These systems would be better of security wise if they would use the latest open source operating system including the embedded code. The damage this will cause to embedded systems is distasteful.
I'm am very much in favor of open source always but let's not pretend that embedded systems don't end up with out of date software just because it's open source.
In the case of WannaCrypt0r, the vulnerability had already been fixed by Microsoft but those who were hit hadn't patched because as discussed elsewhere applying patches may break things so some postpone or ignore it. Same thing could have happened to a system running Linux.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment... People who get drunk with the Linux cool-aid are really tiresome. They believe they're safe by using Linux, and completely disregard good security practices with their windows-bashing speech.
If you're talking about an MRI machine, the proper drivers may not exist for a current operating system. The absolute last thing you want is for an image to show up differently on the new system due to changes to OpenGL or something.
I imagine the infection zigzagged to get there. Something like:
1. A doctor opens an email on an office computer. Infection entrypoint from the internet.
2. The office computer worms it to a patient record server.
3. The patient record computer worms it to an MRI tech computer.
4. The tech computer worms it to the MRI itself. (If it's even hitting MRIs and not just tech computers.)
Each of the machines has a reason it needs to share files/data with the two layers it connects to, and there's no "bad" direct link. The worm exploited the filesharing mechanism.
A high security situation would probably implement a one-way upload from the MRI subsystem (machine + tech computer), but c'mon, lots of us work on networks with filesharing zigzags to penetrate deep in to them.
You do not need to put it on the Internet. It only needs to be connected to local network and it will be infected by someone connecting their laptop to it.
