"It is no exaggeration to say that the national security is€ also implicated by the efforts of hackers to break into€ computing networks. Computers, including many running Windows€ operating systems, are used throughout the United States€ Department of Defense and by the armed forces of the United€ States in Afghanistan and elsewhere."

--Jim Allchin, Microsoft

Summary: Microsoft Windows, with NSA back doors, continues to take hospitals offline (with records copied by criminals if not stolen by effectively locking the originals out of reach for ransom money); but guess who's being punished for it...

WHO put Microsoft inside hospitals?

Was this a technical decision? A political decision? Kickbacks?

Those questions are very much relevant; Windows was never a reliable operating system, let alone a secure one. In the words of Brian Valentine (Microsoft manager): "We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security."

“We really haven't done everything we could to protect our customers. Our products just aren't engineered for security.”
      --Brian Valentine (Microsoft manager)We've already published nearly a dozen articles in this ongoing series, which relies on whistleblowers and other inside sources. We've explained some of the tactics at hand; there are commonalities. As somebody put it some hours ago, in relation to the latest part: "Unfortunately, I see this all the time. It is as if the whirring cogs in the mind of the listener break free, leaving behind a clapping spring, repeating the same thing as if it will change reality. This is especially true for individuals employed in government, they are unable to answer childish questions. And while they claim supremacy in their subject field, their inability to hold an intelligent conversation on the same reveals their inferiority. When confronted by the truth, and factual information, they go silent and then repeat their same argument which has been disproven. I believe there is something truly wrong with such individuals, and expect nothing of them, as that is all they can deliver."

This happens not only in hospitals/health but also in education (the above alludes to experiences from New Zealand, where this Systems Administrator is apparently based).

People who are responsible for Windows inside hospitals are far from technical; heck, they barely even know how this world works. They probably still think that "smart" phones are secure...

“When I told him that I'd have to make a new account to protect my existing password from Windows, he exploded and said that "anarchic" ideas like that are extremely radical and wrong.”
      --AnonymousAs somebody once told me, a senior person at a clinic insisted on Windows everywhere "and [said] that he was buying me an iPhone because my ancient Nokia brick was an embarrassment."

Well, those old phones are actually rather difficult to remotely exploit and convert into listening devices. So where's the logic in that? Windows good, Nokia phones bad? After Windows brought down an entire hospital?

"When I told him that I use a traditional mail client he told me to use webmail on Windows, "like everyone else". When I told him that I'd have to make a new account to protect my existing password from Windows, he exploded and said that "anarchic" ideas like that are extremely radical and wrong."

Oh, yeah... trust Microsoft with everything. After Microsoft's stuff handed over a whole hospital to crackers! Killing people in the process...

“My boss is supposed to be a scientist. Nearly two weeks later, I'm still shocked by his level of dogma.”
      --Anonymous"He thinks that Microsoft will be dominant 20 years from now and there's no one in [the field] doing anything about it," we're told based on recollections. "Telling me that was basically his version of the future being a boot in the face forever."

Many people have probably experienced bosses like these...

Clueless, arrogant, uncaring and eager to blame everyone else (even for their own errors).

"All of this, especially the anger, was surprising and upsetting," we're told. "My boss is supposed to be a scientist. Nearly two weeks later, I'm still shocked by his level of dogma." ⬆