[Ongoing Story] Patients diverted to other hospitals after ransomware locks down key software

[Guest Kloaked]

Original Article: http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/02/la-hospital-latest-victim-of-targeted-crypto-ransomware-attack/

 

WHO HOLDS A ******* HOSPITAL HOSTAGE?

 

Neckbeards who don't know what an honest job is, that's who.

 

 

Quote

 

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, a hospital in Los Angeles, is the victim of what officials describe as an ongoing cyberattack. A hospital spokesperson told Ars in a prepared statement that "patient care has not been affected" by the intrusion. And an executive of the hospital told reporters that the attack was "random" and not targeted at patient records.

 

However, local news organizations have reported that some emergency patients were diverted to other hospitals—and that some of the hospital's systems have been locked down by ransomware. The hospital has reverted to paper patient registration and medical records, according to NBC 4 in Los Angeles, and the hospital's network has been shut down for over a week.

 

 

 

This is pure asshole-ery at it's finest. They're making it that much harder for the hospital to care for it's patients, but they're coping with their systems being unusable.

 

 

Quote

 

The HPMC ransomware attack appears to be part of a trend of increasingly targeted ransomware attacks against businesses and larger institutions. These are likely carried out by cybercriminals who have managed to gain access to the organizations' networks through other malware to conduct reconnaissance. The trend was the topic of a presentation by security researcher Roel Schouwenberg at last week's Suits and Spooks forum in Washington, DC.

 

"The targeted attacks that I'm aware of started to become more prevalent over the course of 2015," Schowenberg told Ars in an e-mail conversation following the conference. The attacks were launched by "a number of different threat actors, but it's very hard to get the full picture," he noted.

 

 

 

What are they demanding though, after all of this?

 

Mother. Fucking. Bitcoins.

 

 

Quote

 

The amount being demanded by the attackers to provide the key to unlock the hospital's systems has not been made public, though it has been reported to be as much as 9,000 Bitcoin—the equivalent of $3.6 million.

 

 

 

How much of an asshat do you have to be to do something like this? Obviously some guys don't know how to shy away from mommy's teet and make it on their own. No, they have to hold up a hospital's systems and make it that much harder for the hospital to care for it's patients.

 

I wonder how much damage has been cause by this breech -- not just including equipment, but including the amount of time it's taking to care for needy patients because time is sometimes the only thing patients have.

 

I hope these assholes are found and put in prison for the rest of their lives.

[ImBleu]

At least hold someone like the NSA hostage with ransomware. Not a Hospital.

 

People already end up going broke in america over medical fees, much to the dismay of us Free Healthcare'd citizens. At least let them go broke peacefully.

[Arcaddia]

Don't you sometimes just wish you could find them and beat the living hell out of them, who the fuck do they think they are.

[ShadowDeity]

I mean, come on.  A hospital?  The NSA is one thing, but let's not attack the people who are already sick..

 

That's a kick in the dick.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Let's be honest here....most of the doctor I've seen in hospital...don't really care for their patients...

 

Most of the time, they would look at you, do a few checks and claim you're fine when in reality, something really isn't, just to get a higher number of patients done meaning more money in their pockets. This is coming from personal experience as my grandmother had an infection, and the doctors claim there was no issue..until a few days later and where she is in deep pain, lost some memory, and actually going somewhat crazy.

[Guest Kloaked]

2 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Let's be honest here....most of the doctor I've seen in hospital...don't really care for their patients...

 

Most of the time, they would look at you, do a few checks and claim you're fine when in reality, something really isn't, just to get a higher number of patients done meaning more money in their pockets. This is coming from personal experience as my grandmother had an infection, and the doctors claim there was no issue..until a few days later and where she is in deep pain, lost some memory, and actually going somewhat crazy.

How many hospitals have you been to?

[ImBleu]

2 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Let's be honest here....most of the doctor I've seen in hospital...don't really care for their patients...

 

Most of the time, they would look at you, do a few checks and claim you're fine when in reality, something really isn't, just to get a higher number of patients done meaning more money in their pockets. This is coming from personal experience as my grandmother had an infection, and the doctors claim there was no issue..until a few days later and where she is in deep pain, lost some memory, and actually going somewhat crazy.

I've never heard of that happening - is this more of a US thing? Here hospital appointments take quite a long time - because they spend enough time with the patients to actually diagnose an issue. As healthcare is free, the doctors don't earn anything from having more patients so they rather get people done properly than have them come back 4 times.

[NickB]

6 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Let's be honest here....most of the doctor I've seen in hospital...don't really care for their patients...

 

Most of the time, they would look at you, do a few checks and claim you're fine when in reality, something really isn't, just to get a higher number of patients done meaning more money in their pockets. This is coming from personal experience as my grandmother had an infection, and the doctors claim there was no issue..until a few days later and where she is in deep pain, lost some memory, and actually going somewhat crazy.

 

It must have been that one hospital, not all hospitals are bad

[Aereldor]

7 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Let's be honest here....most of the doctor I've seen in hospital...don't really care for their patients...

 

Most of the time, they would look at you, do a few checks and claim you're fine when in reality, something really isn't, just to get a higher number of patients done meaning more money in their pockets. This is coming from personal experience as my grandmother had an infection, and the doctors claim there was no issue..until a few days later and where she is in deep pain, lost some memory, and actually going somewhat crazy.

I'm very sorry about what happened to your grandmother, but that doesn't justify the actions of these hackers. Not in the slightest.

Hospitals still provide invaluable healthcare services and the software and data being held ransom are invaluable resources for them to look after patients- patients who may depend on the hospital's staff and resources to live another day, or to stay on their feet without collapsing.

 

I know there are instances where doctors and hospitals fail, but there are even more instances where they save lives, and all of us would do well to remember that. And it's not okay to hold a hospital's equipment ransom.

[Guest Kloaked]

2 minutes ago, ThatCoolBlueKidd said:

I've never heard of that happening - is this more of a US thing? Here hospital appointments take quite a long time - because they spend enough time with the patients to actually diagnose an issue. As healthcare is free, the doctors don't earn anything from having more patients so they rather get people done properly than have them come back 4 times.

It's not a thing. The hospital I stayed at where I live when I had a severe fever (I forget what exactly it was that I had), I had nothing but positive things to say about the nurses and the doctors.

 

Mostly the nurses ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[itsmyjobtoknow]

Just now, Kloaked said:

How many hospitals have you been to?

Personally, one

But the rest of my family has been to several others around NYC.

Heck, I've seen some doctor that work in their own building and don't even want to touch my sick siblings and just give us a prescription

 

5 minutes ago, ThatCoolBlueKidd said:

I've never heard of that happening - is this more of a US thing? Here hospital appointments take quite a long time - because they spend enough time with the patients to actually diagnose an issue. As healthcare is free, the doctors don't earn anything from having more patients so they rather get people done properly than have them come back 4 times.

It's not a US thing, but it has happen to me and family more then a few times from several location.

 

2 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

I'm very sorry about what happened to your grandmother, but that doesn't justify the actions of these hackers. Not in the slightest.

Hospitals still provide invaluable healthcare services and the software and date being held ransom are invaluable resources for them to look after patients- patients who may depend on the hospital's staff and resources to live another day, or to stay on their feet without collapsing.

 

I know there are instances where doctors and hospitals fail, but there are even more instances where they save lives, and all of us would do well to remember that. And it's not okay to hold a hospital's equipment ransom.

Never said it was justified anything

[SImoHayha]

I hope the person that made these " Ransomware's " gets beat to death with a shovel and then stabbed a thousand times before slicing their throat.  

 

Of course giving a way to crack the Ransomware of course. 

[Guest Kloaked]

2 minutes ago, itsmyjobtoknow said:

Personally, one

But the rest of my family has been to several others around NYC.

Heck, I've seen some doctor that work in their own building and don't even want to touch my sick siblings and just give us a prescription

That's NYC though, not everywhere else. There's more hospitals in Freedomland than that. I know you're experience is your experience, but you made it sound like it was a normal thing in Freedomland.

[itsmyjobtoknow]

6 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

That's NYC though, not everywhere else. There's more hospitals in Freedomland than that. I know you're experience is your experience, but you made it sound like it was a normal thing in Freedomland.

 

I am just merely stating that as great as hospitals are, it isn't always sunshine and daisy there. Some people get outright declined any help from hospital because the lack of insurance coverage. 

 

As much as a hospital are interested in helping the general population, they are still a business where they need to keep a whack ton of equipment powered, employees to pay, etc, so money is also in their interest. 

 

I know what I said isn't true everywhere...but it isn't completely false either...and that is the part where it is kinda sh*tty. 

[patrick3027]

What did you expect?

Cyber security in most hospitals is laughable.

 

 

 

[suicidalfranco]

jest makes this more believable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6gG-6Co_v4

[That Norwegian Guy]

Is there something special about this hospital?

Private hospital for the exceptionally rich or something?

Just looking for a tiny morsel of a hint of what these mental larvae were motivated by. "Grim Robin Hood" is the only thing I could think of.

 

Edit: Due to the lack of sense this makes, I'm sure the US govt. are behind it to engineer a reason for a knee-jerk law AND to slam BitCoin in one swoop.

[ChineseChef]

I am amazed it took this long, and frankly I won't be surprised when this starts happening more and more.  Barely anyone takes cybersecurity seriously.  All it does is cost money in the eyes of management; and when it works you can't tell, so obviously we don't need it.  I see more and more companies and soft targets like hospitals getting targeted like this.  These kinds of places can't afford to have their systems down, and most will likely pay simply to make it go away faster.

[PumaXCS]

As a hospital IT this sounds so scary, knowing how easily something like this could happen.

 

 

[christianled59]

3 hours ago, That Norwegian Guy said:

Is there something special about this hospital?

Private hospital for the exceptionally rich or something?

Just looking for a tiny morsel of a hint of what these mental larvae were motivated by. "Grim Robin Hood" is the only thing I could think of.

 

Edit: Due to the lack of sense this makes, I'm sure the US govt. are behind it to engineer a reason for a knee-jerk law AND to slam BitCoin in one swoop.

Tin foil hats m8. That's a little ridiculous. About as ridiculous as blaming Bush for 9/11.

[Guest Kloaked]

28 minutes ago, christianled59 said:

Tin foil hats m8. That's a little ridiculous. About as ridiculous as blaming Bush for 9/11.

Wat. It wasn't Bush's fault? Next thing you'll tell me is Obama didn't kill Bin Laden.

[christianled59]

6 hours ago, Kloaked said:

Wat. It wasn't Bush's fault? Next thing you'll tell me is Obama didn't kill Bin Laden.

Don't you read the papers m8? Obviously Paula Deen killed Ben Larsen

[Guest Kloaked]

Just now, christianled59 said:

Don't you read the papers m8? Obviously Paula Deen killed Ben Larsen

Diabeetus

[Lethal Seraph]

13 hours ago, patrick3027 said:

What did you expect?

Cyber security in most hospitals is laughable.

Yeah... it's not as bad as seeing your doctor just Googling for your symptoms online though.

[Bensemus]

Isn't ransome ware just a virus? It infects what it can, regardless of who owns the computer. Or is it a targeted infection?