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Science Quickly

Cyber Thieves Hold Hospital's Data for Ransom

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2639 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2016

⏱️ 2 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California paid $17,000 to regain access to their patient digital information and other data held hostage.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.

0:05.8

Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.

0:11.0

Yacold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.

0:19.6

To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.

0:22.7

.jp.j. That's y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.jp. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult.

0:33.4

This is Scientific Americans' 60-second science. I'm Larry Greenmeyer. Got a minute?

0:39.4

What do you do when hackers kidnap your data and hold it for ransom?

0:43.4

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in California recently faced that question.

0:48.2

The hospital's management decided it was worth forking over $17,000 in Bitcoin cybercurrency

0:53.5

to regain access to their patient digital

0:55.6

information and other data held hostage by a malicious software program.

1:00.4

Ransomware, as it has come to be known, has been around for years.

1:03.9

But this hospital case is perhaps the most egregious example of its use as part of a cyber

1:08.2

attack.

1:09.4

The Medical Center issued a statement saying that patient care was not compromised while their data was unavailable.

1:14.6

Still, it's unsettling to hear that a hospital is shut out of

1:17.6

parts of its own computer systems and unable to communicate electronically.

1:21.6

Ransomware does its dirty work by encrypting files until a ransom payment releases the decryption key.

1:28.3

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this case is that the hackers asked for only $17,000,

1:34.3

not that much money to an institution that pulls in hundreds of millions in annual revenue.

1:39.3

But it's almost certain that future instances of ransomware attacks will involve more exorbitant demands.

1:44.6

Unless the world pays us a hefty ransom?

...

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