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Virus Shuts Down Australian Ambulance Dispatch Service
angry tapir writes "Computers which co-ordinate ambulances in NSW, Australia, are back online in three of the state's regions after a major virus forced staff to shut them down for more than 24 hours. The virus crept into the Ambulance Service of NSW's dispatch system, prompting staff to co-ordinate paramedics by telephone and handwritten notes. The cause and source of the virus are not yet known."
Odds are nobody "went after" them in any direct way. The viruses and worms you are most likely to run into in the wild are the ones that propagate either automatically, or through undiscriminating means like bugged ads injected into unscrupulous or incompetent 3rd-party ad networks.
It is certainly conceivable that somebody mounted a direct attack, the opportunity to cause some deaths with limited chance of repercussions is probably attractive to a few people; but the odds are much greater that some automated attack mechanism hit them without knowing anything more than that the OS and services running on those hosts were vulnerable...
Here's the thing about locking down Windows, it has the most pointlessly complex, convoluted security policies you could ever imagine. Something as simple as the firewall can be changed in 3 THREE different places on XP(no idea about future versions), and the way they interact and overrule each other is completely non-obvious. Now compare this with iptables, one text file, just one, and it's a text file. Boom, you have a functioning firewall and if someone needs a port opened/closed, it's just a vi command and /etc/init.d iptables reload away. I swear Microsoft makes their products pointlessly complex in order to maximize the number of people who take the MSCE test.
Monstar L
More importantly with Linux you can create far more secure appliances. Where unnecessary services are completely removed and only what is required to run the appliance based server and workstations is installed and available on the installation software.
The dispatch machines need only handle bookings, dispatch, arrival, return etc. (database) and then pass that data to accounting, nothing else. With Linux it is fairly easy for a skilled person to create a custom appliance distribution, all without infringing copyright.
That is the biggest problem with windows the impossibility of creating completely custom installs with everything you didn't need, not just maybe, most likely, disabled but actually completely absent, on the machine and on installation software, all because go to jail copyright infringement.
Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
Having worked for many health care facilities over the years, including those with EMT/Ambulance staff, I can tell you that ambulance drivers and dispatchers suffer from periods of insane boredom while waiting for the next call to come in. During this downtime, they monkey with the PCs, browse some of the most pointless/inappropriate websites, and try plugging anything with an ethernet jack in to your network. The latter includes personal laptops, wireless access points and satellite/cable boxes. Solutions to this include 802.1x/NAP and even just getting the crews a DSL/Cable internet connection for their personal use. Like many things in I.T. (and life in general), the more you restrict someone's access to something they want, the more they will work against your efforts to restrict them.
In this case, I'll put my money on an outside computer being plugged in to the network.
I've never had to deal with I.T. in a fire station, but I can guess it's every bit as bad, if not worse.
Never trust anyone who takes pride in being called a 'geek'....
Almost every comment posted so far is bashing Microsoft or Windows for being an insecure OS but I can't find any mention of either in the article. It doesn't give any information about what kind of system the Ambulance Service was running.
It said, 'Virus'. That means Windows.
I hate to be the pee on your your empiricism, but the preponderance of evidence accumulated over the last 15 years leads to the conclusion that Windows is a necessary precondition for a virus to take down an entire system (as opposed to a single PC).
Secondly, if this had been a Mac or Linux virus, you can bet your bottom dollar the headline would say so. In 4 inch letters. And red type. With Drudge-style cherries spinning. And a klaxon.
Plus, the very next story would be about the spontaneous, simultaneous death by shock-and-horror of the entire editorial staff at the Register. And Wired. And boingboing.
And then Slashdot would slashdot itself. And dogs would play with cats...
... And everyone would finally get their pony.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.