Richard Duvall, CEO of Carthage (N.Y.) Area Hospital and Ogdensburg, N.Y.-based Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, said they have received a demand from hackers but will not be paying the ransom, North Country This Week reported Sept. 15.
The two New York hospitals were hit by a ransomware attack that forced them to divert ambulances to other local hospitals and reschedule most appointments.
LockBit, a ransomware gang, recently added the hospitals to its leak site, stating that it would publish data it stole from the hospitals if a ransom is not paid by Sept. 19.
Mr. Duvall said he does not know what data the hackers were able to access and that the organization is taking legal action to determine what data was stolen.
The CEO also said it's unclear if the hackers were able to get past their system's encryptions.
"The criminals did deploy the bug needed to lock down our software, but we were able to block their access before it could be activated," he told the publication.
At this time, Mr. Duvall said the hospitals don't plan to pay the requested ransom as it won't guarantee that the hackers wouldn't sell the data.
The hospitals are currently working with the FBI, the New York State Department of Health and the state Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services to determine the scope of the attack.
The hospitals are also working to scrub more than 1,500 computers to ensure there is no lingering threat.