Editor’s comment: June 2017

If nothing else, recent IT events were a wake-up call. In fact, they were more like a ‘strap two alarm clocks to each ear and set both to 7am on maximum volume’ type scenario!

I am of course referring to the ‘WannaCry’ ransomeware epidemic which infected nearly 57,000 computers in more than 150 countries. Reports claim that while the spread of the malware attack was slowed by Saturday 13th May, it was hardly stopped and as of Monday morning, more than 200,000 systems around the world were believed to have been affected.

European countries were hit the hardest, and business ground to a halt at several large companies and organisations, including banks, hospitals, and government agencies. Our own NHS, through the use of outdated systems, was severely hit – which promptly resulted in a swathe of nervous politicians pledging to allocate more funds to prevent this from happening again.

Ransomeware isn’t exactly new but it’s particularly scary because the virus effectively holds the infected computer hostage and demands that the victim pay a ransom in order to regain access to the files on his or her computer. Just like a parking fine, it doubles within a few days. Ultimately the infected files will be deleted.

The digital age we live in requires us to think differently about our data. We all love the convenience of online banking, storing files in the Cloud and having all our personal information at our fingertips – but with this convenience comes a downside in terms of security.

From April 8th 2014, Microsoft stopped providing security updates or technical support for Windows XP. As we’re all more than aware, security updates patch vulnerabilities that may be exploited by malware and help keep users and their data safe.

Yet Windows XP remains the third most popular Operating System in the world. It’s estimated that 7.04% of the world’s PCs are running XP; that’s 140,000,000 computers. It is simply staggering that our own NHS is amongst that number. It seems that cutbacks don’t just result in cancelled operations, lack of doctors, nurses and hospital beds. Our personal data is also at severe risk.

I’m no Bill Gates – but I do have first line responsibility for our own IT systems here at MIT Towers and if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the past few days, it’s to check, double check, and triple check that all software is regularly updated with the latest security patches.

The first thing I did was check that all the Microsoft updates on our Windows 2012 server were up to date. Fortunately they were. The same exercise should be carried out on client machines and anti-virus software. Auto-update is our friend! Regular backups of files and data are also essential.

The next time Windows 10 forces me to update at the most inconvenient time imaginable, I definitely won’t be complaining too much.

Dave Tudor Editor

Company

PES Media

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