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Allen Stefanek
said in a statement that paying the ransom was the "quickest and
most efficient way" of regaining access to the affected systems,
which were crippled on Feb. 5 and interfered with hospital
staff's ability to communicate electronically.
Stefanek said there was no evidence that any patient or employee
information was accessed in the so-called malware attack, and
that the hospital fully restored access to its electronic
medical record system this Monday.
"Patient care has not been compromised in any way," Stefanek
said.
Stefanek said the attack locked them out of their systems by
encrypting files for which only the hackers had the decryption
key. He said the hospital notified law enforcement and computer
experts worked feverishly to restore system access and uncover
the source.
The origin of the computer network intrusion remains unknown but
it bogged down communications between physicians and medical
staff who suddenly became had to rely on paper records and
doctors' notoriously messy handwriting, according to doctors and
the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Although the cyber attack snarled the hospital's patient
database, doctors managed to relay necessary medical records the
old-fashioned way through phone lines and fax machines, said Dr.
Rangasamy Ramanathan, a neonatal-perinatal specialist affiliated
with the 434-bed facility.
The FBI and the Los Angeles Police Department are working to
pinpoint the hacker or hackers responsible for the intrusion,
FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said on Wednesday.
(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in San Francisco; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
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