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Hospital Cyber Attacked: Forced to Pay Ransom
A hospital in Los Angeles has been forced to pay $17,000 (£11,800) to online hackers after all the computer systems for the building were taken offline.
The systems at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre had been taken down for more than a week, slowing down all of their processes and risking lives.
The malware used by the hackers, known as, “Ransomware” infects the victim’s computer, locks it and demands that an amount be paid in ransom, often in bitcoins in order to unlock the computer and get rid of the virus.
The hackers had previously demanded a huge sum of $3.4m be paid in order for them to get rid of the virus and restore the access to computers and allow functionality of the hospital again, but Allen Stefanek, chief executive of the hospital denied the sum.
He stated, “The amount which the hackers demanded was 40 bitcoins, which adds up to approximately $17,000, the quickest and most efficient way to restore the computer systems was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption code.”
Adding, “All system currently in use had been cleared of malware and thoroughly tested.”
Ransomware is being used more and more frequently by hackers as are the attacks.
Security firm Kaspersky has also acknowledged this problem and has called it a, “bitter fact,” going on to say that, “unless precautions are taken, victims may not be able to recover their data in any other way than by paying the demanded ransom.”
