Hackers attack Ahmedabad hospital with ransomware, demand $70,000 to restore data

Servers of a private multi-speciality hospital here has come under a ransomware attack with the hackers demanding Bitcoin worth USD 70,000 to restore data, police said.

Based on a complaint filed by K D Hospital, located on the outskirts of the city, a First Information Report (FIR) for extortion was registered at Bopal police station on Tuesday, said an official. “Through an email, the hackers demanded USD 70,000 in Bitcoin to restore the encrypted data and also offered a `discount if the hospital agreed to cough up the amount,” said police inspector A P Chaudhari.

The attack came to notice in the early hours of May 13 when night-shift supervisors noticed that the software on the hospital’s computers and its servers was not working, the FIR said.

Soon, the hospital’s IT head arrived on the scene and realised that hackers had installed a ransomware virus which had encrypted all data of the hospital and patients.

The hackers then sent a communication on one of the computers saying that all the files have been encrypted and downloaded on their servers.

In an email sent to the hospital on May 13, the hackers demanded ransom in Bitcoin. It was followed by another email in the early hours of Tuesday which offered a discount if the hospital agreed to pay, the FIR said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)