Hackers who launched a virus cipher in the network of a Hollywood hospital, require $ 3.6 million for the unlock

(Photo: David Livingston / Getty Images)

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, designed for 430+ beds, was attacked by a crypto virus. This ransomware successfully carried out an attack on the hospital's computer network, and now all the PCs on the network, as well as the connected devices, are blocked and inoperative. This happened in early February, but only now the incident has become known.

So far, hospital staff have attracted the FBI , local police and information security specialists, but to no avail. Burglars also require 9,000 bitcoins (about $ 3.6 million at the rate) for providing keys that will help unlock computers. So far, there are no details on how the virus entered the entire hospital network.

Most likely, experts say, that ransomware got into the IT network, and spread to the clinics' computers using a local server. The attackers did not contact the administration, 9000 bitcoins are the total amount required for unlocking each infected computer.
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The second scenario is also possible - hackers carried out an attack on the hospital network, and infected the most critical infrastructure for the operation of the infrastructure.

Whatever it was, but the work of the hospital is almost paralyzed. Doctors have to deal with faxes, landlines and paper documents - something that was in use in this region 10 years ago. Otherwise it is impossible to work at all. The administration now prohibits employees from turning on PCs that were turned off at the time of the network attack - management fears the possibility of infection of the remaining computers. Many infected PCs worked, ensuring the functioning of a number of equipment in oncology, and now this department is almost paralyzed.

Infection of hospital computers is a dangerous precedent that shows how vulnerable networks of modern enterprises and organizations are to such attacks.

Here you can also recall the attack on the computer systems of the enterprises of the energy complex of Ukraine - only in this case, not a crypto-trojan was used, but a complex system called Black Energy, which consists of several dozen modules.