Vashi MGM Hospital Under Ransomware Attack; Hacker Demanding Bitcoins to Unlock Data
A Vashi MGM Hospital was attacked by a hacker on Sunday demanding bitcoins as ransom to unlock computer data.
The row of ransomware attack continues and this time around a Vashi MGM hospital is under the attack, reports TOI. According to the report from TOI, a hacker locked data of the hospital by hacking into the computer system and sent a web link demanding a ransom to unlock the data. The hacker demanded bitcoins to unlock the hospital's computer system.
The hospital authorities came to know about the attack on Sunday when the receptionist switched on the computer, to witness a blank screen. The system administrator accessed the hospital's network from his residence and received a message on his computer screen about a virus attack.
Ramnath Parmeshwaram, a management system coordinator of the MGM hospital, has lodged a police complaint with the cyber crime cell, and an FIR under IT Act section 43 and section 66 was registered at the Vashi police on Monday.
As soon as the authorities realised about the attack, they switched off all the systems that they connected on the local network, to refrain the virus from spreading. But, it was already too late as the virus infected all the terminals.
The TOI report also stated that a similar incident happened about ten days ago, where the hacker got hold of the computer data of a three-star hotel in Kharghar. Moreover, the hacker also demanded $400 bitcoin ransom to unlock the same.
Administrator PK Shashankar mentioned that “The web link sent by the hacker contained the ransom demand. But we did not open the link and hence don’t know the ransom amount demanded, except that the hacker wants bitcoins. Our technical experts are taking corrective measures, and they are trying to decrypt our hacked data. As of now, the hospital’s administration is functioning smoothly, and there is no financial loss.”
DCP (crime) Tushar Doshi said, “Hospital staff might have clicked on a spam link sent on a suspicious email, through which the virus attack occurred. The data frozen is of 15 days.”
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 18, 2018 09:29 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).