Three more hospitals were hit with ransomware, leading one of which to declare an internal emergency…
The ransomware, Locky, infected a Henderson, Kentucky based medical center late last week. It is reported that that the malicious virus tried to spread throughout the entire internal network of Methodist Hospital, and was successful in compromising various systems. According to Krebs on Security, on Friday, March 18, 2016, the hospital declared an internal state of emergency after losing access to multiple web-based services and electronic communications. The attack was originated through a malicious email that requested the recipients to open an attachment regarding invoices.
The ransom that was being demanded was four bitcoins, or roughly USD $1,600. Healthcare Informatics reported the Methodist Hospital did not pay the ransom, and is indeed back up and running. Hospital officials reported the investigation is ongoing, and denied any patient records being leaked.
Two Southern California hospitals were also hit with ransomware last Friday. The hospitals affected were Chino Valley Medical Center and Desert Valley Hospital. The specifics of the attacks are not being disclosed; however it is reported by Kaiser Health News, that the hospitals remain operational and are taking measures to restore their systems.
As we all know, this is not the first ransomware attack on a hospital. Just weeks ago, Hollywood Presbyterian was attacked with a USD $17,000 demand for payment. Hollywood Presbyterian did end up paying the $17,000 demand to obtain the encryption key in order to regain access to their files.
Check out our interactive, live map of the ransomware attacks that have taken place within the U.S. below:
