A May 16 article, "U.K. Hospital Ransomware Attacks Show
Need for Software Updates," in Bloomberg BNA's Privacy
Law Watch and other publications discussed last week's
ransomware attacks that hit hundreds of thousands of computers
worldwide and crippled more than 16 British hospitals. Day
Pitney's Eric Fader was quoted in the article.
Eric told Bloomberg BNA the attacks highlighted the need
for healthcare organizations to take immediate steps to protect
their computer systems. The WannaCry virus exploited a flaw in
Microsoft Windows that Microsoft discovered and patched in an
update in March, but organizations and individuals that run older
versions of Windows and aren't current with their updates are
at risk, he said.
"Probably the only way to protect the organization is to
ensure that no one clicks on an email attachment [containing
malware], but it's difficult to achieve a 100 percent education
of your workforce when the malware rides on what looks like an
email from the recipient's friend," Eric said. He told
Bloomberg BNA that Day Pitney's IT department
circulated an email on May 15 reiterating the warning that
employees shouldn't click on any attachments they're not
expecting, and every organization should do the same. Ongoing
education and reinforcement is critical, Eric warned, because even
smart people can slip up and accidentally click on an attachment
containing malware.
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