The authors of the cyberattack that last Sunday blocked the computer system of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona have requested a ransom for the kidnapped data: 4.5 million dollars to release the encrypted information.
The Secretary of Telecommunications and Digital Transformation of the Generalitat, Sergi Marcén, has assured that they have managed to collect four terabytes of data, but the researchers do not know what type of information they include.
Marcén has flatly refused to give in to blackmail: "We are not negotiating, we have not negotiated nor will we negotiate any type of payment with these criminals."
Marcén explained that RansomHouse, the cybercriminals who have attacked the hospital, have contacted them to ask for the ransom and have given "proof of life", evidence that they have the data in their possession.
“The copy of life is an image of the main tree of the server where all the folders appear”, says the high official of the Government.
Marcén has pointed out, however, that "the structural database of the Department of Health has not been compromised."
Tomàs Roy, general director of the Catalan Cybersecurity Agency, explained that they still do not know the type of data that cybercriminals have collected.
“The server is a file server where 1,000 users put their content.
They are not the servers of the applications that are used, but a server where the users save their files, such as documents, recordings... It is not easy to know what type of data there is because it depends on what the user saves in their folder”.
Roy has indicated, however, that the hospital "has not lost any data" and, in fact, has warned the center's professionals that, in the event of receiving any supposed indication from the center asking for any personal data or credentials, they should not provide any kind of information.
"It's false.
No one will ask you for any information.
Likewise, Roy has also launched an appeal to the population because, as the data seized may be of a personal nature, they may receive some very well-targeted communication, such as an SMS posing as a relative who has lost their mobile phone and asking for money.
“We have to trust messages that ask for money or credentials.
And you have to avoid clicking on
links
without an identified origin ”, she has warned.
Ramon Chacon, head of the General Police Station for Criminal Investigation of the Mossos d'Esquadra, has admitted that there is a high probability that the criminals will end up publishing the data due to the refusal to pay the ransom: "These attack processes are double extortion : First they introduce malicious code and block and prevent access to data.
They demand a ransom to free them and if they don't get it, they carry out a second extortion: they steal the data and threaten to publish it or sell it to third parties.
They are looking for financial gain.
The goal is money."
Chacon has indicated that, as the probability that they will publish the data is "very high", they are carrying out "a cyber patrol so that, when this leak occurs, they try to eliminate it from the system as soon as possible".
Marcén has also indicated that the hospital backup copies are being recovered little by little.
“The hospital has good equipment and good protection systems.
The hospital is well prepared ”, she has defended.
The cyberattack on the Clínic has affected activity in the three hospital sites.
Antoni Castell, medical director of the center, has confirmed that more than 4,000 analyzes have been stopped on outpatients, more than 300 interventions and 11,000 visits to outpatient clinics.
"90% of the complex surgical activity has been recovered, 40% of the less complex surgical activity, 70% of the external consultations and we have recovered the stroke and heart attack code".
Some twenty patients who require radiotherapy and cannot delay treatment have been referred to the Sant Pau hospital.
If there are no new incidents, Castells has predicted that on Tuesday of next week they will be able to recover 100% of the normal activity in the center.
Marcén has indicated that 15% of digital services are already operational.
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