More than 100 health care facilities in Romania are offline after hackers launched a ransomware attack on at least 25 hospitals. The Romanian National Cyber Security Directorate, the country’s cybersecurity agency, the attack started with the Pitesti Pediatric Hospital and quickly spread to others. An additional 79 health care facilities have been disconnected from the internet to try to avoid the hackers.

According to the Romanian agency, the hackers used a strain of ransomware called Phobos, created by Russian-speaking hackers. The hackers have reportedly asked for $3.5 bitcoin in ransom, the equivalent of almost $170,000. The agency has advised victims to not pay.

The affected facilities represent a sizable portion of Romania’s health care system as the country has 543 hospitals nationwide. Multiple studies have shown that hospitals have higher mortality rates when they experience downtime from ransomware attacks. Read more about this story on our LinkedIn page