Brett Callow, an analyst at the cybersecurity firm Emsisoft, said that the attack appeared to be ransomware, a type of malicious software that criminal hackers use to encrypt files and shut down computers.
While ransomware hackers target a number of industries, hospitals have become particularly sensitive, as it can cause interruptions or delays to potentially lifesaving care.
This certainly has all the hallmarks of a ransomware attack and, if so, Ashtabula County Medical Center would be the 53rd U.S.
Universal Health Services, a nationwide hospital chain, is dealing with a devastating apparent ransomware attack thats caused outages at all of its facilities. In Germany, authorities are investigating the death of a woman who died after a ransomware attack on the hospital where she was having surgery forced her to relocate to a different facility.
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