Hospital Pays Bitcoin Ransom to Fix Ransomware

Viruses and malware are issues for the best of us, from forgetting to scan your computer once to being baited in by that interesting link in an email, there are many ways for your system to get infected. Ransomware is one of the nastier pieces of malware, denying you access to your system until you pay the creator of the virus. While the FBI recommend you pay up, does this still apply when you are a hospital?

Earlier in the week, we reported that hackers had hit a Hollywood hospital with ransomware. Hollywood Presbyterian Memorial Medical Center was hit by the ransomware, with an initial request for 9000 bitcoins, coming close to 3.5 million dollars, to get the key required to unlock their systems. While it may not have been the 9000 bitcoins, the Hospital has now announced that they have paid 40 bitcoins to unlock the system.

President and CEO Allen Stefanek claims that the initial price tag of $3.6 million was false and that paying this fee was the “quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions”.

Even with backups and anti-virus software, there will always be some viruses that are able to get into systems, with ransomware benefiting the creators we don’t expect this to be the last time that we see it hitting public services.