latest intelligence
THE RANSOMWARE THREAT
A guide to detecting an attack before it’s too late
I
PRESENTED BY
DOWNLOAD WHITEPAPERS AT:
WWW.INTELLIGENTCISO.COM/
WHITEPAPERS
16
n February 2016, the
computer network at
Hollywood Presbyterian
Medical Center (HPMC)
was down for more than a week as the
Southern California hospital worked
to recover from a ransomware attack.
Hospital administrators declared an
internal emergency as staff struggled to
access patient records and computer
systems critical for patient care. Some
patients had to be transported to other
hospitals to maintain their continuity
of care. All the while, attackers held
the hospital’s computer systems
hostage until a ransom of 40 Bitcoins –
approximately US$17,000 – was paid.
Only then could the hospital regain use
of its files that had been surreptitiously
encrypted by malware. Since then,
at least three more healthcare
organisations have reported business
disruptions due to ransomware attacks.
And there will be others now that
cybercrime syndicates have discovered
how lucrative this type of attack can be.
HPMC may have gotten off easy with a
ransom of only 40 Bitcoins. Criminals
know that many organisations would pay
far more than that in order to restore
their systems to working order.
According to the Institute of Critical
Infrastructure Technology (ICIT), ‘To
pay or not to pay’ will be the question
fuelling heated debate in boardrooms
across the US and abroad.
Is your organisation prepared for a
ransomware attack? u
Issue 09
|
www.intelligentciso.com