Local business talks about how they are keeping your information safe

Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles, California was held for ransom, paying 40 bitcoins – which is equivalent to about $17,000.The money was given to hackers who controlled the hospitals computer system, which contained important patient medical documents.

The incident happened back in the beginning of February, preventing the hospital from being able to communicate with one another, but most importantlycustomers personal information was in the hands of the unknown.

The hospital released a statement, “The quickest and most efficient way to restore our systems and administrative functions was to pay the ransomand obtain the decryption key.” The hospital also says that it is working with a team of experts to understand more about the event.

In the situation where a local business could be at the risk for a cyber attack, specifically a bank. Senior Vice President, Mary Wilkerson says they are prepared if any kind of cyber attack were to happen. “Customer privacy isfundamental to banking, so we do everything we can to keep information safe…really and truly, it’s not that we can say it can never happen because anything is possible but I think people can feel really confident that we are keeping their information safe.”

Detective Tracy Perkins with Boone County Sheriff’s Department says the best thing that customers can do is to,”put some type of security, life lock protection or something on their account if there is any unusual activity they will be notified immediately.”