A hack attack has been launched on a Los Angeles hospital causing the medical center's computers to be down for over a week. The outage caused by ransomware installed on the Hollywood hospital's network has resulted in patients being transferred to other facilities. Hackers have made a 9,000 Bitcoin ($3.6 million) demand for money to decrypt the computer system and the hospital's files.

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The hack on the Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center has affected the hospital's day-to-day operations. For example, the hospital is using landline phones and fax machines to communicate between departments, and pens and paper are being used to store medical records, according to Tech Times.

Hospital administrators are not allowing employees to use other computers. They fear that the infected software could spread to other workstations in the medical center.

Allen Stefanek is the CEO and President of the hospital. After the institution started to have major IT issues last week he declared a state of emergency.

Stefanek also points out that the cybercriminals' hack attack was random instead of being malicious, and as a result different emergency rooms have been affected since February 12, Friday. In fact, one hospital doctor reported that the hospital's computer system is being held hostage.  Meanwhile, Stefanek told NBC4 that there is no report that patient or employee data was accessed or stolen.  

Ransomware is a type of malware. It is often spread through downloads and phishing attacks, and then encrypts key system files after installing itself on a computer. Then the software warns that all files will be deleted after a certain time limit if a ransom is not paid.  

In the past the FBI recommended that victims should pay the ransom, but law enforcement is now working with international agencies to take down the operations. The hospital has teamed up with the Los Angeles Police Department and FBI, according to The Verge.  Their goal is to get help from experts to find the attackers and free their computer system.

The hack of the Southern California hospital is one of the most outré ransom requests in the past few years. However, such digital attacks have also affected institutions such as police departments and public schools.