We reported that the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles was a victim of ransomware and a demand of $3.4 million was made. Initial reports said the ransomware demanded the payment of 9,000 Bitcoin (roughly $3.4 million), but, as expected, the information turned out to be inaccurate. The hospital has capitulated and paid a ransom of $17,000.

“The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key. In the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this,” Allen Stefanek, president and CEO of Hollywood Presbyterian, said.

“HPMC has restored its electronic medical record system (“EMR”) on Monday, February 15th. All clinical operations are utilizing the EMR system. All systems currently in use were cleared of the malware and thoroughly tested. We continue to work with our team of experts to understand more about this event,” he added.

“Ransomware has become a lucrative business for underground malware writers. They're attempting to infect end users through multiple methods of attack, such as phishing, drive-by download scams, and server vulnerabilities. The quick ‘monetization’ of ransomware scams is the reason for this new vector being exploited so heavily,” Rahul Kashyap, EVP and Chief Security Architect at Bromium, said. “It is imperative that users do not pay the ransom. Paying ransom is equivalent to funding attackers to launch more attacks in the future.”

Source: SecurityWeek