The cyber-attack on the NHS is likely part of a global assault on vulnerable computers. The reason many are vulnerable is because a group known as The Shadow Brokers released powerful hacking tools in April. Hacking tools which they allegedly stole from America’s National Security Agency (NSA).
The NHS is even more vulnerable because it’s running Windows XP computers that haven’t been updated. Despite the government being warned of potential risks in 2015.
So this attack is a completely avoidable case of weak and unreliable management. But rather than explaining himself, the man in charge of the NHS has gone into hiding. And that man is Jeremy Hunt.
In hiding
People are once again unable to believe that Hunt is not owning his mistakes. Because this is a colossal fuck-up.
Jeremy Hunt is accountable for security flaws in #nhscyberattack. This should've been addressed system-wide https://t.co/F37dxw4G5T pic.twitter.com/uplg1XV8Yz
— Ben White (@drbenwhite) May 12, 2017
Strong and stable Jeremy Hunt shows strong and stable leadership by hiding from the public after the NHS is hacked. Also, strong and stable
— Matt Zarb-Cousin (@mattzarb) May 13, 2017
Jeremy Hunt won't want you to share this. The #nhscyberattack is partly the result of this disgraceful underfunding. Please RT pic.twitter.com/6ctwg886aa
— NHS Million (@NHSMillion) May 13, 2017
Amber Rudd answering questions on cyber attack on NHS as Jeremy Hunt doesn't work weekends. If Thersea May doesn't sack him she's as inept
— Will Black 🍓🍄🚀 (@WillBlackWriter) May 13, 2017
Weak and failing
This is not the first time Hunt has been accused of avoided accountability. On 12 May he escaped in a car rather than answer Labour’s West Streeting about an A&E closure. On 13 May Amber Rudd answered questions on the NHS cyber-attack instead of him.
But why do politicians like Theresa May and Hunt avoid answering questions? And repeat slogans like ‘strong and stable leadership’? Perhaps because, as this catastrophic hack shows, they actually offer anything but.
These people have let the NHS run out-dated and vulnerable computers for two years. So the machines that the NHS relies on are literally weak and insecure. And now the price is being paid for this weakness.
But it’s also a price the Tories may have to pay on 8 June, if people vote for them to loss their grip on our most valuable institution.
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Featured image via YouTube
