California Hospital Held For Ransom By Hackers, Pays

Hollywood hospital decides to pay ransom after being forced to work off paper records for more than a week due to a cyberattack.

Ransomware — malicious software that locks down computer networks in exchange for the payment of a ransom — is at the root of one of the latest cyberattacks on a healthcare organization.

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California had been in a state of “internal emergency” since February 5, according to NBC Southern California. The Los Angeles Police Department and FBI launched an investigation on February 12 around the attack which left the hospital dead in the water for more than a week.

CEO Allen Stefanek continually maintained that patient care had not been impacted, but some patients were telling a different story — since computer systems went down, e-transmission of patient records was not functioning. This left some patients responsible for delivering and retrieving their medical records, with some driving over an hour while ill. Emergency patients were also occasionally being diverted to other hospitals. For the full article click here 

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