Patient Records at Physician Practice in Illinois Held Ransom by Hackers

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Patient Records at Physician Practice in Illinois Held Ransom by Hackers

Written by Kathleen Roney | August 17, 2012

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Electronic medical records for patients of Surgeons of Lake County in Libertyville, Ill., were recently held hostage by hackers who attacked the computer network, infiltrated and encrypted the server and sent a ransom note to the physicians demanding payment for access to the records, according to a Bloomberg report.

Instead of responding to the ransom, the physicians turned the server off and notified authorities, refusing to pay. The outcome of this data breach was not disclosed, and it is not clear if the surgical center's records were backed up or recovered, according to the report.

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