Why Did the University of California San Francisco Pay Hackers $1.4 Million in Bitcoin?

The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), has recently paid criminal hackers $1.14 million to resolve a ransomware attack. The university reportedly paid the amount in 116.4 Bitcoins worth over $1 million.  

The Netwalker ransomware gang is believed to be responsible for the attack. Initially, the group demanded a $3 million ransom, but the UCSF had offered them to accept a sum of $780,000. Eventually, after the negotiations were completed, the university paid out $1,140,895 in Bitcoins.

The university was left with ‘no good options’

The cyber hackers launched malware that affected “a limited number of servers” within the medical school at the University of California, thus making data temporarily inaccessible. While researchers at the University of California, medicine school are among those leading COVID-19 related antibody testing, the attack did not impede their coronavirus work, the university said.  The institution revealed that it is working with a team of cybersecurity experts to restore the affected servers “soon.”

The university stated that the encrypted data was vital to some of the academic work that the institution purses in serving the broader public interest. As per the report, the university stated that “We, therefore, made the difficult decision to pay some portion of the ransom.”

The mysterious cyberattack was detected recently as June 1, and the university stated that the malicious actors were stopped during the attack. The hackers used malicious malware (software) known as Netwalker to access and gain control of the university’s data. The incident promoted the UCSF medical staff officials to engage in ransomware negotiations that eventually followed with payment. 

In exchange, the UCSF said it obtained copies of the stolen documents as well as a key to restoring access to the files. The university, however, refused to say what was in the files, which was worth more than $1 million. It did not believe that medical records were exposed. The incident also did not affect Covid-19 work or patient care delivery operations.

The university stated that it continues working together with law enforcement authorities to investigate the matter. Earlier this month, Netwalker also attacked Michigan State University, but the university declined to pay a ransom.  

Why are crypto exchanges and major institutions hacked so often?

Cyber hackers have stolen hundreds of millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies in recent years. This problem is unlikely to go away anytime soon, and fear about security has hit crypto prices this year. Hackers are expected to continue targeting crypto exchanges and big institutions. The rewards are high, as crypto exchanges and big organizations own huge amounts of money, but they have not yet implemented proper security.