No second spike in cyber attacks is ‘encouraging’, says British minister

Britain’s health minister Jeremy Hunt said Monday it was “encouraging” that a predicted second spike of cyber attacks had not yet occurred, but the ransomware attack was a warning to public and private organizations.

“We have not seen a second wave of attacks and the level of criminal activity is at the lower end of the range that we had anticipated and so I think that is encouraging,” he told Sky News. “The message is very clear, not just for organizations like the NHS (National Health Service) but for private individuals, for businesses.”

“There are things you can do that everyone can do (…) in particular making sure that our data is properly backed up and making sure that we are using the software patches,” he said.

Hospitals and doctors’ surgeries across Britain were forced to divert ambulances, turn away patients and cancel appointments on Friday after a ‘ransomware’ cyber attack crippled some computer systems in the state-run health service.

Source: Reuters

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