Cybersecurity

The hacked Hollywood hospital is not alone — schools and clinics across the country are increasingly being hacked for ransom

On Wednesday, the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center announced that it had decided to pay a ransom of 40 bitcoins, or roughly $17,000, to restore its systems in the "quickest and most efficient" way from a virus.

While details on the specific virus that infected the hospital remain elusive, this appears to be a typical case of ransomware. These viruses frequently use encryption to scramble a victim's files, forcing them to restore from backups, if they have them, or pay up for decryption keys — the same story reflected in initial reports of the hospital's malware infection.