A hacker group said it only stole data from Trenton, N.J.-based Capital Health — but didn't encrypt it — "so as not to interfere with patient care," databreaches.net reported Jan. 8.
The LockBit 3.0 ransomware gang said it took 7 terabytes worth of patient data "valued at $250,000" and gave the health system until Jan. 9 to pay the ransom, according to the story.
"We purposely didn’t encrypt this hospital so as not to interfere with patient care," the hackers reportedly wrote on their website. "We just stole over 10 million files."
Encrypting means to code files so they can't be accessed. While Capital Health didn't respond to a request for comment from Becker's about this report, the two-hospital system posted on its website that it discovered a "cybersecurity incident" in late November that temporarily caused IT outages but is still investigating the "risk to patient and employee data."