How alarming for a major hospital the size of York to be brought to a standstill by an online cyber attack? And this is but a dot on the global scale of this blackmailing criminality of asking a 300 dollar fee to un-encrypt each computer.

Why have we been so “conned” by the advent of the computer? They are clever but also incredibly stupid. Why have companies and individuals taken on so much risk when computers and the internet are so vulnerable? The licences for the software are a rip-off on a gigantic scale.

The whole industry is plagued by anoraks and nerds who think it’s a big game to hack into systems and bring them down.

I have been interested in computers since the start of it all with the wonderful BBC One and I have tried to persuade my wife for three decades to run our business accounts on a computer. She, as it turns out, was quite right to be sceptical and has always done the accounts in the traditional way with a ledger. We have never lost any information. My dentist practice’s computer went down and no work could be done for five days!

The NHS and our York Hospital need to update their software as a priority. If you were a patient and were inconvenienced because of this calamity it must be very stressful.

Keith Massey, Bishopthorpe, York

Save us from the new Cybermen

The NHS totally compromised from a cyber attack? It seems like a Dr Who script. Cybermen they may not be, but the cruel mentality of this species of human is evident. This heartless targeting of our NHS really should focus our minds that perhaps the internet is not the luvvy duvvy which we all seem to have been spoon fed with. What next? Our banks have already been attacked, could our nuclear industries be next in this frame?

It is about time we pulled the plug on this dewy-eyed internet vision and have computer networks that are valuable to our national interest and security be cyber free and totally isolated. And yes that means the plug must be well and truly pulled to keep those networks well away from the internet.

Difficult and backward looking, yes, but very very necessary if we are to survive this inhuman breed of cyber species. Calling Dr Who – we need you!!

Phil Shepherdson, Chantry Close, Woodthorpe, York