Hollywood hospital had to pay $ 17,000 to hackers running a cipher virus into the institution’s computer network

On Geektimes it was already reported that the attackers who launched the virus encryption into the computer network of the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, demanded $ 3.6 million for unlocking all PCs. The virus completely paralyzed the work of the hospital, the doctors of which had to return to the practice of working with fixed phones, fax machines and paper documents.

The hospital administration forbade employees to include PCs that remained in working condition, and turned to law enforcement agencies for help. Today it became known that the attackers still had to pay. True, not $ 3.6 million, but "only" $ 17,000. According to the president of the medical facility, it was “the fastest and most effective way” of returning access to virus-infected systems.

Also, the hospital administration stated that there is no evidence of theft of personal information of employees or patients. Now access to all PCs restored. It is worth recalling that in this hospital many PCs were responsible for the operation of medical equipment, therefore, without access to computers, the work of several departments (including oncology) was stopped.
')
The encryption virus that infected the institution’s computer network encrypted all files on infected PCs, and the key that allows decrypting the files is known only to hackers. Attackers who create this kind of ransomware do not always send the keys after the victim makes a payment. But in this case, everything turned out to be fine, and the work of the hospital is now proceeding as before.

Now the FBI and the Los Angeles police continue to work, figuring out the source of malicious software and trying to identify hackers.