some hospital trusts are still experiencing problems but the national crime agency says fears of a neway have not been realised. microsoft has said the attack should be treated as a ‘wake—up call‘ and the government's been accused of failing to invest properly in it. 0ur security correspondent gordon corera has the latest. hospital wards still dealing with the aftermath of friday's cyber attack. the hope is that the worst has passed, but the question remains — could this have been avoided? the health secretary today denied accusations from labour and the liberal democrats that computer security had been underfunded and the nhs underprepared. we've been making huge efforts to modernise and invest, despite all the financial pressures. and that's why we were able to maintain our emergency services, why more than 95% of services were up and running within 2a hours, and i think that's an extraordinary achievement. i think the perception has been that this was a form of malicious software that was blasted out, and only those institutions which weren't secure enough were affected by it. well,

highly critical of the us national security agency, saying it should have notified them when it found serious software flaws in their systems. and in the uk, the national crimeg victims not to give in to ransom demands — as there's no guarantee they'll regain access to their files. our technology correspondent, rory cellan—jones, reports. experts say this cyber attack was unprecedented. it was able to affect vulnerable computer systems, and in how it spread across the globe, hitting major public bodies like the nhs, but also individual users and several large multinational companies. the attack was thwarted with what has been described as a master kill switch before it could spread further, but companies that specialise in cyber security say further incidents are almost inevitable. i would say phase one is over, but i would wager there are more phases to come, both in terms of this attack, making sure companies are not vulnerable to this kind of malware, but also secondary attacks. people need to be aware of that possibility. with hundreds of thousands of victims in more than 150 countries, microsoft, which makes the operating systems that we re makes the op

the national crime agency for example, in the uk, and we are running at task for his style arrangementtonight a global defence and it is a tough fight. cyber security costs money. it is ok if you are a reasonably affluent business, but if you do not have a lot of money to spare it is difficult to have the right resources to fight this. there are minimum levels of investment required, that is true, but a large proportion of the cyber criminal problem we have is down to poor digital hygiene by the users, by individuals and companies as well. if you get the basics right, that is 7596 if you get the basics right, that is 75% of the problem fixed. this is partly about a state of mind and leadership state of mind to make sure we have very clear, sometimes simple, frameworks in place, to take ca re of simple, frameworks in place, to take care of the basics and beyond that working with law enforcement and other agency partners to protect people from advanced cyber effects. thank you very much, i know you are busy with plenty of work to do. rob wainwright from europol, thank you for being with

some hospital trusts are still experiencing problems, but the national crime agency says fears of a newttacks today have not been realised. microsoft has said the attack should be treated as a wake—up call and the government's been accused of failing to invest properly in it. our security correspondent, gordon corera, has the latest. hospital wards still dealing with the aftermath of friday's cyber attack. the hope is that the worst has passed, but the question remains — could this have been avoided? the health secretary today denied accusations from labour and the liberal democrats that computer security had been underfunded and the nhs underprepared. we've been making huge efforts to modernise and invest, despite all the financial pressures. and that's why we were able to maintain our emergency services, why more than 95% of services were up and running within 2a hours, and i think that's an extraordinary achievement. i think the perception has been that this was a form of malicious software that was blasted out, and only those institutions which weren't secure enough were affected by

the national crime agency says there's been no sign of a second cyber attack as people returned to workts in england remain affected. speaking in the last hour, the health secretaryjeremy hunt said there had not been a second wave of cyber attacks. i have this morning been briefed by gc hq and the national cyber security centre and according to our latest intelligence, we have not seen a second latest intelligence, we have not seen a second wave latest intelligence, we have not seen a second wave of attacks and the level of criminal activity is at the level of criminal activity is at the lower end of the range that we had anticipated and so i think that is inc original. what is clear is that institutions around the world that institutions around the world that have an effect did not upgrade their systems and didn't do enough to protect their systems. don't you bear responsibility for what happened in the nhs? we bear responsibility for everything that happens in the nhs but what the nhs has been doing is massively upgrading its response, as i said the number of xp platforms has reduced

dealing with institutions like the national crime agency, we are running a task force style arrangementbal response. it is a tough fight. we are making some headway. of course, cyber security costs money. if you are a reasonably affluent business that is ok but if you don't have much money to spare it is difficult to have the right resources to fight this? there are minimum levels of investment required but a large proportion of the cybercriminal problem we have is by poor digital hygiene by users and companies. if you get the basics right it is 75% of the problem fixed. this is partly, i think, about a state of mind and making sure that we have a simple and clear strategic framework in place and attach a priority to it that we should to take care of the basics and work with law enforcement and other industry partners to protect against more advanced cyber threats. wet and windy weather at the start of this week, patches of cloud bubbling up. not many showers for england and wales, heavy in the north—west of the uk. through the evening, they will fade away. sunshine to end the day. clea

in the past half hour — the national crime agency has tweeted this — saying if you're a victim of #ransomwareuarantee that access to your files will be restored. here, security minister ben wallace said he hoped the situation had stabilised. 0ver over the weekend staff have been in, to restore the back—up data, and make sure the patches have been put in place. there are a few difficult trust in places. in a moment we will talk to andy moore who's outside hospital in stevenage. the hospital is saying that people who have appointments and various clinics should come down here unless they have heard the appointment has been cancelled. there are some services they are unable to provide. not able to provide diabetic screenings, and a non—urgent blood tests. they are also saying people should only attend a&e unless it is absolutely essential. 0f should only attend a&e unless it is absolutely essential. of course, by definition, it is an attendance that is urgent. they have been doing all they can to cover systems. the switchboard hit by the attack is functioning largely. the hospital are asking peo

in the meantime, the national crime agency in the u.k. is asking people not to share pictures but rather upload them if they have pictures before, during, or after the explosion. happening on social media. i am sam sweeney. lindsey: now back to president trump's comments on this attack -- trump made it clear why overseas that there is no place in society for despicable acts like what happened in manchester. >> so many young, beautiful, innocent people, living and enjoying their lives, murdered by evil losers in life. i won't call them monsters, because they would like that term. they would think that is a great name. them, from now on, losers, because that is what they are. they are losers. we will have more of them, but they are losers. just remember that. this is last few days talking about during my trip overseas. our society can have no tolerance for this continuation of bloodshed. we cannot stand a moment longer for the slaughter of innocent people. lindsey: the story is changing by the minute. you can sign-up for our breaking news t

this is pa rt the national crime agency. this is part of the gchq spy centre at cheltenham. reuter‘s news agency are telling us, british hospital workers in the nhs in england were warned on friday by it departments they were at threat from malware. what is your latest information? we have got a lot more information from nhs digital confirming, i think what we have been saying. it says a number of nhs organisations have reported they have been affected at randsomware attack. it is well—known malicious software. what i was saying earlier about it being a wider scale attack than just the nhs, at this stage we don't have any evidence patient data has been accessed. the attack wasn't specifically targeted at the nhs and is affecting organisations from across a range of sectors. so it seems to indicate this particular piece of malicious software, that locks up your files, the man piece of malicious software, that locks up yourfiles, the man is piece of malicious software, that locks up your files, the man is a ransom from it, perhaps it is targeting a particular vulnerability and

highly critical of the us national security agency, saying it should have notified them when it found serious software flaws in their systems. and in the uk, the national crimeims not to give in to ransom demands — as there's no guarantee they'll regain access to their files. our correspondent wyre davies has more details. experts say this cyber attack was unprecedented — in the way it was able to affect vulnerable computer systems, but also how it spread across the globe, hitting major public bodies like the nhs, but also individual users and several large multinational companies. the attack was thwarted with what has been described as a master killswitch before it could spread further, but companies that specialise in cyber security say further incidents are almost inevitable. i would say phase one is over, but i would wager there are more phases to come, both in terms of this attack, making sure companies are not vulnerable to this kind of malware, but also secondary attacks that may be using variants of this. people need to be acutely aware of that possibility. with hundreds of thousands of victims in more than 150 countries, microsoft, which makes the o

highly critical of the us national security agency, saying it should have notified them when it found serious software flaws in their systems. and in the uk, the national crimeto give in to ransom demands as there's no guarantee they'll regain access to their files. wyre davies reports. experts say this cyber attack was unprecedented. in the way it was able to affect vulnerable computer systems, and also how it spread across the globe, hitting major public bodies like the nhs, but also individual users and several large multinational companies. the attack was thwarted with what has been described as a master kill switch before it could spread further, but companies that specialise in cyber security say further incidents are almost inevitable. i would say phase one is over, but i would wager there are more phases to come, both in terms of this attack, making sure companies are not vulnerable to this kind of malware, but also secondary attacks. they may be using variants of this. people need to be aware of that possibility. with hundreds of thousands of victims in more than 150 countries, microsoft, which makes the operating systems that were targeted, says go

the head of the crime agency was standing shoulder to shoulder with the leader of the national cyberaid they did not believe the nhs had been specifically targeted but it was the main organisation affected. she said their absolute focus was to catch their absolute focus was to catch the criminals who did this but at this stage they don't know if it was a sophisticated criminal gang or a collection of hackers. we haven't identified the offenders at this moment in time but we are deploying all means available to us and we have a number of lines of enquiry. it is really important we pursue those quickly so we can reassure the public we are taking this very seriously. she had one specific message to anyone affected, don't pay the ransom. contact the national reporting centre for cyber crime. jeremy corbyn has denied senior labourfigures are already accepting defeat in the general election. it follows comments from his deputy tom watson that the conservatives could be heading for a landslide victory. mr corbyn said both he and mr watson were ‘working flat out‘ to get labour elected onjune

in a tweet, the national crime agency warned of victims not to pay any ransom, saying the recovery of files cannot be guaranteed. although there is evidence that some targeted individuals are indeed paying up. the attack, described as the biggest of its kind, has exposed the inherit weakness of an interconnected world increasingly reliant on computer systems that are not properly protected or updated. the digital equivalent of a global flu epidemic, but much more sinister and potentially much more expensive. laura: for more on this attack and what comes next, i spoke earlier to the ceo of strategic cyber ventures. the white house said today that this cyber attack was developed potentially by criminals or foreign nation-states. which seems more likely to you? >> definitely foreign nation-states behind the release , creating temperature aperture by which this was criminalized. -- this can be criminalized. he does -- it was the for monetary gain but there will be copycats and subsequent attacks. laura: let's say it is a nationstate behind this -- got to be a pretty short list. >> it does

the national crime agency says it's employing all "overt and covert means" available to it, to establishas behind the cyber attack that's hit the nhs and organisations in almost a hundred other countries. daniel sandford reports. the cyber attack which wreaked such chaos in britain's health service was a global assault, affecting russia worst of all but also countries as far apart as the us, australia, and japan. the two british agencies tackling it said a complex international investigation would be needed to catch the culprits. we haven't identified the culprit at this time but we are deploying all covert and overt means available to us and we have a number of lines of enquiry. it is important that we pursue those quickly so we can reassure the public we are taking this very seriously. at the heart of this attack was a software worm which spreads itself from computer to computer using code originally designed by us originally designed by us government spy agencies. it is called wannacript and encrypts all the files on infected computers and demands a ransom. by last night at least, 75,

it is from the national crime agency. crime agency. still to come... as you can see we won a bafta on our footballers abuse story. andy woodward spoke out and led to hundreds of others coming forward. we will speak to him later. we'll be talking about the controversial teen suicide drama that has prompted warnings from schools to parents. here'sjoanna in the bbc newsroom with a summary of today's news. the home secretary, amber rudd and health secretary, jeremy hunt will chair a cobra meeting on cyber security later this morning as the computer virus which first hit the health service on friday is reportedly still causing serious problems at a number nhs organisations — including hospitals — in england. the director of lincolnshire medical committee has advised patients not to visit their gp unless it is an emergency and says all computer systems are shut down. ct and mri scans across northumberland have also been cancelled today. north korea says the missile it tested successfully on sunday was a new type of rocket capab

there is very clear advice from the national crime agency in the uk, saying...t the heart of this story, because it is its operating systems which have been attacked and it is saying one of the reasons of the attacks spread easily is that people weren‘t keeping their computers up—to—date. the president of microsoft is also saying the tool used in the attack was developed by the us national security agency. it was then stolen by hackers and we have seen what has happened. this is one way the microsoft president put it... well, i have been talking to zoe klein and to get the latest on the story. it shouldn't have been a surprise in itself that the security agencies in all countries are going to have cyber weapons and cyber tools that they will have to maintain national—security. what has been deeply worrying is that in this case, the nsa‘s tools were leaked in april, so that means they went from being an essay toolkit to being a toolkit for anybody who had access toolkit for anybody who had access to the internet and people have been worrying ever since that it wa

the national crime agency and the security department are working very hard to make sure that we find was. we have an international manhunt taking place. the national cyber security centre and the nci are working with europe and international partners to make sure we collect the right evidence that we collect the right evidence that we need to do to make sure we have the right material to find out who has done this and we go after them which we will. in terms of protecting the service in future, what guarantees can you give to the public about protecting the nhs? people will always want to attackers on the cyber platform. we will do all we can to mitigate that. it's about information and investment. that is why we have invested £i billion in a national cyber security centre. we need to make sure that we protect people and support them. why we re protect people and support them. why were they using out dated software that couldn't be made secure? were they using out dated software that couldn't be made secure7m were they using out dated software that couldn't be made secure? it can be

the national crime agency in the u.k. tweeted this. "please don't share teachers or video of the explosion on social media, show respect for the victims and their families are phil they put a link where people can upload video to help authorities families." they put a link to her people can upload video to help authorities. helped get kids to the nearby holiday inn for safety. this was an all-out effort to get these kids to safety. overnight, the american red cross website was down. unclear right now and that was because of the response or the overnights maintenance -- overnight maintenance issue but we can tell you that they did get there running. sam sweeney, backup stairs to you. following every new development from this story with the latest on a website. now, a breaking right suspect dead after exchanging gunfire in massachusetts. there were reports of a man threatening to shoot his wife. when officers arrived, the suspect barricaded himself inside. fire brokelater a out. a woman and her 10-year-old daughter were able to run out s

we don't know the answer to that, but i've spoken to the national crime agency to find out who mightis is an international attack, so we have good relationships with different countries who have been impacted and we are sharing information to find how best to address this and how to find out who has done it and how to make sure we have the right defences going forward. they -- there are some straight questions people want answered. the nhs backed up? they are supposed to be backed up, that is partly to defend against this kind of incident, and this ra nsomwa re kind of incident, and this ransomware is kind of incident, and this ra nsomwa re is about kind of incident, and this ransomware is about getting money off people to access data. if those files are backed up that attack is worthless, because people can download the backed up information and work from that, so i hope the a nswer and work from that, so i hope the answer is yes was the those of the instructions everyone has received in the past and that is good cyber defence. but i expect and we will find out in the next few days

we have a criminal investigation going on at the moment by the national crime agency to understand exactlyle chose to target who they did, but if you look internationally this has affected more than 200,000 victims in 150 countries. but those who didn't have good enough security, and that looks like it includes the nhs. the nhs is a huge network, the world's largest health it network, and over 80% of the nhs was unaffected. some of the other companies and institutions affected include fedex, renault in france, german railways, spanish telecoms and nissan. the malicious software was first discovered on friday, released by hackers whose identity is still unknown, and it spread rapidly around the world. victims were faced with this message, that they were locked out of their computers and would have to pay a ransom to regain access. it only works on computers which were not updated and secured. today the organisation responsible for britain's cyber security said government had issued warnings but institutions needed to do more. there's a lot of information out there about vulnerabilities and

we know the national crime agency, the fbi and european police, europol, are all investigating this.expansion of workers‘ rights of any conservative administration — if her party wins the general election. there would be a statutory right to a year‘s unpaid leave to care for a relative, under the election plans. labour said mrs may is taking people for fools. our political correspondent iain watson is in westminster. so labour responding to the tory promises but this sounds like a labour policy? i think that is why labour policy? i think that is why labour are responding so robust lee, suggesting the conservatives are taking people for fools, suggesting the conservatives are taking people forfools, that suggesting the conservatives are taking people for fools, that the conservatives will not even get around to police in existing labour laws. this is a pitch for labour votes rather blatantly from theresa may saying she will do things which the last labour government to get round to doing, including that time off for looking after relatives and if you are a bereaved parent, but you wil

and they can be then apprehended and it has been described by the british deputy head of the national crime agency a deal on that? we have got to get beyond the point in which the conservatives say don't worry, don't bother your pretty little heads, we'll sort it out because everybody has an interest in doing so. of course, people have an interest in doing so, who wouldn't want to keep us doing so, who wouldn't want to keep us safe and use the databases, but what the conservatives need to a nswer what the conservatives need to answer and it is time they stopped condescending the british people and provide concrete answers which is what this election was supposed to be about, concrete answers about how we navigate the brexit talks, how do the conservative party square the circle and this is a dilemma of their own making of keeping access to the database whilst at the same time not abiding by the rules which under pin the database. outside of the eu though, which other country do we share most intelligence with? there is no other non—eu country which has access to the database. there is no other non

crimes had outlined efforts by the agency to investigate them. the director spoke at the anti-defamation league's annual summit. i have privileges to do things as the national chair and this afternoon is no exception. there is no agency we work with more close reading of the federal bureau of investigation. we are partners in the fight against hate crimes and efforts to combat extremism and terrorism and the mission of protecting civil rights. director comey is a native and graduate at the college of of tf william and mary and university of chicago law school. he served as the united states attorney for the southern district of new york and in 2003, the director was appointed the deputy attorney general at the department of justice. he was sworn in as the seventh director of the federal bureau of investigation. under the director's leadership, every new agent and analyst must attend a new day of training created by the anti-defamation league and the united states memorial museum before they graduate. this program called law enforcement and society examines the history of the holocaust and the role of law enforcement and democracy. before i welcomed the dire

national white collar crime center none as nw 3c. after completion of the programs, the students can bring their new knowledge back to their local agencies how to properly conduct computer forensic investigations. i believe for our nation to successfully combat the cyber crime threat, we must support legislation such as h.r. 1616. i want to thank the gentleman from texas, mr. ratcliffe, a member of the judiciary committee for response sponsoring this legislation. this will cement its position as a high tech cyber crime training facility and help law enforcement professionals nationwide in their efforts to combat cyber-related crimes. i reserve. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from maryland is recognized. mr. raskin: i yield myself such time as i may consume. and i rise in support of h.r. 1616, the strengthening state and local cyber crime fighting act. this bill establishes the institute as an official federal program to be managed by the department of homeland security and operated by the u.s. secret service. i strongly support it because it addresses a serious problem and advances

special agents investigate trans national crime by conducting a wide range of criminal investigations in coordination with our foreign and domestic partnering agencies. targeting the illegal movement of people, merchandise, monetary instruments into, within and out of the united states. the agency has extremely broad authorities and jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes with a nexus to u.s. borders and ports of ep tree. hsi's three operational measures are border security, national security. hsi is honored to manage the visa security program in partnership with cbp, the department of state, intelligence community and other holdings. the vsp's primary purpose is to identify terrorists, criminals and other individuals who pose a threat or are otherwise ineligible for a visa at the earliest point in the visa process, thereby pushing the u.s. borders out as far as we possibly can. visa security program operations are currently conducted in 25 countries. the visa security program is currently scheduled to expand to two visa issue posts in fiscal year 2017 and plans to expand ever year thereafter. we understand that one of our most important prior

crime rates dropped while he was on the job. he headed up a series of high-profile prosecutions, including leak cases having to do with the national security agency as well as corruption cases. host: how was it received when word came that he would be the one in the deputy position? among law enforcement in the doj. guest: generally speaking, there was a sigh of relief. there was a great deal of fear, particularly among former officials, that the trump administration would be very aggressive in its use of the prosecutorial powers on the campaign trail. severalrump had made aggressive statements about how you would use the justice department to go after his enemies. one rosenstein was some who was seen as a voice of fairness and an advocate for the rule of law. when his appointment was announced, it was a sigh of relief. host: he has been thrust in the news because he wrote the memo that the trump white house initially used as justification for the abrupt dismissal of the former fbi director. recap that for us and bring us up to speed. guest: when the firing of james comey was announced, donald trump said in a statement that he relied on the judgm

they investigate trance naigs national crime by conducting a wide training of criminal investigation dollars and coordination with our foreign and domestic partnering agencies. targeting the illegal movement of people, merchandise, monetary instruments into, within, and out of the united states. the agency has extremely broad authorities and jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes with a nexus to u.s. borders and ports of entry. hsi's three operational priorities are border security, public safety, and national security. in an effort to augment and expand visa security operations, hsi is honored to manage the visa security program and partnership with cbp, the department of state rrts intelligence community, and other dhs agencies and holding. the vsp's primary purpose is to identify terrorists, criminals, and other individuals who pose a threat or are otherwise ineligible for a visa at the earliest possible point in the visa application process there by push the u.s. borders out as far as we possibly can. visa security program operations are currently conducted at 30 visa issuing poeftsds in 25 countries. the visa security program is currently schedu

national security of those countries and be security of those countries and be security agencies in those countries will lead those investigations. i am concerned about the million—dollar ransom crimen the global banking system is by sophisticated cyber crime groups developing banking trojans and other aspects in which internet technology has transformed the criminal world. tell me whether you think important institutions, both private and public, whether they have made anything like the right sort of protective measures and actions to safeguard themselves from what you describe the surge of cyber criminality? for the banking that which has been in the firing line of most cyber attacks in recent years, they have learnt through painful lessons of that they should take this as a top level responsibility and they have committed to the right kind of investment and strategic framework and they are still in the firing line and still getting caught by their protection is much higher and that is why you saw on the weekend that very few banks in europe were caught up cause their defences were quite high. in other sectors, public services, the health sector, there is a lesson. many yea rs se

ronald reagan to address the national rifle association.h while he reaffirmed his support for gun rights, one of his agencies is using remarkable technology to solve crimese's our power player of the week. >> you could take the exact same make, model of the firearm off the assembly line and only one will leave an impression in the next will leave a different in e impression. >> in effect, fingerprint. >> correct. >> jim is head of the operations division, he is talking about a national ballistics database that helps connect to guns to crime scenes. some of the best evidence after shooting are the spent bullet cases which have been ejected from guns. please take 2d and 3d images of the cartridges. >> this would be what we call a lead. >> at that laboratory outside of washington, they check the new casings against the 3 million they already have from otherer crime scenes. looking for matches left by the firing pin, stress marks, and the guns cartridge ejector. >> what you will do is match the two of them up and then turned them so it's a was like looking at it inside out. then he can see the depth of the similarities. >> how precisely can you tell the same

national security agency. a lot to get to with that lester interview. >>> two government officials in the fbi headquarters says comey's office is cordoned off with yellow crimea crime scene. that tape was all the bureau had to keep the curious lookers out. >> and presidethe acting direct andrew mccabe. he assured lawmakers the trump administration is not interfering with the bureau's russia investigation. much of mccabe's testimony contra dedicting a number of claims. the latest from manu raju on capitol hill. >> reporter: good morning, christine and dave. the fbi trying to reassure the senate intelligence committee that the investigation into the trump campaign and contacts that may exist with russian officials is still moving forward despite the stunning firing of fbi director james comey earlier this week. the new acting director of the fbi andrew mccabe testifying before the senate intelligence committee saying there is no interference by the white house saying they have enough resources to move forward and they plan to do just that. also contradicting the white house by saying this is a highly significant investigation even as the white house spokespers

crimes had outlined efforts by the agency to investigate them. the director spoke at the anti-defamation league's annual summit. i have privileges to do things as the national and this afternoon is no exception. there is no agency we work with more close reading of the federal bureau of investigation.

agency has extremely broad authorities and jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes with a nexus to u.s. borders and ports of entry. the three operational priorities are border security, public safety and national security. in an effort to augment and expand visa security operations hsi is honored to manage the program in partnership with cvp, the department of state, the intelligence community and other agencies and holdings. the primary purpose is to identify terrorists, criminals and other individuals who pose a threat or otherwise ineligible for a visa, thereby pushing the borders out as far as we possibly can. vees security program operations are currently conducted in 25 countries. it's scheduled to expand to two visa issuing posts in fiscal year 2017 and plans to expand as resources allow ever year there after. we understand that one of our most important priorities is protect and prevent threats. hsi's operations in pair wlel the visa security program also deploy highly trained personnel to 66 officers in 49 countries. the hsi special agents deployed worldwide utilize available investigative resource and personal interviews and collaboration between usa agencies in order to disrupt the

agency has extremely broad authority and jurisdiction over the investigation of crimes within the access to the borders of the united states and entry. our priorities are border, public safety and nationalsecurity. in an effort to augment and expand visa security operations, hsi is honored to manage the basis for the program in partnership with cdp, the department of state, the intelligence community and other dhs department. our primary purpose is to identify terrorists, criminals and other individuals who pose a threat or are ineligible for a visa at the earliest possible point in the visa application process. thereby we push the us borders out as far as we possibly can. visa security programs operations are currently conducted at. [inaudible] in 25 countries. the program is scheduled to expand to two visa issuing posts in the fiscal year, in 2017 and plan to expand as resources allowed every year after. we understand that one of the most important priorities is to detect and prevent threats before they reach our nation's borders. to achieve this objective hsi's international operations in parallel with the visa program also deploy highly trained personnel to offices in 49 countries.

national response to crimes affecting those we cherish most -- our children. i'm grateful that the bill maintains language that i supported which grants ncmec the authority to provide technical assistance to law enforcement agencies and first responders in identifying and recovering victims of child sex trafficking. during the committee's hearing in march, we heard from ncmec's director on how their ability to provide technical assistance has allowed them to work in tandem with law enforcement to recover numerous child sex trafficking victims. mr. speaker, we all look forward to the day when no children are ever taken and abused, and this bill helps ensure ncmec has the tools to get us one step closer to that goal. i appreciate the bipartisan effort on this, and i urge all my colleagues to support this important legislation. and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from kentucky reserves his time. the gentleman from connecticut. mr. courtney: thank you, mr. speaker. it's my pleasure to yield three minutes to the delegate from the district of columbia, again, a city which has been challenged with this issue and i know she's doing great work nd, again, very powerful thoughts on this legislation. i y

gchq and the national crime agency are looking at the crime itself, then you have cyber security centrest how they can resolve the issue. this is the next step up for international organised crime. international organised crime began with low—level theft and low—level use of ransomwa re. by and large they have contracted it out and are now moving to larger scale, far more sustained and coordinated efforts, whether it is getting inside the infrastructure of banks or, as we can see here, a well timed and well co—ordinated delivery of a simple tool, but delivered at mass scale into vulnerable areas. the vulnerable area is the nhs. as far as we know it's not in areas, like banks or operating systems for the energy industry, it is only the nhs? the nhs is especially vulnerable due to the old nature of its it systems, and also because it is very complex with interconnectivity between surgeries, trusts, boards, and so on. consequently, there is an awful lot of openings for delivery of this kind of basic malware. jake davis, you have been a hacker in the past, what do you think is going on? i th