Bitcoin Forum

An internal emergency has been declared at a major US hospital in Los Angeles following a widespread ransomware-style cyberattack which has left staff unable to access vital patient data, it has been revealed.

The Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Centre, located in the heart of LA, is now dealing with hackers who are reportedly demanding over 9000 bitcoins - which equates to roughly $3.6m – to release the encryption keys to computer systems that hold patient data, X-Ray scans, CT scans and crucial lab work.

See article here : http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/los-angeles-hackers-demand-3m-ransom-hospital-unlock-vital-files-1543962

Dumbest hackers ever , like they couldn't hack anything else . This kind of things will kill Bitcoin if they continue to do this shit

This is very bad as a image for BTCitcoin. Another criminal activity and this time, I think it's even worst since lives of the patients are in hand since their data is not accessible and could harm some of patients life. This is as bad as when they said ISIS used BTCitcoin for funding (although later proven wrong). This types of activity are the main reason, new law's gets implemented on different states regarding BTCitcoin usage and it's very frustrating to see these activities happen.

i'm sure that if the same news were about fiat, they were not talking about how "fiat is for criminal" and crap like that

so again this has nothing to do with bitcoin being the perfect tool for criminal but more about the incompetence of some istitutions...

When one of those patients dies as a result the charge will change from stealing to reckless homicide. I doubt these guys understand what they are in for.  :-\

It does have to do with Bitcoin though since most people unaware of BTC only hear about this kind of crap.

They probably hacked a hospital because it had weaker security than a bank and they only had mediocre hacking skills. If their opsec skills match their hacking skills they will get caught. The FBI will be scouring every computer in that hospital for evidence, and it will probably get help from the CIA to track the movement of any bitcoins paid as ransom.

This is a shitty image for Bitcoin...

Why pointing Bitcoin network when problem are ... from Microsoft OS ? (or security IT service from the hospital, pirated or free antivirus for example).

I don't care.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img908/9170/gNGdtR.gif

This shitty hospital have 1 server and 3 PC ... and no backup ?
Come one ...  ::)

Yes, this is pretty sad and a new low. These ransom attacks are bad enough, but if someone were to die or be injured because of this it is just plain wrong. The hospital should have backups that they can recover from, so even if they need to wipe the system clean it would result in only a few days of lost data, or data that would later need to be manually input, but the immediate damage and risk is patient safety.

It is bad, but btc is the perfect tool for hackers like these to operate.  This has happened to local town offices and municipalities, they get locked out of computer systems, and have no choice but to pay the ransom.  This seems to be the only real "useful" way to use btc...

Don't they have back-up tapes so they can do a roll-back?
What kind of shitty data security do they have?
Some idiot at work infested the file server at work a few days ago too. The system was back with all the files after a few hours

There have been similar incidents in hospitals here in Germany, most recently this one: http://www.trojaner-info.de/daten-sichern-verschluesseln/aktuelles/cyber-angriff-auf-krankenhaus-in-neuss.html

Of course, these hackers are among the lowest imaginable scum on earth, and they do give bitcoin a really bad image, but why oh why are hospital networks not protected more effectively?
Internal networks (with medical equipment, sensitive patient data, etc) should be well-isolated from the internet, with only very tightly defined and monitored service channels to absolutely necessary outside services.
Files sent via e-mail? If the receiving computers are on an internal network with sensitive data, attachments should be quarantined without exception until their origin and content have been verified as safe.
Every file server accessible from Windows computers must be monitored for corruption, misbehaving clients must be identified and disconnected from the network. That requires some work and investment, but we're not talking about a small shop or restaurant here...

Onkel Paul

its definitely not a good thing for bitcoin, also the amount of money demanded is huge, how they are thinking that the hospital is going to get that much?

Playing with people's health is something to avoid... well I guess they assume the risk

While I agree this is very bad for the image of bitcoin, it is even worse for the image of the hospital..

Why don't they have a decent back-up system in place? Normally this should not even be close to possible. Let alone the system adminds allowing anyone to download and run executables at all or outside of a VM environment.

Really dissapointing to hear..
Where is the humanity?

Fuck this hacker man, if you wanna hack and put some ransomware on their computer at least don't put it on Hospital where many people's lives are in danger and those files can be really important for the patient  >:(
And thanks to him Bitcoin will have more bad image to it than it already is
 >:(

I also think they are in for it. However this is not going to involve the CIA. They work outside the US and only on national security. This is a criminal matter for the FBI.

Just send the 9000 btc with no fee and it will never get confirmed because of full blocks.

How will that help? It is not like the decription keys are sent directly after the transaction is initiated.. They will wait for several confirmations to make sure it is in their hands.

They should never pay such a ridiculous amount. That is only asking for more of these types of hacks.

It was a joke.

Around a month ago 2 suspects from one of those BTC ransom groups were arrested:
http://www.newsbtc.com/2016/01/21/europol-arrests-two-suspects-during-bitcoin-ransom-group-dd4bc-investigation/

Hopefully some more will follow, so this kind of activity is not seen as easy money.

But this case looks a bit like false-flag operation. Hospital as a target + much higher demand than usual. Hope I'm wrong, we'll see whether someone uses this as a reason to ban Bitcoin or restrict it's usage in the near future.

I mean they are dumb for playing with people lives , I can tell you that . But I don't think they are dumb enough to accept zero fee transaction , the fact that they are asking for BTC means that they actually know how it works .

wouldn't change a lot as long as there's still the internet. like it or not the government will have to use bitcoin anyway if some criminals asks for bitcoin in exchange for hostage(s). there will be some difficulties in converting it to cash or spend it, but not nearly enough to make a difference.

I think ISIS may be behind this as they warned before that they will do a cyberattack on US.

Also, Doesn't Hospitals have central servers which keeps all the back up of patient data, I think they do and this should be resolved soon, I hope..

Another hacker who care nothing about btc, but only his 3 million.

I'm surprised from a medical hospital standpoint why this wasn't secured earlier. Obviously either the hospital had no desire to up-keep computer security maintenance on necessary files and they didn't want to spend the extra expense or they flat out were not prepared. If data can't be accessed regarding patient's conditions and issues, how would medical personal even know what to treat an individual for besides physical written paper? As a medical establishment, this was bound to happen at some point in time. As terrible as this sounds, this doesn't look good for bitcoin and these people have no morals to be playing grim-reaper with people's lives. Hopefully, these people are caught at some time.

Extraordinary - no backup, no alternative computing power. Have to communicate by fax instead of mobile phones. I didn't know people still used faxes. Maybe they have some pidgeons as well. :) Is this hospital still using 1980s technology. Maybe they should upgrade to Win98SE.

glad these things occur ,atleast they can take security seriously . i know many places who doesnt take security seriously .especially in the middle east, who doesnt give a shit nor do they listen to the threat they can face. they must understand reality the hard way. i doubt that this hospital even have a qualified IT department .

I try to understand your point and agree that security awarness can be raised in some places. But from another view and this is actualy my view. Why there are people who wants to steel something, they do not care about nothing just to became rich  >:(

If the hospital used a decentralized way to store data instead of storing all data in the same place, they would not be facing said problems. You can thank Bitcoin to teach you the lesson of decentralization sooner than later.

What are you talking about? Name one government that uses bitcoins. Also, no government would pay any ransom (at least not officially).

You're massively underestimating possible effects of unfavourable regulations. If Bitcoin was banned world-wide, its value would be close to zero (but yes, you could still use it, as long as there are any miners left).

I mean they will be forced to use bitcoin anyway whether they like it or not if for some reason they are willing to pay the ransom.

the second part you're probably right. except that I don't believe that the value will be close to zero and that I wasn't really talking about the value of bitcoin.

I'm'a gonna break into your house, rape your family and slaughter your dog. You can thank Bitcoin me to teach you the lesson of decentralization sooner than later; to decentralize your loved ones, instead of keeping them all in one [insecure] place.

For the mentally challenged: This is a joke. Don't want to rape the retard's family because don't want AIDS.

If Bitcoin makes it more difficult to track these kind of people, governments will regulate it to death. We {developers} should find ways to help

authorities to track people using Bitcoin for crimes. At some stage these coins has to go through mixer services, and then these services should work

with authorities to catch them. { Law enforcement will subpoena these services for that information } The choice to help curb this kind of thing is

controversial, but it is the right thing to do.  :( .... If a single person has to die, because we wanted to protect murderers.. we will be held liable or

associated with this. 

Problem is, if any bitcoin-mixer was to block those bitcoins or cooperate with authorities, they would defy the very purpose of their own service and lost any credibility.


Yeah. No.

If you were to take a stab in the dark, why would you guess people use mixers?
With that in mind, you suppose mixers will be open to regulation?

The only times I've used a fax in the last ten years were when dealing with the local medical center and a healthcare equipment supplier. It was pulling teeth to get them to give me an email address after I complained, the last time, that I couldn't fax them something.

Yep, we had the same thing at our work. IT took care of it in a few hours.

I hope this kind of things will not kill Bitcoin like if someone was tortured with hot iron this haven't stopped us from using iron. But I do agree that we need more positive related news about Bitcoin and less negative ones to expect more people start using it.

LET US STORE ALL OF OUR DATA ON ONE SERVER CONNECTED TO THE INTERWEBZ HERPA DERP A DERP

Well i don't think such actions can kill bitcoin. There are many things in the world that are being used more in negative ways then positive, but they aren't dying just because they are involved in negative actions. As far as we (bitcoin users) are using bitcoin, it won't die, hopefully.

Just a ridiculous psyop.  Not a good headline for Bitcoin at all.  If you wanted to smear it, this would be a good way.  The price seems not to be affected as it is over $400.

Hmm definitely not good for the bitcoin image. Who knows is this was intentionally done or not though, just to smear the bitcoin name.

Sadly Bitcoin is just that to the general population, something used to extortion, drugs, money laundering, scams, etc. And to be honest it's all truth, the media just loves to zoom in on these incidents of course but we can't deny they keep happening. Just take a look at this forum and you'll see 30 scams threads daily on average. Bitcoiners must start to open up and claim for regulation, this anonymous and no refund stuff have to go if we truly want a better future for Bitcoin. Decentralized and P2P currency is great but lurking in the shadows obtaining the benefits of anonymous and non refundable methods has to be attacked.

Here's an interesting take: What stops an entity from hacking itself unbeknownst to others demanding a ransom where the head of said entity profits?

Probably a good lesson to hospitals here. I though most patient information as sotred on papers in indicidual patient files for easier access?

It's a good thing that they haven't posted the data, at least they are not entirely inhumane.

Sadly bitcoin is good for these types of crimes, but that fact that they are risking peoples lives is horrible.  these are the kinds of things that can hurt bitcoins image.

That could happen , a staff member who have access to computers could have done it too but there's no way to find that out. As soon as a "hack" is claimed, people start to look elsewhere, same thing was done by exchanges in the past.

I just wondered if entities against Bitcoin would stoop this low to hire people to do these type of things to discredit Bitcoin. It is not entirely impossible, if you think about it. What if most of these things are backed by companies, who could lose billions, if their industry is disrupted by this technology.

How do you hide $3 000 000 from a Tax audit? There must be big organizations or groups behind these attacks. Let's hope the FBI gets involved and these people exposed. 

Damn hackers bringing shame to our community. This is definitely not good for the future of Bitcoins if it starts to get to into the public's heads that Bitcoin = criminal.

The computer systems at hospitals are usually very outdated and not very well protected so this breach isn't such a big surprise for me. Unfortunately the patients will suffer this nuisance.

Hospital should be sued for not having adequate backups and procedures.

LOL!  Yeah, I'm sure they'll file a tax return too.

I think most if not all of the US hospitals digitize their patients' data and the doctors run around with tablets pulling up said patients data from the network like X-rays blood works and etc. If there are no paper copies of these tests there is no way to get them back and this can affect the wellbeing of the patients.

One should question the hospital computer security first, then thank the hackers about free service of revealing computer security weakness, and use it as hard leson learned to make the CT scans and such again + spend the funds on improving hospital computer security rather than paying criminals even a cent

A very bad publicity and demands for bitcoin in general IMO, You couldn't hack anyone but a hospital system, Extremely bad publicity... I don't think it is intentional but still very bad publicity.

These people should be shot at spot. Fuck western democracy, trials and shit. With thieves and scammers you deal only one way.

That's the way it's usually done, yes. Nothing new.
Can only hope they get nailed by the most twisted, sadistic cops. Cops with loved ones who suffered thanks too the edgy h4xx0r kidies. That'd be the only appropriate thanks, in my humble opinion :)

Ransomware in the hospital software - probably one of doctors download something. They ask him to leave after this from the hospital, I think.  ;)

Your post got me to thinking as to who owns the hospital, perhaps an entity that no likes Bitcoins, hence, perhaps, creating a stir.

EDIT: How do you like my theory now?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Presbyterian_Medical_Center

It would look that way.
Surely a hospital could spare ~$500 to get a backup facility.

Funny that we do cold storage of our BitCoin but they do not do the same with their important data!

So if a rapist tried to rape 99 times before successfully raping someone, the victim's at fault & the rapist ain't a rapist?

its still bitcoin publicity. its not bitcoin's fault.
The hackers has twisted brains they could be asking any altcoin if for instance authorities can't give them 9K of btc. of course the ycan buy from the exchagne but if there really is nothing perhaps those hackers will consider to accept ltc or eth as well.

Healthcare industry is lucrative. Hackers demand ransom in bitcoin or not is not important.

On the other hand, companies like Oracle is ripping off this industry for quite some time, legally: http://goo.gl/Wmki5h (http://goo.gl/Wmki5h) If you search for Oracle licensing regarding healthcare, you won't find anything specific, but the pricing is very different from other industry.

Whoever in charge of this hospital's IT should be sacked.

This is why i hate hackers. I mean , do something on your own, dont f**cking mess with other people's shit.

yes this is shit,i hope CIA will take this proble,that hacker should be really know about bitcoin,and massive amount of bitcoin also will break the market if they sell all that amount,crazy people who do this,and why must be hospital?

Don't worry about the market. First of all, no one paid anything yet. Second, if hospital was to pay it, they would have to buy 9k BTC first, driving the price up. Third, hackers wouldn't drop that on the market all at once, they would be cashing out (very) slowly.

But again, something seems a bit fishy here, the demand of 9k BTC is way too high, previous news usually reported demands below $10k worth. $3.6 is over the top, very unlikely anyone would pay that.

Bit missed comparison. No one's defending the hacker, but hospital is also responsible for handling its patients data so it's their duty to ensure sufficient level of security is in place.

If your bank converted all your funds into physical cash and left it lying on the floor guarded only by narcoleptic security guard - who would you blame if they got stolen?

Exactly, they should never be in this situation.
Also, why wasn't the local network better secured from outside access? File-sharing with the outside world doesn't need to risk the entire system.
Edit: Maybe some dummy clicked on an .exe in an email?

I work for a state agency and someone put ransomeware on some of the network drives a few months ago.  The funny thing about it was that the perpetrators only wanted something like 0.75 bitcoins.  The agency did not pay the ransom.  They have all the data backed up every night, so they just reloaded the previous day's data and we just lost part of a day's worth of work.

It doesn't have to be .exe file, it could be disguised as text doc or sneaked in macro in Word, named as 'invoice' or similar.

The comparison's fine. If it suggests the hospital doesn't share the blame, feel free to show me where.

Oh, BTW, know how your daughter just got raped? Well, that's because dumb bimbo dresses like a slut, so it's her fault. I mean, how hard is it to dress like a lady? She should really thank the guys who gang-banged her for teaching her a lesson about dressing like a slut earlier rather than later.
Not defending the rapists tho, just telling you how it is.
:)

You're just self-contradicting yourself, but probably not too bright to notice, huh?

>self-contradicting yourself
>not too bright to notice
::)

Say it in people-talk, Friend.

Thats the way how to do it. Should be investigated how the hack happened so trying prevent the same event again. The hackers should provide free service, like when victims never pay, there will be lot less incentive for hackers for these ransom attacks.

Rapist: Nasty crack whore. Nasty crack whore. Smelly slut. Another nasty crack whore. Wait, what's this? A clean-cut lady. I think I'll follow her home.

College girl boards a bus in India. Seven dudes talking among themselves: Her, or hope some nasty smelly slut boards on the next stop?

Very bad publicity for Bitcoin so obviously the media focuses so heavily upon it, shameful to hack such institutes...

It's a very sad news.
The people should look at the lack of security, but the focus come to illegal use of bitcoins.
 :-[

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-hollywood-hospital-bitcoin-20160217-story.html

On a related note, there is an IT opening in a Los Angeles hospital. Inquire within.

Hackers, please demand $10.0 million in US dollars OR $3.0 million in BTC.

This way, BTC saves this hospital $7.0 million. Bitcoin saving lives and money.

This is just crazy the lengths they will go to. At the least this should also raise awareness for data backup, redundancy and protection.

The hacker is not a robber, but a murderer!

They released the computers for $17k....40 bitcoins: http://www.bitcoinvalues.net/hollywood-hospital-pays-hackers-40-bitcoin-worth-17000-release-computers.html

Even if they lower it to just 17K USD, that don't make them less criminal. Once caught they will be prosecuted, the lives of the people involve is no joke.

This sucks! We here at BCT were left outta the loop during the entire ordeal with resolve taking place prior to us first posting about the event on this board. I'd say we need to sit down with the hacker(s) so that we don't ever get embarrassed again.

The situation must have been really bad if the hospital decided to send them bitcoins. Now Bitcoin will be associated with ransoms and extortionists.

"Stefanek insisted that no patients personal information and care were compromised during the takeover. - See more at: http://www.bitcoinvalues.net/hollywood-hospital-pays-hackers-40-bitcoin-worth-17000-release-computers.html#sthash.2VCS9f78.dpuf

Not that it matters but it is still a fktub thing to do. I hope these and other institutions learn something from this and increase their security and firewalls and make offline backups.

http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/17/technology/hospital-bitcoin-ransom/

Wow that really sucks.

What is the Bitcoin address they sent the BTC to?

good question. they should release it in public so anyone can monitor the movement. not just authorities. (here hoping that the hackers did/will do something really stupid and get caught quickly.)

edit:
and the real amount.

Whatever happened to "We don't negotiate with terrorists"

If they keep feeding these bastards they'll keep coming back for more and more copy cats will be born.

the hospital paid the ransom. not the government.
didn't know this before but they're a private hospital, not a public one.

This will make bitcoin reputation crumble, this is a very stupid hacker, he will make the money he receive will become smaller amount, when he is doing this kind of things i am sure bitcoin price will go down

Even though $17k might be lower amount than losing the data, it just encourage the hackers to continue with what they doing. Very selfish from the hospital, unless these lost data are very important - but what would happened if these HDD/s just naturally broken?

The perpetrators will probably run them through a tumbler and run away with everything, it's highly unlikely any traces will be found to the actual coins.

Obviously either the hospital had no desire to up-keep computer security maintenance on necessary files and they didn't want to spend the extra expense or they flat out were not prepared. If data can't be accessed regarding patient's conditions and issues, how would medical personal even know what to treat an individual for besides physical written paper? As a medical establishment, this was bound to happen at some point in time. As terrible as this sounds, this doesn't look good for bitcoin and these people have no morals to be playing grim-reaper with people's lives.

I work for a state agency and someone put ransomeware on some of the network drives a few months ago.  The funny thing about it was that the perpetrators only wanted something like 0.75 bitcoins.  The agency did not pay the ransom.  They have all the data backed up every night, so they just reloaded the previous day's data and we just lost part of a day's worth of work.

This is insane. There's not bottomline for human madness and cruelty. People who regard money above human lives are not worth the food they eat.  :-[

so sad to see this kind of thing happening in 21st century...

Already is. And not just ransomware bullshit: full-on, IRL KIDNAPPINGS :o
https://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/bitcoin-ransoms-becoming-popular-kidnappings/

Not selfish at all from the hospital...imagine if someone needed immediate care and the hospital couldn't provide it/gave the wrong meds etc...a medical malpractice lawsuit is going to cost them more than $17k...a LOT more

Well, they paid 17k $, can't say it's really a lot of money xD

I have heard that they pay 17k$ worth of bitcoin to hacker to get their file back. But title says $3m  ???
I think they have to do backups should have better security in their system because if there were no bitcoin than also those hacker would have find new processor for ransom.

They asked 3 millions but got only 17k$ Which I find rather amazing xD
"we want 5 billions dollars"
"meh... We got like 4.23$ two candies and a ticket for cinema, we're good?"
"deal!"

Message from the CEO:

http://hollywoodpresbyterian.com/default/assets/File/20160217%20Memo%20from%20the%20CEO%20v2.pdf

Of course they have no evidence patent info was accessed...they will announce that in 2 years, like places like target and home depot have done.  Alert people years later of the data breach...

Well, obviously either the hospital had no desire to up-keep computer security maintenance on necessary files and they didn't want to spend the extra expense or they flat out were not prepared. If data can't be accessed regarding patient's conditions and issues, how would medical personal even know what to treat an individual for besides physical written paper? As a medical establishment, this was bound to happen at some point in time.

Yes, but what if the HDD/s just naturally broke, or some virus just wiped the HDDs like in old days. The hospital should anticipate there is small chance of such things happening and dont relly on the data that is not properly backedup offline. Thats it.

Yes, we can't let the hackers win.  There could have been an investigation, but my guess it is hard to find someone that could be in another country like Russia or China.

Nope. The hospital said that the hackers only asked for 40 bitcoins (~$17k), earlier reports saying that the hackers asked for $3mil are wrong.

yeah, this sounds strange to me too. they had to have some kind of back up. every system that stores important data, takes a backup and store that in a different place for this type of situations.

Well you never know, it could be some elaborate scheme to claim insurance money. /s

it is truely strange that they decided to not have any backups, or at least backups wit outdated files. It makes me wonder what their IT department was supposed to be doing  :D

Maybe some guy went through an expensive treatment and couldn't pay for his bills. He could've easily have uploaded the ransomware on the doctors computer when he walked away for a minute and forgot to lock the computer. The 17k sounds more like an ammount someone would like to be reimbursed for something, or he thought his chances of getting paid were just much higher this way.

This would be a very bad situation, for the Hospital and and of course for the bitcoin also.. Even this news gives bitcoin a  popularity, I personally do not prefer this. We hope and pray to God that we'll never hear this type of news again.

Seriously?

Well it's all over the web and the newspaper website :/

the media has always been spreading these bad news about bitcoin, i remember a while back it was another robbery which happened in New York city in broad daylight. they mugged the guy's bitcoins.

but eventually all of them are going to be forgotten without any significant effect on bitcoin popularity.

Yeah I know but confusing 40 btc with 3 millions? Oo

I agree. this article (http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2016/02/17/l-hospital-ceo-says-he-paid-17k-ransom-hackers/80530752/) says that the hackers demanded $3.4M initially but for some reason accepted $17K instead. another article (http://nypost.com/2016/02/17/la-hospital-pays-17000-in-hack-attack-ransom/) stated that the $3.4M demand were just false reports. I'm not sure which one is right, but the latter article have the hospital's president and chief executive words as their source.

Well maybe it's one of the agents that really misunderstood the amount.

But why didn't they pey nearly immediately? 40 btc is NOTHING for an hospital!

It takes time to: Figure out what Bitcoin is, how to buy it, register with exchange or contact local trader, get approval from accountant and senior management and check whether it's actually legal for them to pay the ransom.

If my children can backup their data, so can a hospital.

I feel no compassion for any who refuses to backup their data. I don't care if it's a mother who lost her family pictures or a hospital losing their records.

Us regular people have been told to back up our data for over 20 years now, and business and government for over 40 years.

If you have data backups, you simply reformat your computers, reinstall apps, and connect or load your backups, thereby mitigating these ransom attempts.

BACKUP YOUR DATA.

DO IT NOW.

JUST DO IT! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXsQAXx_ao0)

Maybe yeah ^^

It's still strange to ask for such a low amount.... 3 millions is a lot but 100 or 200k seems better!

I agree it's a bit strange!
I worked in an insurance company, everything is saved every hour and the total amount of data is saved on three other locations every day. To "hack" everything you' need to hack 4 different systems!