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NHSbuntu - a modern, secure, open source, operating system being considered by Jeremy Hunt for the NHS. It seems to have
NHSbuntu - a modern, secure, open source, operating system being considered by Jeremy Hunt for the NHS.
It seems to have taken the recent ransomware attack on the ageing Windows XP infrastructure of the NHS to alert those in charge to an innovation that has already been developed from within it. NHSbuntu has been built using the industrial strength Ubuntu desktop (a Linux distribution) that has all the security features of whole disk encryption, NHS smartcard authentication, NHS secure email, modern browsers, office software, etc.
The Ubuntu desktop software that NHSbuntu is built upon is widely deployed by governments across the world and was recognised as the most secure by the UK Government's own security agency ... more than two years ago.
The Secretary of State is considering it (presumably among all other options including reverting to paper) but it is worth remembering that many barriers to such innovation will be thrown up - support, training, etc. However, the transition from Windows XP to any other version is going to involve the same infrastructure demands on training all of which are present in the NHS organisations and there is anyway 'enterprise' level commercial support also available for Ubuntu.
So why not deploy this innovative operating system - built by the NHS for the NHS using secure tools?
Source: www.openhealthhub.org
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