The HSE says that three hospitals were hit by WannaCry Ransomware

We have all seen how badly the NHS across the channel in the UK was affected by the WannaCry ransomware virus with operations being cancelled and patients not sure when they will be rescheduled. Our version of the NHS, the HSE has been very proactive to ensure that it’s business as usual for patients and all HSE employees ensuring that we don’t face the issues that the NHS are facing.

So what have the HSE done to ensure that they are not facing a doomsday scenario?

Yesterday the HSE warned employees not to log in to their computers this morning for two hours this morning to allow security updates to be installed, and within the past 2 hours internal emails have been restored but external emails will be blocked for another 48hours.

Talking earlier to Irish Tech News, Richard Corbridge the CIO of eHealth Ireland mentioned that there are still computers in the HSE that use Windows XP, and that over the weekend 20 computers affected in three hospitals were quickly isolated and replaced before they were put back online. Richard also said that these is an ongoing problem and he is urging all HSE employees to adhere to their “Think Before You Click” advice.

With 49,000 computers being used by the HSE, everything is being done to ensure that patient care is unaffected.