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Where it is quite unusual to be infected by such a malicious virus, I am assuming by the scale of the damage, that there was a) no data-handling policy in place (stupid) b) no firewall or anti-virus protection (incompetent) and c)no backup procedures (negligent). There is basic technology you can buy off the shelf at pc world that will stop these things happening - doh.

- A Hau, S London, Brixton, UK

It does seem that the Apple users who have posted can't decide between themselves how many viruses are out there!

I think this supports Jim's statement to a degree.

- Anne, Brighton

British morons again surpassed themselves in stupidity

- B Obama, United States

As long as people continue to make comments like that left by Jim in London (who evidently does not have the slightest idea what he's talking about), Windows users will continue to believe that antivirus technology can protect them from the hundreds of thousands of malware programs that ONLY target WINDOWS!

"And why do users of both the operating systems (Mac and Linux) naively think there are no viruses out there which could affect them!" ... simple answer ...

BECAUSE THERE ARE VIRTUALLY NO MAC AND LINUX VIRUSES OUT THERE BONEHEAD!

- Otis2, Halifax, Canada

Jim, without entering any Windows v Mac debate, there are simply no Mac OS X viruses FACT. As for Apple users being mugs with poorly performing and poncy software, that's really one of the most poorly written critiques I have ever seen. Can you list some Mac software you think is poncy and poorly performing with some sort of explanation of your reasoning?

- James, London

I noticed this story elsewhere and wanted to know a little bit more, after looking deeper into this Ealing council appear to have a managed service provided by Serco.....

So why not go and have a look at your SLA with them.

- Bae, UK

"What are council workers doing plugging un-authorised equipment into computer systems without even the most basic of virus scans?"

It doesn't say anywhere the equipment was unauthorised, nor does it say the systems didn't perform virus scanning.

Most Councils already have very tight controls employing a combination of advanced virus scanning/reporting as well as strict policies outlining exactly what can and can't be introduced to the network. Clearly this one didn't.

"Considering the amount the government pays to buy even the simplest of machines"

How much - come on lets hear the figures, governments never think so far ahead as to buy PC's and laptops in bulk do they - no surely not...

I suppose you'd have every council in England back to pen and paper as the primary method of data entry/analysis etc asap.

- Matt, Truro

"And why do users of both the operating systems naively think there are no viruses out there which could affect them!
"

Apple has less than 60 viruses (not all of them affecting the current system), Microsoft 250,000!

- W R Stevenson, London SE26

Why wasn't I told? Potentially free parking in the town centre for weeks! Hang on, Ealing town centre is rubbish.

- James Hearn, Ealing

And if you disable the USB ports - how do you plug a camera in to download the photographs which the engineering dept / social services dept / other dept have taken which are evidence in a court case?

Don't say it should be on 35mm film - it costs a fortune if you need 10 people to each have a copy of 15 prints!

- Peter C-H, London, UK

I beggars belief that the Ealing council did not have a basic Anti Virus program with Access Control program running that would scan USB sticks, and all plug in devices. Most commercial Anti Virus programs have this feature and it certainly is quite simple to set up.
Anil Chatterjee sums it up correctly and says "Lessons will be learned", but how many more times are we going to here this when the bloated Public Sector,"cocks up".

- Lloyd, Glan Conwy UK.

Windows has flaws, butApple users are mugs who dumbly pay through the nose for poorly performing poncy design. And free Linux comes with huge support costs because software simply doesn't integrate as well as on Windows. Don't even start on getting peripherals to work with Linux!

And why do users of both the operating systems naively think there are no viruses out there which could affect them!

- Jim, London

Yes, Microsoft's buggy spaghetti code will one day bring the whole world crashing down.

The Apple Store in Regent St and elsewhere will be just fine then everyone can pop down there and buy a decent computer system and rebuild their lives.

Or do it now, before that happens...

- Jon T, UK, Wales

I think Anil Chatterjee of Manchester is nearer the real mark; Why do they need them? And why did the "unknown" employee plug a privately owned USB stick into this computer?
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With any government or local council database; private facts and details are worth a lot of money on the open market etc?

The person that used that memory stick on that Ealing Council’s Database; could just have had criminal intentions in-mind, such as gaining private information of residents of the Borough, and had not intended to infect the Borough’s computers at all, that was an error on his or her part etc.

Computer Crime will rise even more; once everyone’s private details are Data-based in full; and criminals and corrupt Council workers will make a fortune.

- Mickinlondon, london

"One word. LINUX"

Or Apple maybe?

- W R Stevenson, London SE26

good they might actually get off there backside and do some work now

- Rsaviour, london england

"Tom of London: The Taxpayers' Alliance do sterling work in highlighting the waste of our money on fat cat politicians and political correctness."

Rubbish. Why are the TPA quoted and not someone with relevant IT knowledge? Because the TPA are always there at the end of the phone, ready, funded and willing to help the journalist in a hurry. You see, Jools, we know exactly how they work and exactly why they do it, which is by having an opinion on absolutely anything, pretending they speak for all taxpayers when in fact they speak solely for the rich and operating an exercise in using spin and propaganda to weave fake grass roots.

The relevance here is that in order to have proper IT security you need to prioritise and resource it properly over a period of time, which means, in the case of councils, committing to long-term funding and not chipping away at budgets in search of short-term political advantage. It's this that the TPA view of the world is diametrically opposed to. I have no objection to part of my council tax being used to ensure my data is safely stored at the council.

Political correctness doesn't exist, by the way, it's invented by the tabloids. If it existed, they wouldn't have to make up all those stories about 'Winterval', 'Baa Baa Green Sheep' and the perennial favourite 'Christmas is being banned', because there'd be real examples. QED. Anyway, what's that got to do with tax or IT security?

- Tom, London, UK

To all those who question why the worker had a USB stick, the answer is obvious; How else are they going to be able to leave our details on a train/in a pub carpark or have them lost in the post?

- Jim, London

Even my home-made computer wouldn't have allowed this to happen, but then again it was built by someone who knows what they are doing, and operated by someone who knows what they are doing.

The question is, Why do computers in situations such as Local Authorities need USB ports that are accessible by members of staff? Why do they need them? And why did the "unknown" employee plug a privately owned USB stick into this computer?

No doubt "lessons will be learned", but the "unknown" employee will not suffer.

- Anil Chatterjee, Manchester

One word. LINUX
Why are the local councils wasting our money on licenses for shoddy, unstable and bug infested software in the first place?

- Michael Cooper, London

Tom of London: The Taxpayers' Alliance do sterling work in highlighting the waste of our money on fat cat politicians and political correctness.

Before you criticise them, read what Mark Wallace actually said. He merely questioned whether security measures in were in place. It is possible that great sums of money were spent but staff were too busy celebrating Europe Day or something equally daft to check if the measures were effective.

Nobody in their right mind would question a public corporation spending money on effective anti-virus software or communicating security policy - good IT security is a legal obligation.

- Jools, London

Why would and end user even have a USB port or a floopy/CD drive?

- Terry Barr, Ilford

I worked in the Civil Aviation Authority and it was an immediate, no appeals allowed, sackable offence to introduce any non-approved software into their systems. This rule was very strictly enforced and never breached. I should point out that the Air Traffic Control computer side was "stand alone" equipment and could not be interfered with from any external source.

- Ayliff Mcnab, Spain

Why are the parking tickets, Libraries and social services even on the same network? There is no good reason why every PC should be able to talk to every PC over a network just because they are all owned by the same council.

It is time that a lot of large networks were split up with firewalls between the different departments. E.g if an employee in social services wishes to check how many holiday she has left, then the HR application should be able to be accessed over the internet, rather then have HR and social services on the same network.

People will make errors, network anti-virus solutions will fail, but at least the scale of the damage should be able to be limited.

- Ian Ringrose, Stockport

As a council tax payer I'd be really interested to know how they will justify allowing any memory sticks/USB devices being operable on council PC's. The whole point in a network is connecttivity and being able to move council data around in a secure environment.
Come on Ealing - any data being loaded from an external source should be virus checked (eg e-mail) Memory sticks should be banned and the USB ports disabled - like every other sensible organisation!!

- David, Ealing , UK

Out of interest. Did the worker know the stick was infected? - Unlikely.
Was the stick new? Could have been and was infected before it ever left the factory.
When they plugged the stick in, did the computer either run an auto virus-scan or ask if a scan was wanted.
I suspect that the was no provision for the system to even ask if the stick was to be scanned. My last company had software which auto-scanned all peripherals when they were plugged in.

- Peter C-H, London, UK

"Mark Wallace, of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: “It's appalling that one virus can cause so much disruption and cost such a huge amount of money. Basic security measures don't seem to have been in place.""

Mark 'Soundbite' Wallace is ideologically opposed to investing public money on things, and security is an investment which pays off only in terms of *not* having to pay out untold thousands when the brown stuff hits the fan. The TPA, as a hard right pressure group who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing, are incapable of understanding this principle. Perhaps instead of handing back £50 to every taxpayer the other week Ealing ought to have put a bit of cash towards IT security instead?

"But did any of the council tax paying public notice any real difference?"

Yes, it was all over the local forum.

- Tom, London, UK

One might better ask, why are virtually all of our public bodies using software provided by an American monopolist corporation? (ie, Microsoft).

- Nigel, London

"accidentally plugged an infected memory stick into a computer"
Incorrect, they deliberately put the usb strick into the computer or is the suggestion that the user fell and it accidentally popped in? It's a deliberate act (whether they knew it had a virus is by the by) and gross misconduct by any definition. There should have been a sandbox policy in place (all usb sticks are virus checked on a stand alone machine) and if IT failed to have one then heads should roll at a manangement level. In defence of IT, it's actually nigh on impossible to stop people doing this without disabling all USB ports/CD drives on all PCs, at which point senior management invariably start grumbling because they need to transfer music onto their laptop and everyone has to be enabled again. This being the case IT will always be scapegoated for everyone else’s incompetence (and occasionally their own).

- Bob, Cheam

Doubtless the council will be giving refunds to all of its citizens for the work that was not done during this unnecessary downtime? No? Didn't think so...

- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one

THATS RIGHT P STAKER, i live in Ealing and i didn't notice anything. The council here still doesn't recycle tetra-pak packages, you have to make a trip somewhere to do it. I don't think you get your monies worth for paying council tax. i do think people should get free broadband at home for paying council tax at the very least.

- Steve, london

People that do silly things like that in local government just get moved to on side and given a pay rise.

- Richard Edmunds, Rayleigh Essex

Just goes to show that most councils are run by numpties who haven't a clue other than the few at the top who's only interest is to feed from the troff.

- Cris, Rochester

Either you restrict access to the network so only a few senior staff have network access for plug ins or discs or devices are not allowed to auto start and are scanned before access is allowed. Personally I like the idea of restricting access to certain staff as it puts a smug look on their faces knowing only they can play with their dongles.

- Jack Spratt, Richmond, Surrey

That money they 'saved' on a network anti-virus solution doesn't look too good now - bur that was probably last year's budget.

- Jim, London

We should all be worried about this. If a computer virus can do this to one London council, then the potential surely exists for a hostile power to bring the whole country, all of Europe, or even the whole world to halt. Science fiction? Scaremongering? It might have been a few years ago, but not any more.

- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands

What are council workers doing plugging un-authorised equipment into computer systems without even the most basic of virus scans? I do hope those responsible were immediately escorted off-site and told to find alternative employment.

Considering the amount the government pays to buy even the simplest of machines they should specify them to have blanking plates fitted so such crass lunacy is not even possible.

- Threaded, Roskilde, Denmark

But did any of the council tax paying public notice any real difference?

Probably not I suspect.

- P Staker, Kensington

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