Virus Shuts Down Australian Ambulance Dispatch Service 222
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."
Re:I know what caused it (Score:0, Funny)
This is a frigging medical facility and they can't handle a virus?!
Uh, I would be worried about my safety going to a place like that.
I'll hazard a guess and say the dispatchers either spent a lot of time with each other or maybe they all attend similar events? It wouldn't even have to be air-born in that case. If they're all sharing a room or whatever for doing dispatching then it would make sense that they get sick together.
Re:I know what caused it (Score:4, Funny)
When I briefly used windows 2003 I was surprised at how easy it was to lock down IE.
I was further surprised by the number of things that did not work when IE was locked down and security exceptions had to be added. (Quickbooks being the one that I remember, because it took a fair amount of searching to find out what the exact rule that was needed in order for it to work, most people seemed to just unlock IE, if the forum posts I was reading are any indication.
There seems to be a common attitude about system administration that if you run everything as Administrator, chmod -R 777 ./, disable SELinux, unlock IE, or run all your server process as the same user (here's looking at you Zimbra) you have fixed the problem, instead of realizing that you have done the equivalent of jumping out the 20th floor window because the ink jet printer is on fire. You're safe for the moment, but the inevitable consequence of your action is going to suck a lot more.