Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center paid Attack.Ransom a $ 17,000 ransom Attack.Ransom in bitcoin to a hacker who seized control of the hospital 's computer systems and would give back access only when the money was paid Attack.Ransom , the hospital 's chief executive said Wednesday . The assault Attack.Ransom on Hollywood Presbyterian occurred Feb 5 , when hackers using malware infected the institution 's computers , preventing hospital staff from being able to communicate from those devices , said Chief Executive Allen Stefanek . The hacker demanded Attack.Ransom 40 bitcoin , the equivalent of about $ 17,000 , he said . `` The malware locks systems by encrypting files and demanding ransom Attack.Ransom to obtain the decryption key . The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom and obtain the decryption key , '' Stefanek said . `` In the best interest of restoring normal operations , we did this . '' The hospital said it alerted authorities and was able to regain control of all its computer systems by Monday , with the assistance of technology experts . Stefanek said patient care was never compromised Attack.Databreach , nor were hospital records . Top hospital officials called the Los Angeles Police Department last week , according to police Lt John Jenal . Laura Eimiller , an FBI spokeswoman , said the bureau has taken over the hacking investigation but declined to discuss specifics of the case . Law enforcement sources told The Times that the hospital paid the ransom Attack.Ransom before reaching out to law enforcement for assistance . The attack forced the hospital to return to pen and paper for its record-keeping .

One week ago a global cyberattack Attack.Ransom dubbed “ unprecedented ” by Europol began infecting an estimated 200,000 of the world ’ s computers , starting a seven-day countdown to the destruction of data if victims did not pay a ransom Attack.Ransom . On Friday , those countdowns begin reaching zero . But as of lunchtime the attackers had claimed only about $ 92,000 ( €82,183 ) in payments Attack.Ransom from their widespread ransom demands Attack.Ransom , according to Elliptic Enterprises Ltd , a UK-based company that tracks illicit use of bitcoin . The company calculates the total based on payments tracked to bitcoin addresses specified in the ransom demands Attack.Ransom . The ransomware , called WannaCry , began infecting users on May 12th and gave them 72 hours to pay Attack.Ransom $ 300 in bitcoin or pay Attack.Ransom twice as much . Refusal to pay Attack.Ransom after seven days was promised to result in the permanent loss of data via irrevocable encryption . With affected institutions including the Health Service Executive ( which said it prevented the ransomware from activating ) , the National Health Service in the UK , FedEx and PetroChina , few initially paid up Attack.Ransom , leading to speculation that organisations were taking their chances on fixing their corrupt machines before the ransom Attack.Ransom forced a mass deletion of critical data . A week later , experts agree the financial gains of the hackers remain astonishingly low . “ With over 200,000 machines affected , the figure is lower than expected , ” said Jamie Akhtar , co-founder of the London-based security software firm CyberSmart . “ If even 1 per cent paid the ransom Attack.Ransom that would be $ 600k. ” Mr Akhtar said experts may never know how much larger this figure would have been if a so-called kill switch had not been accidentally triggered by a cyber security researcher , who registered an internet domain that acted as a disabling tool for the worm ’ s propagation . While the world ’ s law enforcement is pointing its resources at trying to identify the culprits , Tom Robinson , chief operating officer and co-founder of Elliptic Enterprises , says it ’ s unlikely the money taken from victims will be taken from the digital bitcoin wallets they ’ re being anonymously held in . “ Given the amount of scrutiny this has come under , I would be surprised if they moved it anytime soon , ” he said . “ I just don ’ t think the risk is worth the $ 90,000 they ’ ve raised so far. ” Mr Akhtar agrees but doesn ’ t think the criminals have given up hope while machines infected later still have time ticking on their ransom Attack.Ransom countdown . “ It seems like they are still actively trying to bring funds in , ” he said , noting a Twitter post from Symantec on Thursday , which seemed to show fresh messaging from the attackers promising to hold their end of the decryption bargain if victims paid up Attack.Ransom . Mr Akhtar believes the best thing the perpetrators can do to hide from authorities is “ destroy any evidence and abandon the bitcoin wallets ” . Of course , the hack may have nothing to do with money at all . Any movement of funds from a bitcoin wallet would act as a valuable clue for law enforcement as to who is behind the attack . Preliminary finger-pointing has already targeted groups with suspected links to the North Korean regime , but clues are still few are far between . – ( Bloomberg )

HACKERS connected with last week ’ s devastating NotPetya cyber attack have offered help — but it comes at a price . HACKERS connected with the ransomware that devastated Attack.Ransom overseas banks , power stations , and even Cadbury factories in Australia last week have issued a new ransom demand Attack.Ransom — and it ’ s for much more money than before . The new ransom note was published in two places on the Dark Web and demanded a payment Attack.Ransom of 100 Bitcoins , or about $ 340,000 , in return for a private security key that could decrypt any file locked by the Petya/Goldeneye malware . The hackers even opened a chat room and offered to decrypt one file for potential buyers as proof that the key would work , though it ’ s not clear whether this was a bluff . The demand Attack.Ransom was a significant increase on the ransomware ’ s initial request Attack.Ransom for just less than $ 400 in Bitcoin when the malware was launched in the Ukraine last Tuesday before rapidly spreading through computer networks worldwide . Bitcoin transactions show its creators were able to access more than $ 13,000 paid Attack.Ransom by victims , however , even though their email address was suspended by its German provider . It ’ s not known whether victims who paid the ransom Attack.Ransom received a security key to unlock their files . The dangerous ransomware affected as many as 16,000 computers in 64 countries , according to security firm Clavister , and crippled the operations of several European companies . Some Australian businesses were also affected through their international connections , including Cadbury factories in Tasmania and Victoria , TNT Express courier services , and the offices of law firm DLA Piper . The demand Attack.Ransom or money came amid growing speculation that the ransomware was not designed to make a profit , but was a form of digital terrorism or industrial espionage . ESET senior research fellow Nick FitzGerald said the Petya malware was designed to kill computers first , and ask for money Attack.Ransom second . “ ( Being ransomware ) was a mechanism to help hide the trail of a gang of cyber terrorists or spies , ” he said . Mr FitzGerald advised victims not to pay any ransom Attack.Ransom as there was very little chance they would be able to unlock their files .

DDoS extortionists have already pounced on the Memcached DDoS attack vector in attempts to extract payments Attack.Ransom from attacked companies . Akamai revealed earlier today that it detected DDoS attacks executed via Memcached servers that were different from others . Instead of blasting targets with UDP packets containing random data , one group of attackers is leaving short messages inside these packets . This one group is asking Attack.Ransom victims to pay Attack.Ransom 50 Monero —around $ 17,000— to a Monero address . The group does n't say it will stop the attack but only implies it . Such attacks have first appeared in 2015 and were initially referred to as DDoS-for-Bitcoin after the DD4BTC group that pioneered such tactics . The group would send emails to various companies , threatening to launch DDoS attacks unless they paid a ransom fee Attack.Ransom . Even if the group 's members were arrested , other factions appeared in subsequent years , using unique names such as Armada Collective or XMR Squad , but also mimicking hacker groups such as Anonymous or LulzSec . The tactic , now known as ransom DDoS (RDoS) Attack.Ransom , has become quite popular among cybercriminal groups , and there have been too many RDoS campaigns Attack.Ransom to remember in the past years . In most past cases , attackers did n't have the firepower to launch DDoS attacks if victims ignored the ransom demand Attack.Ransom . But the Memcached-based DDoS extortions Attack.Ransom are different . Attackers clearly have the DDoS cannon to take down companies , mainly due to the large number of unsecured Memcached servers they can abuse to launch these attacks Attack.Ransom . Victims are also more likely to pay Attack.Ransom , seeing that they 're under a heavy attack Attack.Ransom and this is n't just an empty threat . But according to Daniel Smith , a Radware security researcher who spoke with Bleeping Computer , paying the Monero ransom Attack.Ransom wo n't help companies at all.That 's because attackers have used the same Monero address for multiple DDoS attacks against different targets . Here 's the same Monero address from the Akamai attacks , but spotted by a different security researcher . Attackers would n't have the ability to tell which of the multiple targets they attacked paid the ransom Attack.Ransom . The general consensus is that this group is using a carpet bombing technique , hitting Attack.Ransom as many targets as possible for short bursts , hoping to scare one into paying Attack.Ransom . `` Multiple targets are sent the same message in hopes that any of them will pay the ransom Attack.Ransom , '' Akamai said in a report today , echoing Smith 's recommendation not to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom . `` There is no sign to suggest that they are actively tracking the targets reaction to the attacks , no contact information , no detailed instructions on payment notification , '' Akamai added . `` If a victim were to deposit the requested amount Attack.Ransom into the wallet , we doubt the attackers would even know which victim the payment Attack.Ransom originated from , let alone stop their attacks as a result . ''

The average amount of a ransomware demand Attack.Ransom has increased from $ 294 in 2015 to $ 1,077 last year , according to a report released last week by Symantec . `` That 's a pretty dramatic increase , '' said Kevin Haley , director of security response at Symantec . `` The bad guys can get almost anything they ask for , '' Haley said . Some cybercriminals also adjust the size of the ransom demand Attack.Ransom to the type of victim , asking Attack.Ransom enterprises for significantly larger amounts of money than they do of consumers . The company also surveyed ransomware victims , and found that 34 percent of people paid the ransom Attack.Ransom globally . But in the U.S. , the number was 64 percent . All this money coming in is bad news for cybersecurity professionals . `` We 're seeing a lot more people investing in this business , because it 's highly profitable and it 's really easy to get into , '' he said . `` The end result is more malware , and more ransomware . The problem will continue getting worse . '' The Internet of Things was also a major topic in the report . Symantec operates an IoT honeypot , and the number of attacks nearly doubled over the course of 2016 . The intensity of attacks really surprised him , Haley said . During peak activity , attacks would come in every two minutes . That means that vulnerable devices would get infected almost as soon as they are connected to the internet , he said . `` If you plug it in , and decide to take care of security later , you 're already too late . '' There 's no grace period . `` But if the device is not using a default password , is patched , and is up to date , it can fight off most of those attacks , '' he said . `` Unfortunately , we know that there are a lot of devices out there with default passwords , or simple passwords , or have n't been patched . '' The 77-page report also covered a wide variety of other security-related topics . One in 131 emails contained a malicious link or attachment , the highest rate in five years .

Hackers have been trying to blackmail Attack.Ransom patients of a Lithuanian plastic surgery clinic , by threatening to publish their nude “ before and after ” photos online . The photos were stolen Attack.Databreach earlier this year , along with other sensitive data – passport scans , national insurance numbers , etc – from the servers of Grozio Chirurgija , which has clinics in Vilnius and Kaunas . According to The Guardian , the stolen data was first offered for sale in March . At that time , the hackers , who call themselves “ Tsar Team , ” released a small portion of the database to prove the veracity of their claims and to entice buyers . They asked for Attack.Ransom 300 bitcoin for the entire lot , and at the same time contacted some of the affected patients directly , offering to delete the sensitive data for a sum that varied between €50 and €2,000 ( in bitcoin ) . Apparently , among the patients of the clinic were also celebrities , both Lithuanian and not , and individuals from various European countries , including 1,500 from the UK . It is unknown if any of them paid the ransom Attack.Ransom , but the clinic did not try to buy back the stolen data . Instead , they called in the Lithuanian police , CERT and other authorities to help them prevent the spread of the data online , and to find the culprits . They ’ ve also asked the affected patients to notify the police if they got a ransom request Attack.Ransom from the hackers ; to notify news portals , forums or social networking sites of any links to the stolen data that may have been published in the comments on their sites and ask them to remove them ; and do the same if they find a link through Google Search . In the meantime , the hackers decided to leak Attack.Databreach online over 25,000 of the private photos they have stolen Attack.Databreach , more than likely in an attempt to force the affected patients ’ hand and get at least some money . It ’ s interesting to note that the name of the hacker group – Tsar Team – is also a name that has been associate with the Pawn Storm attackers ( aka APT28 , aka Sofacy ) , a Russian cyberespionage group that has targeted a wide variety of high-profile targets , including the NATO , European governments , the White House , and so on . It is unclear , though , if this is the same group . Given that it is a very unusual target for APT28 , it ’ s possible that these attackers have simply used the name to add weight to their demands .

Organizations use them regardless of their size ; from MetLife , LinkedIn , City of Chicago , Expedia , BuzzFeed to KMPG and The Guardian there are several other high-profile platforms that are currently taking advantage of MongoDB . At the same time , having a high-profile customer doesn ’ t mean that platform is completely secure . That ’ s why in 2016 , in two different incidents Attack.Databreach , hackers leaked Attack.Databreach more than 36 million and 58 million accounts respectively from unsecured MongoDB . More : LG Smart TV Screen Bricked After Android Ransomware Infection Now , unsecured MongoDB databases are being hijacked by a hacker , who is not only wiping out these databases but also storing copies of them and asking for a ransom Attack.Ransom of 0.2 bitcoins ( roughly US $ 211 ) from admins in exchange of the lost data . Those admins who haven ’ t created backups of these databases are seriously helpless because the rate of Bitcoin is also increasing and the latest rate is 1 Bitcoin = USD1063.93 . The hacking campaign was discovered by security researcher Victor Gevers , co-founder of GDI Foundation , a non-profit organization . Gevers notified owners about the presence of vulnerable , non-password-protected MongoDB databases and also informed that around 200 of these installations have been wiped out by the hacker . Gevers believes that the hacker ( s ) might be utilizing an automation tool but they manually select their target databases . Hacker seems to be interested in databases that contain important information/data or he chooses companies that are most likely in a position to pay the ransom Attack.Ransom to get their data back . In a conversation with SecurityWeek , Gevers said that “ They use some sort of automation tool , but they also do some of the work manually . If they used a fully automated tool , we might have seen all exposed MongoDB databases being hijacked in one swift move ” . But that was old news ; as per recent tweet by Shodan founder John Matherly , approx . It must be noted that Shodan is the platform where a majority of MongoDB instances can be located . As of now , 16 admins/organizations have already paid the ransom Attack.Ransom to obtain the lost data . The attacks Attack.Ransom on MongoDB databases have been going on for more than a week and servers from across the globe have been targeted . Researchers believe that the attacker , who uses the alias “ harak1r1 ” does not encrypt the stolen data but runs a script , which replaces the database content with the ransom note .