Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has paid a ransom of 40 bitcoins, worth approximately $17,000, to a group of hackers who infiltrated the hospital’s computer systems.
Allen Stefanek, the President and CEO of Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California, revealed the payment in a letter posted on the hospital’s website on Feb. 17.
Stefanek said that the hospital’s staff noticed on Feb. 5 that there were issues with its computer network. He added that the hospital contacted authorities when the IT department determined the hospital had been the victim of a malware attack that locked computer systems and prevented employees from sharing communications electronically.
The hospital restored its electronic medical record system as of Feb. 15 and tested its systems, which found they were cleared of the malware attack, according to Stefanek.
“The malware locks systems by encrypting files and demanding ransom to obtain the decryption key,” Stefanek wrote. “The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key. In the best interest of restoring normal operations, we did this.”
Executive Editor
Tim Casey joined TriMed Media Group in 2015 as Executive Editor. For the previous four years, he worked as an editor and writer for HMP Communications, primarily focused on covering managed care issues and reporting from medical and health care conferences. He was also a staff reporter at the Sacramento Bee for more than four years covering professional, college and high school sports. He earned his undergraduate degree in psychology from the University of Notre Dame and his MBA degree from Georgetown University.