Hospital paid $17K ransom to hackers of computers

Associated Press

LOS ANGELES

A Los Angeles hospital paid a ransom in bitcoins equivalent to about $17,000 to hackers who infiltrated and disabled its computer network, the medical center’s chief executive said Wednesday.

It was in the best interest of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center to pay the ransom of 40 bitcoins – currently worth $16,664 dollars – after the network infiltration that began Feb. 5, CEO Allen Stefanek said in a statement.

The FBI is investigating the attack, often called “ransomware,” where hackers encrypt a computer network’s data to hold it “hostage,” providing a digital decryption key to unlock it for a price.

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

Ransomware attacks can happen to everyone from individuals to large institutions.