Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has been offline for more than a week and the reason is a ransomware. The Southern Californian hospital has been attacked by a Ransomware using which hackers demand 9000 BTC which is more than $3.6m USD as of writing.
The attack has compromised the network and files of the hospital thus denying the medical staff access to patient’s vital records such as MRI, X-Ray and lab results.
To learn more about ransomware check out my articles: Ransomware in a nutshell | Tox is a Free Ransomware Creator from the Deep Web | Ransomware Removal | Multimillion Dollar Angler Ransomware Shut Down by CISCO
Ransomware is a category of malware which disables the functionality of your computer by restricting your access to it. After that, it asks for a ransom (an amount of money) to be paid to the malware author to restore the system’s functionality. The tool locks a computer and displays various images to extort money from victims. Some ransomware may also hide and encrypt your personals files so that you don’t have access to them anymore.
Currently, HPMC is working under critical situation as medical staff are trying to process information using phones and fax. Due to this situation hospital is unable to handle new patients and has to turn them away until the working process is fully restored.
According to the CEO Allen Stefanek:
The cyber attack was “random” and was not malicious. 911 were transported by ambulance are being sporadically diverted to other hospitals, and all registrations and medical records are being written on paper.
The hospital is closely cooperating with FBI and LAPD but currently, details about Ransomware is unknown. Subscribe to stay updated about this issue.
It wasn’t targeted. Ransomware pretty much is always malicious.