Hospital paid 17K ransom to hackers of its computer network

The hackers that broke into the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center’s servers are asking for $3.6 million in Bitcoin, a local Fox News affiliate reported.

In a report by NBC Los Angeles, the hospital’s president and CEO Allen Stefanek told the media that hospital staff first noticed “significant IT issues” on February 12. Hospital staff are said to have reverted to using the telephone and the fax machine for communications. He added that the FBI, Los Angeles Police and private forensic experts are investigating.

The business model for ransomware has been a lucrative one for hackers, with security company Bromium estimating that ransomware attacks doubled in number a year ago compared to 2014. However the $3.6 million demanded by the hackers is one of the most outlandish digital ransom requests in recent memory.

Also, some patients had to be transferred to other hospitals, as some of the medical equipment that need computers at the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center were rendered inoperable, including apparatuses for X-ray and CT scans, documentation and pharmacy and lab work.

Ransomware is a specific type of malware that holds a network or single machine hostage until a ransom is paid. 911 patients who were not were diverted to other emergency rooms had to register the old-school way – on paper – the same goes for charting patients’ medical records.

Laura Eimiller, an FBI spokeswoman, said the bureau has now taken control of the hacking investigation, but declined to discuss specifics of the case. However, until that is done, the hospital’s computers are offline.

“There are likely hundreds of systems infected with the ransomware”, Frantz said.

“In 2015 we saw ransomware-as-a-service hosted on the Tor network and using virtual currencies for payments”, McAfee said in its report.

A recording on a media-relations phone line at the hospital said that “patient care has not been compromised” after the cyberattack, but a spokesperson was unavailable for further comment.

Eset security specialist, Mark James, warned that systems can take a long time to restore after a ransomware attack.

While it has not yet been determined if hackers were able to extract sensitive information on the hospital’s employees and patients, that would not be the case if ransomware was involved.

Experts say that, because of the apparent success of the attack, more could be forthcoming.