Hackers took control of the hospital’s computer systems and are demanding $3.6 million via $9,000 of bitcoin, a virtual currency, to release the data.
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The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, which has had its computer systems held ransom by malware since February 5, has paid 40 bitcoins to have their systems restored.
“As a provider of critical services, we have to be prepared for a variety of events that could disrupt our everyday operations, from earthquakes to computer events like this one”, said Allen Stefanek, CEO of HPMC.
According to Reuters, the hospital paid a ransom of $17,000 worth of bitcoins to clear their systems of the malware, saying in a statement that it was the “quickest and most efficient way” to get the situation back to normal. Medical records and new patient registrations are logged on paper while staff are instructed to not operate their systems until being directed to do so. In the hospital’s case, Stefanek said a team of experts is working to “understand more about this event”.
A Los Angeles hospital has paid $17,000 (£11,800) to hackers after its computer systems were taken offline by ransomware. Official advice from law enforcement has always been not to give in to extortionist tactics. Since 2010, at least 158 institutions including medical providers insurers and hospitals have reported they have been hacked or had information technology issues that have compromised patient records, federal records show. The hackers responsible likely chose Bitcoin as their payment method of choice because the cryptocurrency is anonymous and hard to trace, especially after they’ve been laundered. The medical center has even had to shuttle some of its patients to other hospitals so they could continue to receive care.
He said he believed the hospital was a random target. According to local news sources, hackers were said to have demanded $3.4M to provide the codes to unlock the stolen data. For those unfamiliar with ransomware, basically this is a malware that encrypts your files.
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Ransomware victims just have two choices: either pay the ransom or permanently lose access to their files.
