A group of unknown hackers hacked a Wisconsin-based IT company called VCPI that provides cloud data hosting, security and access management to more than 100 nursing homes across the U.S. The hackers are now demanding approximately $14 million worth of bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) to give back control over the system.
According to the interview with VCPI CEO and Founder Karen Christianson on KrebsonSecurity, the main aim of the attack is to prevent care centers from accessing crucial patient medical records.
Christianson claims the attack had affected virtually all of their core offerings, including Internet service and email, access to patient records, client billing and phone systems.
"We’ve got some facilities where the nurses can’t get the drugs updated and the order put in so the drugs can arrive on time. In another case, we have this one small assisted living place that is just a single unit that connects to billing. And if they don’t get their billing into Medicaid by December 5, they close their doors. Seniors that don’t have family to go to are then done. We have a lot of [clients] right now who are like, ‘Just give me my data,’ but we can’t," she added.
Previously iHodl reported that the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions against hackers from North Korea. The official document refers to three large hacker groups — Lazarus, Bluenoroff and Andariel — who are accused of stealing at least $2 billion from cryptocurrency exchanges and banks.
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