Hackers are holding a California hospital’s network hostage for $3.6 million

A ransomware is wreaking havoc in Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center located in California. The hospital computers have been down for more than a week after ransomware infection encrypted all the files on the hospital network.

The problem is so severe that the hospital authorities are transferring patients to other hospitals because of the outage. The ransomware has taken the connected medical devices and portals offline, as well. What is worse that the ransomware hackers are reportedly asked for more than $3.6 million to decrypt the system and the hospital’s files, CSO reports.

To help tide over the crisis, the hospital staff has now shifted to manual mode of working and using fax machines and landline telephones to get work done.

The hospital computers were apparently infected with a ransomware when a hospital worker clicked a malicious link or attachment. However the $3.6 million demanded by the hackers is one of the most outlandish digital ransom requests in recent memory.

FBI is investigating the case in collaboration with LAPD and other international agencies.The hospital didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment and hasn’t elaborated on how far the attack has spread, what kind of ransomware infected its network, or how it was even infected in the first place.