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Lone hacker shuts down Washington and Baltimore area hospitals

 

SOUCE: NBC

SOUCE: NBC

Hospitals in the Washington, DC and Baltimore metropolitan areas operated by MedStar Health, Inc. had their computer systems hacked into and shut down on Monday. The lone hacker planted a virus within the system that has caused hospital workers, including those at Georgetown University Hospital, to operating the hospital facilities by hand. records and information are being faxed or being delivered by hand. The hacker has apparently called the attack “ransomware” and has demanded several million dollars to restore the crippled systems.

MedStar, in a public statement, claimed that operations were continuing and that none of the patient records have been destroyed or tampered with. The company stated that they are continuing regular operations but personnel must do computer related activities by hand which is slowing things down considerably. Personnel are unable to log on to the hospital servers to gain access to patient records and treatment. Many worker’s, however, are reporting that they are seeing messages pop up on their computer screens demanding that the ransom be paid in the Web currency known as Bitcoin. A recovered ransom note stated that MedStar only has ten days to pay the stated ransom or their files will be permanently destroyed.

Some staff members have expressed concern that the quality of care at the MedStar facilities may be compromised but, as of yet, the company has not closed down and of the health care facilities or hospitals. This hacker attack has come at a challenging time for the nation’s capital as a lone shooter closed down both the White House and the Capitol building this week.

Washington and Baltimore law enforcement have been actively investigating the hacking attack but will not comment on the current status of their investigation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has also joined in the investigation but will not reveal further details to what is already known. Law enforcement officials have further refused to give any details regarding the hack itself or when they expect the hospitals systems to be back on line. It is not known if the FBI or other law enforcement investigators have been in direct communication with the hacker.