A hacker has allegedly stolen 8.3 million patient records from a Virginia government Web site that tracks prescription drug abuse. The hacker also is claiming that all of the backup copies on their system have been destroyed. They're demanding a $10 million ransom to return the data and agree not to sell it on the open market (where, according to some experts, it may actually command a fee higher than $10 million).
Its probably a system managers worst nightmare. Not only has your system been hacked, not only has all of your companies data been stolen, not only does it consist of millions of records containing private information, but the hacker has erased the data, deleted the backups, and is holding it hostage. This is what has apparently happened to the State of Virginia's Prescription Monitoring Program. (as reported by FoxNews)
Here is the ransom note left behind:
ATTENTION VIRGINIA
I have your s[censord]! In *my* possession, right now, are 8,257,378 patient records and a total of 35,548,087 prescriptions. Also, I made an encrypted backup and deleted the original. Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too. Uhoh :(
For $10 million, I will gladly send along the password. You have 7 days to decide. If by the end of 7 days, you decide not to pony up, I'll go ahead and put this baby out on the market and accept the highest bid. Now I don't know what all this shit is worth or who would pay for it, but I'm bettin' someone will. Hell, if I can't move the prescription data at the very least I can find a buyer for the personal data (name,age,address,social security #, driver's license #).
Now I hear tell the F[censord]ing Bunch of Idiots ain't fond of payin out, but I suggest that policy be turned right the f[censord] around. When you boys get your act together, drop me a line at hacking[deleted]@yahoo.com and we can discuss the details such as account number, etc.
Until then, have a wonderful day, I know I will ;)
The site was hacked and the ransom note left behind on April 30th, as of late on May 6th the site was still down. I guess they're having more than just a bad day. Perhaps management will start investing more in security.
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