A Russia-based hacker group has claimed a Japanese hospital paid $30,000 to regain access to electronic medical records that were encrypted in a ransomware attack last October, causing major disruption to the medical institution's operations.
The town of Tsurugi, Tokushima Prefecture, which runs the targeted Handa Hospital, has denied paying ransom money, and experts suspect that an IT firm involved in attempts to restore access to the records secretly reached a deal with the hackers.
Japanese police have been urging those targeted in ransomware attacks to not pay money demanded of them.