NHS could have “fended off cyber-attack if took simple steps”

Investigations by the National Audit Office (NAO) into WannaCry, the May cyber-attack on the UK’s National Health Service, have revealed that lack of preparedness and simple safeguards left the NHS vulnerable. The NAO discovered that prior to the attack, which crippled 34% of trusts throughout England, operational departments had no formalised plans for dealing with such an event, while the Department of Health failed to mandate the necessary IT safeguards, despite having been warned of the risks one year prior.