So It WAS Ransomware: The Implications of the Attack on MedStar Health

An important development took place on Wednesday, March 30, in a story that our publication has been covering this week. AsHCI Managing Editor Rajiv Leventhal noted in his article, The Baltimore Sun has run a report confirming what some had suspected—that the hacker attack on the 10-hospital MedStar Health system, based in Columbia, Md., and serving the Washington-Baltimore corridor, did in fact involve ransomware, something that had not been publicly confirmed prior to Friday.

The report, by the Baltimore Sun’s Ian Duncan, Andrea K. McDaniels, and Colin Campbell, noted that “The hackers who locked up data on MedStar’s computers this week are demanding ransom to begin unlocking it — and they’re offering a bulk discount to release all of it, according to a copy of the demands obtained by The Baltimore Sun. The attack was made public by the FBI and MedStar on Monday. A doctor at a MedStar hospital in Baltimore and a second source familiar with the matter confirmed Wednesday that it was launched by hackers seeking payment. The hackers, who have encrypted the data so MedStar users cannot retrieve it, are seeking payment in bitcoins, the hard-to-trace digital currency that can be purchased at online exchanges.” For the full article click here 

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