Hackers demand $3m bitcoin ransom from hospital to unlock vital files

[Alley]

It was a joke.

[pawel7777]

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.

[OmegaStarScream]

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

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 .

[--Encrypted--]

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.

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.

[bitbaby]

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..

[mkc]

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

[Duomo]

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.

[Jet Cash]

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.

[nichu]

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 .

[kpitti]

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 

[pereira4]

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.

[pawel7777]

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.

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.

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).

[--Encrypted--]

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.

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.

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.

[bargainbin]

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.

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.

[Kprawn]

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. 

[pawel7777]

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 } ... 

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.

.... If a single person has to die, because we wanted to protect murderers.. we will be held liable or associated with this.

Yeah. No.

[bargainbin]

... At some stage these coins has to go through mixer services, and then these services should work

with authorities to catch them. ...

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?

[ebliever]

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.

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.

[jyakulis]

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

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

[Betwrong]

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

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.