Ransomware has certainly captured the attention of the media and hospitals across the
country.  The poster child of this trend is Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center (HPMC) in Los Angeles. Earlier this year, HPMC was the victim of a Ransomware attack and paid $17,000 to get the key and access their files again. More recently, the 10-hospital Medstar system in the Washington, DC area was attacked and asked for 45 bitcoins (about $18,500), although the hospital claims to have restored its data without paying the ransom.

In between these attacks, three other hospitals were also victims. Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Kentucky reportedly paid a $17,000 ransom in early March and Prime Healthcare Management hospitals in Chino and Victorville, California were targeted by the same ransomware as HPMC, but restored its systems without payment. Ars Technica summed up the situation this way: