Cyberattacks Caused Surgery Delays; Breach at Nuclear Power Plant Being Investigated

Yesterday, during a conversation with the other Shakesville contributors and mods about the cyberattacks, I said: "I think this is, by far, the most important story of the day, even including healthcare, because, as I've said before (#brokenrecord), healthcare is impossible to provide irrespective of whether one has insurance if there's no electricity or internet."

That was before we knew the extent of the cyberattacks in the U.S.

ABC News reports that federal authorities are "investigating a breach into computer systems of at least one U.S. nuclear power plant." It's a low-level breach, and it is "unclear if the case is related in any way to other known cyberattacks."

I still find that fairly concerning all the same.

I am also incredibly alarmed by the fact, reported in an ABC News segment on yesterday's cyberattacks, that a hospital in Pennsylvania had to delay surgeries because their computers were taken down.

ANCHOR: A massive cyberattack hitting American companies, including hospitals, part of a global assault on governments and businesses around the globe: Hackers locking up computers and demanding ransom to free them back up, the scheme similar to one just last month that spread across one hundred and fifty countries. ABC's chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross on this new cyberattack.

[cut to video package]

BRIAN ROSS [in voiceover]: The fast-moving cyberattack continues tonight, after freezing computers at hospitals in Pennsylvania, where surgeries had to be canceled.

BONNIE MILLS [onscreen, identified as a woman whose family member's surgery had been canceled]: She called me and said the surgery was canceled, because the computers were down.

There is more to the video, talking about the law firm that got hit, which I mentioned in yesterday's We Resist thread, and the nature of the attack and ransom demand, which was described in yesterday's dedicated thread on the cyberattacks.

Cyberattackers are probing. They're searching for vulnerabilities, and they're also testing what our response is to these relatively small-scale attacks.

Although I don't know what federal responses are taking place behind the scenes, I don't feel good about the fact that the current U.S. president doesn't seem to give a fuck about cyberattacks, nor do I feel good about how little concentrated media attention they're getting.

Doesn't seem to me like indifference is what we want to project in this moment.

But what do I know. I believe healthcare is a right, and the position that healthcare should be defended against hackers is probably just as silly.

[H/T to Leah McElrath.]