A hospital in Kentucky is the latest healthcare facility to be targeted in a ransomware attack, according to security analyst Brian Krebs. Methodist Hospital in Henderson, Ky. confirmed that some of its IT networks were hit by a strain of ransomware that encrypts files in the hopes that the owners will pay to regain access.

The attackers are demanding four bitcoins in exchange for a key to unlock the encrypted files, which amounts to $1,675 at today's exchange rate. Not all of the hospital's computers are infected, and administrators followed an emergency plan developed specifically for ransomware attacks to deactivate servers and desktop PCs before the malicious software reached them.

"[W]e essentially shut our system down and reopened on a computer-by-computer basis," the hospital's attorney, David Park, told Krebs.

Still, Methodist has not ruled out paying the ransom to regain access to the computers that were affected. It's working with the FBI to determine whether or not that's feasible, Park said. The choice comes down to efficiency: it may require fewer resources to pay the ransom than it would to clean and restore the affected computers.

Local media reports that the ransomware "locked patients' files," but Krebs said Park told him no patient data was affected. Either way, the fact that a healthcare facility with strong data protection can still fall victim to ransomware is concerning.

"It's a fair bet that as ransomware attacks and attackers mature, these schemes will slowly become more targeted," Krebs wrote. "I also worry that these more deliberate attackers will take a bit more time to discern how much the data they've encrypted is really worth, and precisely how much the victim might be willing to pay to get it back."

If it does pay the ransom, Methodist would not be the first hospital to do so recently. In February, Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital in California paid attackers 40 bitcoins (approximately $17,000) to free its systems from ransomware. That attack affected the hospital's medical records database, though it said no data was compromised.