Cyber attacks: "We are as secure as we possibly can be"

Monday 15 May 2017

The Assistant Minister in charge of States' IT systems has moved to reassure the public that they are as safe as possible in the wake of the massive cyber attack which crippled dozens of hospitals in the UK over the weekend.

The 'WannaCry' ransomware attack, which locks off vital data until the user pays an online ransom, doesn't yet appear to have had a widespread effect in Jersey.

Deputy Scott Wickenden confirmed on Monday that governmental IT systems, including those used by the Health and Social Services Department, were not among those targeted by the virus.

He said that necessary updates had been installed on computers that are still using Windows XP, which is one of the most vulnerable operating systems to cyberattacks, and that all States users had received information on how to avoid suspicious emails.

He also explained that security measures are in place to isolate any infected computer from the rest of the network.

States of Jersey, incl. Health Dept, isn’t currently affected by ramsomware attack that’s affected UK Gov services. https://t.co/94myYHslVu pic.twitter.com/hbSAQ72UXl

— States of Jersey (@StatesofJersey) May 15, 2017

The Assistant Minister told Express: "I am very confident that we have the right things in place. You can only be as secure as you are aware of and these vulnerabilities can just suddenly turn up and nobody is aware of them because that's what hackers do, they look for vulnerabilities and ways to do things. 

"We are as secure as we possibly can be right now. I am happy that we are doing everything we can, investing the right amount of money in the right places to make sure that we are not going to be attacked through complacency. We will only be attacked through surprise because we weren't aware that such a threat existed."

The former IT analyst also assured that such an attack wouldn't affect e-Gov's plans for digital government services, including the provision of health records online, as "...going digital doesn't mean that there is a higher risk than anything on paper form."

"There is no room for complacency when it comes to security so I think we are doing absolutely the right thing today but we are going to continue to keep an eye on security and we are going to keep it at the forefront of everything we do when we start looking digitally. We are investing more money in cyber security, we just agreed on £1.9 million to further boost that, but that’s just the start, as we move forward, security will be our default position."

A 'Cyber Security Task Force' - which include the Police, the States, the Financial Services Commission and Digital Jersey - continues to monitor the situation, and islanders and companies have been urged to remain vigilant.

The Financial Services Commission and the Jersey Chamber of Commerce have both issued recommendations on how to avoid cyber attacks.

They include maintaining security softwares and antiviruses up-to-date, backing up any important data, and deleting any suspicious email without opening it.

They also recommend not to download files and programs from unknown sources, and to only open mail attachments if they are clearly genuine.