[2016-02-18] [Multiple sources]: California Hospital Pays Bitcoin ransom

[pawel7777]

Forum discussion: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1365701.0

California: Hospital Pays Bitcoin Ransom to Hackers

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid a ransom in bitcoins equivalent to about $17,000 to hackers who infiltrated and disabled its computer network, the hospital’s chief executive said Wednesday. It was in the hospital’s best interest to pay the ransom of 40 bitcoins after the hacking that began Feb. 5, the C.E.O., Allen Stefanek said. The F.B.I. is investigating the attack, often called “ransomware,” in which hackers encrypt a computer network’s data to hold it hostage, providing a digital decryption key to unlock it for a price. “The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom and obtain the decryption key,” Mr. Stefanek said. Bitcoins, an online currency, are hard to trace. The Los Angeles hospital network was operating fully again Monday, and patient care was not affected by the hacking, Mr. Stefanek said. Neither law enforcement officials nor the hospital gave any indication of who might have been behind the attack or whether there were any suspects.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/18/us/california-hospital-pays-bitcoin-ransom-to-hackers.html?_r=0

Other links:

http://news.sky.com/story/1644121/hollywood-hospital-pays-bitcoin-ransom-demand
http://money.cnn.com/2016/02/17/technology/hospital-bitcoin-ransom/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/02/18/after-computer-hack-l-a-hospital-pays-17000-in-bitcoin-ransom-to-get-back-medical-records/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2016/02/18/ransomware-hollywood-payment-locky-menace/#43f4aec775b0

[Ruhtilg]

I do not understand why the criminals ask for bitcoin. bitcoin is traceable. Why not use Monero? It is anonymous.

[pawel7777]

I do not understand why the criminals ask for bitcoin. bitcoin is traceable. Why not use Monero? It is anonymous.

Bitcoin is 'pseudonymous', your pseudonym (address address) is fully traceable, but with the right precautions you can avoid linking it to your id. Bottom line - you could exchange it anonymously for cash.

Monero is not very popular, there's limited number of places where the victim could quickly buy XMR for fiat. It would probably be easier for hacker to take BTC, convert to XMR, then back to BTC and cash out.

But anonymity of transactions is not the key issue here, not getting identified when exchanging to fiat is.