New Jersey-based healthcare system named Hackensack Meridian Health is reported to have paid a ransom to hackers to free up their database from the ransomware attack it encountered on December 4th,2019.
Highly placed sources report that the healthcare system dared to bow down to the demands of the hackers due to the health insurance plan which covered all costs associated with the cyber attacks.
A spokesperson from Hackensack Meridian has defined the cyber incident as minimal in terms of severity and assured that no confidential information including patient records was accessed or infiltrated by hackers.
All the 17 hospitals and clinics linked to the hospital network were asked to use pen & paper for official use until the systems were brought back online.
FBI and Law enforcement authorities were informed about the incident and remediation activity is under progress.
Note 1- Hackers are targeting mostly healthcare organizations these days as they find such attacks highly lucrative. They either encrypt data and make money through ransom or sell that locked up data on the dark web if the victim fails to pay a ransom.
Note 2- Till last year, the FBI used to advise public and private entities not to pay ransom to hackers as it not only encourages crime but also doesn’t assure a decryption key for sure in return of the demanded ransom in BTC.
Note 3- But from the past two months, the FBI is also encouraging ransomware victims to pay to hackers if the data recovery activity costs more than the ransom payment.
