A strain of ransomware has infected the computer systems of MedStar Health, a healthcare provider operates ten hospitals across the Washington DC and Baltimore region.

The attack has resulted in the organisation taking an extreme measure to stop the infection from spreading further: it has shut down large portions of its network.

As The Washington Post reports, the malware is thought to have been discovered early on Monday morning, and some staff have claimed that they saw ransom demands had popped up on infected PC’s screens demanding payment in “some kind of internet currency”.

In a Facebook post, MedStar Health issued a statement confirming it had fallen victim, and that users had experienced problems accessing their computers.

Via: tripwire