this is bbc news, i'm martine croxall. the headlines at 11:00: a major incident is declared after almost a0 nhs organisations across england and scotland are hit by a large—scale cyber—attack. theresa may says the nhs was not being targeted. this was not targeted at the nhs. it is an international attack and a number of countries and organisations have been in effect did. —— affected. organisations in more than 70 countries have reported infections by the large ransomware campaign. president trump's spokesperson refuses to be drawn on whether the president recorded conversations with the former fbi directorjames comey. the latest on the ransomware attack. it hit nhs trust and we talk about a transition from olympian to transform on. —— trans—woman.

the nhs has fallen victim to a major cyber attack. 39 hospital trusts and gp's in scotland and across england have had to cancel routine operations, send patients home and divert ambulances. the nhs says its services have been targeted by a ransomware attack, which means nhs data is, in effect, being held hostage by hackers demanding money. dozens of other facilities have shut down their email and computer systems as a precaution. the scale of the cyber attack on the nhs is unprecedented. it's been declared a major national incident disrupting hospitals and trusts from glasgow, dumfries and ca rlisle, blackpool and york, to some of the big teaching hospitals in london, and services in the south of england. the prime minister says the incident is part of a wider attack affecting organisations around the world. it's thought 7a countries

have been affected. our health editor hugh pym reports. there was a serious disruptions in some part of the nhs today with signs warning of significant delays and some gp surgeries having to remain empty. all this the result of the biggest cyber attack in the history of the nhs. some patients waiting for non— urgent surgeries we re waiting for non— urgent surgeries were told their operations had been postponed. it is inconvenient, the nurses are absolutely fabulous and the dog is but it is a henious crime. —— doctors. the dog is but it is a henious crime. -- doctors. richard was also told his operation would not happen today. they helped me because i was a bit nervous about it so i have to

go through it again. lara was delayed in leaving hospital after having a baby yesterday. as a precaution, their systems were down because of this thing that had happened. some patients were told what services had been effected. gentleman said all the computers had gone down and we are not sure if the doctors can see you. it has happened before. at this hospital, it systems work close for three days as a result of a cyber attack last autumn. people were told to go to a and e only if necessary. there were warnings nhs it was vulnerable. then

it is. a message saying your files are encrypted, if you want to recover them, you have to pay up. ransomware was to blame. in a statement... nhs england wanted to reassure patients that at the event of an emergency they should visit a&e some referrals will have to be postponed till monday. there will be a backlog of things like repeat prescription, and also future appointments. there

will be some backlog depending on how long this goes on for. it is an international attack and a number of countries and organisations have been affected. the security centre is working closely with nhs digital to ensure the organisations concerned are supported and patient privacy is supported. leaders will be trying to assess the extent of the problem and contain it over the well similar ramsomware attacks have been reported at organisations in 7a countries across the world, including the us, china, russia, spain and italy. security analysts believe the incidents are all linked. our technology correspondent rory cellan jones has more. it looked at first like an attack

just on hospitals in the uk but it is now becoming clear this malicious softwa re is now becoming clear this malicious software has run right around the world. many can choose all been hit by what is now a common form of crime. it is a very easy to make money very quickly. you can buy ra nsomwa re money very quickly. you can buy ransomware online, money very quickly. you can buy ra nsomwa re online, it money very quickly. you can buy ransomware online, it is quite cheap. payment systems help you get your money. how does it work? in a rise in an innocuous looking e—mail. when you click on the link, the malicious software is downloaded and locks up all your files. then a message flashes up warning that if you want your data are locked you have to pay a ransom, often in bitcoins. security the hacking tool used in the american security agency

may have been used by the attackers. microsoft warned about the threat this vulnerability cause. the worry is that many health service computers as may not have been updated. the nhs is vulnerable because typically it has not invested enough in computer security. they are using old computers and systems and they will keep on getting hit by attacks like this. the health service will point out it is just one of many organisations affected by this attack but it now faces what could bea attack but it now faces what could be a lengthy process of cleaning up computers and making the network safe again. james lewis is a cyber expert in washington. he advised the obama administration on cybersecurity. how

big is this attack, as far as we can tell so far compared to others using ransomware? this is by far the biggest ransomware we have seen ever. it is global, hitting thousands of targets so it is unprecedented and very bold. you almost have to admire the criminals who pulled these. that kind of skill should be put to better use. how many people organisations will it ta ke to many people organisations will it take to create this kind of chaos? if they indeed used software leaked from an essay, you could have got away with two or three people. once they wrote the programme and found out a way to receive the bitcoin, they can sit back and watch. what does it tell you about the state of security? it is disappointing.

millions of computers around the world have been effected. it is a way of finding out who did not do what they needed to do two months ago when microsoft revealed this vulnerability. the reason responsibility to share. the system organisations who did not keep their systems updated. how likely are the culprits to get the ransom? with this many people locked up, even if they get 10% they would have had quite a nice weekend. i think they will see this as a successful export. the question is, can we find who did it and can we catch them? very ha rd to who did it and can we catch them? very hard to do in this global crime stop how much corporation internationally will be required? it

depends on where they live. western countries are fairly good, if you live in the uk, us and germany, or than likely they would go to jail. but other countries who are not as good at enforcing the law, they may not pay any penalty at all. the best ones are never go to jail in cyber crime. different types of organisations in so many different countries. who was the real target? ido countries. who was the real target? i do not think there was a real target other than making money. the programme went around the world and look for vulnerable systems. that is not unusual. villagers seeing how many people had neglected to install the update. unfortunately they found tens of thousands. there was no target, it was simply an unusual and large effort at blackmail and

extortion. what could you make of the expertise? one of the things we know is a few countries it is cyber—criminals is proxies, people they can recruit and help them out in intelligence. i would prefer to see them spent some time wearing orange and visiting what we call clu b orange and visiting what we call club fared. usually they live in a country where there is a strong it. they could have worked and made legitimate money but it is too late for that now. let's hope we can catch them. could they be sponsored bya catch them. could they be sponsored by a state actor? in the past, it usually we would find that happening for russian hackers. so we have had

quite a lot of cases where hackers have been traced back to russia and the russians do not always want to co—operate with the us but case since russia was one of the major big —— victims, i do not suspect that. i think this is a pattern where criminals are involved. it means there is a slightly better chance they will be caught but this is not look like a state activity even if the diversity of targets. james lewis, thank you very much. let's speak to our north american technology correspondent dave lee in san francisco. a lot of people scratching their heads? i guess one of the big questions is why so many companies

have not protected themselves. this isa have not protected themselves. this is a virus that has been known for some times. microsoft fixed the problem are few months ago. this can be solved by updating computers but organisations like the nhs are using computer systems that are so updated that the patch would not apply without extra cost and effort. it seems to be described as a wake—up call. many people had warned something like this could happen. some of the press are reporting that it seems that these cyber weapons could have been stolen from the national security agency? the nsa have not said anything. the timeline is interesting. a group called the shadow brokers leaked a treasured

trove of tools from the nsa, so they say. in order to hit targets in the cyber arena. those were called zero day attacks. once they were out in the open, that was a free for all for any criminal enterprise and state actors to create tools based on these things found by the nsa. the question asked of the nsa is what obligation does the us government have if it finds a floor, why is it keeping that to themselves is said about applying companies like microsoft and sold the problem will quickly. ——a flaw. like microsoft and sold the problem will quickly. --a flaw. how likely

that it spreads further? extremely likely. this is a sophisticated attack that targets computers that are not up to date. i have spoken to the us department of health and they are confident their system is not as badly affected and that could be attributed quite frankly by the added investment due to the way financing works over here. but we will see many companies, particularly many public companies that do not have these cybersecurity, being attacked and also massive firms like fedex have had to turn many customers away because of their computer systems at not usable. president