UCSF Pays Hackers $1.14 million, Says COVID-19 Work Not Affected

University of California San Francisco paid hackers $1.14 million, officials said late Friday, after a breach into the UCSF School of Medicine's data in early June.

While those hackers managed to access key UCSF data and lock it away, the payment should restore that access. University officials said the incident did not impact coronavirus work.

"Importantly, this incident did not affect our patient care delivery options, overall campus network, or COVID-19 work," UCSF officials said, in a statement.

A malware attack encrypted some servers at the UCSF School of Medicine, making them inaccessible. UCSF worked with a cyber-security consultant and outside experts to reinforce its defenses against further attacks, which are known as "ransomware" attacks.

The data breached by hackers include some important to "academic work we pursue as a university serving the public good," UCSF officials said. Patient medical records were not exposed, UCSF believes.

"This incident reflects the growing use of malware by cyber-criminals around the world seeking monetary gain," UCSF officials said. "We continue to cooperate with law enforcement, and we appreciate everyone’s understanding that we are limited in what we can share while we continue with our investigation."

— Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez (@FitztheReporter)