliamentary under secretary of state for mental health, inequalities and suicide prevention, revealed that 1.05 million NHS computers were still running Windows 7

She noted that the NHS' migration process to Windows 10 is well underway, stating, "All NHS organisations, with the exception of one which had already upgraded to Windows 10, have signed up to receive Windows 10 licences and Advanced Threat Protection."

"Deployment of Windows 10 is going well and in line with target to make sure the NHS is operating on supported software when Windows 7 goes out of support in 2020."

Microsoft is set to remove support for Windows 7 in January 2020, meaning it will no longer provide regular security updates for the software. The company has said it would be prepared to offer customised patching and support packages, but would charge heavily for doing so.

Via ZDNet



from TechRadar - All the latest technology news https://ift.tt/2SRsDjU
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The future of Magic Leap's promising AR efforts dim after layoffs

The Magic Leap Two is now further away than ever, unfortunately. Today in a blog post the augmented reality pioneer announced major layoffs and has decided to cut up to half of its workforce, according to some reports. The original Magic Leap One was supposed to be one of the first mainstream augmented reality headsets when it launched in 2018, but a high price point and lack of interest from developers left the headset high and dry after launch. According to the blog post, Magic Leap says it will be focusing its efforts on enterprise solutions (a statement HTC has made recently as well) and shift its focus away from consumer technology… at least for the time being.  The company has been open about creating a second headset that would offer improved specs for some time, but how that work will now have to go forward without half of the team , according to some estimates, remains to be seen. Is the window closing on augmented reality?  Although it’s just one company, Magic...
Post a Comment
Read more

Airship acquires SMS commerce company ReplyBuy

Airship is announcing that it has acquired mobile commerce startup ReplyBuy . The startup (which was a finalist at TechCrunch’s 1st and Future competition in 2016) works with customers like entertainment venues and professional and college sports teams to send messages and sell tickets to fans via SMS. It raised $4 million in funding from Sand Hill Angels, Kosinski Ventures, SEAG Ventures, Enspire Capital, MRTNZ Ventures and others, according to Crunchbase . Airship, meanwhile, has been expanding its platform beyond push notifications to cover customer communication across SMS, email, mobile wallets and more. But CEO Brett Caine said this is the first time the company is moving into commerce. While sports and concerts tickets might not be a booming market right now, Caine suggested that the company is actually seeing increased purchasing activity “in and around the Airship platform” as businesses try to drive more in-app purchases. He also suggested that both the COVID-19 pandem...
Post a Comment
Read more