THE worldwide cyber-attack that has affected more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries could get even worse today as millions of computer users start their working week.
That was the chilling prediction made yesterday by Ron Wainwright, the English-born head of the EU’s crimefighting organisation Europol.
“At the moment we are in the face of an escalating threat, the numbers are going up, I am worried about how the numbers will continue to grow when people go to work and turn their machines on Monday morning,” he said.
The Scottish Government is confident that no more public services will be affected after it acted to boost computer security in 120 public bodies following the weekend news that 13 health boards in Scotland had been subjected to infection by the Wanna Decryptor ransomware, also known as WannaCry.
The hackers have targeted companies and public bodies that use Windows software, and in Scotland the main targets were 11 area health boards, NHS National Services and the Scottish Ambulance Service while 48 NHS Trusts in England were hit.
Friday’s attack affected acute hospital sites in Lanarkshire, as well as GP surgeries, dental practices and other primary care centres around the country.
Ministers are to convene an extraordinary meeting of the National Cyber Resilience leaders’ board tomorrow to review the response to the breach.
A “lessons learned” exercise will also take place to help mitigate the risks from further attacks.
Justice Secretary Michael Matheson said: “Friday’s attack has highlighted the need for everyone to have appropriate and robust measures in place to protect against cyber-attacks which could strike any IT system at any time. NHS Scotland systems are being recovered, we expect them to have returned to normal by Monday.
He continued: "It is important to emphasise that there is no evidence that patient data has been compromised.
“Patients who have appointments booked for Monday and beyond should attend as planned.
“However, we must remain particularly vigilant against further incidents and the Scottish Government is taking action to enhance security, including contacting over 120 public bodies to ensure they have appropriate defences in place.
“One of the most common methods of infecting computer systems is through links and attachments in emails.
“Therefore I would urge everyone to think twice before clicking on attachments or links from sources that they don’t know.
“Police Scotland has been working closely with the National Crime Agency who are leading the UK-wide law enforcement investigative response, and this will continue.
“I would like to thank everyone at the NHS and other bodies who have been working round the clock to deal with this very serious incident and keep any impact on patient care to an absolute minimum,” he added.
Meanwhile the doctor who said hospitals could be vulnerable to ransomware one day before a virus struck the NHS has warned this could “just be the beginning”.
Dr Krishna Chinthapalli wrote in a British Medical Journal article on Thursday that some hospitals “will almost certainly be shut down by ransomware this year”.
The following day dozens of trusts in England and Scotland were forced to cancel procedures after staff reported seeing computers go down “one by one” as the virus took hold.
Chinthapalli, a neurology registrar at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in London, said: “Some people have said I predicted this but that’s not quite right, I was warning about this and saying that attacks were likely to be imminent this year.
“These ransomware attacks have been on the rise over the last three years, it wasn’t exactly something that was a shock — what was surprising is the scale of this one.”
Europol, which the UK helped set up but will have to leave in the case of a hard Brexit, had previously issued warnings about the possible cyber-attack.
Its director Rob Wainwright added: “We have been concerned for some time.
“The healthcare centres in many countries are particularly vulnerable. They are processing a lot of sensitive data.”
UK Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon, however is confident that the cyber-attackers will not be able to get at Britain’s Trident submarines and nuclear missiles.
Fallon told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show : “I can assure you that the nuclear deterrent is fully protected.”
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