Ransomware – What is it? What has it got to do with HIPAA?

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) guidance: “FACT SHEET: Ransomware and HIPAA”[1] defines ransomware as:

“Ransomware is a type of malware (malicious software) distinct from other malware; its defining characteristic is that it attempts to deny access to a user’s data, usually by encrypting the data with a key known only to the hacker who deployed the malware, the ransom to the hacker (usually in a cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin) in order to receive a decryption key.

However, hackers may deploy ransomware that also destroys or exfiltrates[2] data, or ransomware in conjunction with other malware that does so.”

To unpack the dense language above – it is a bad actor, a hacker, who puts his or her electronic hand into your network or data center and locks up your organization’s data until you pay them a ransom in some form of money.

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