One of the biggest clinical lab testing companies in the world, LabCorp, was hit with a "new variant of ransomware" over the weekend.
"LabCorp promptly took certain systems offline as a part of its comprehensive response to contain and remove the ransomware from its system," the company told PCMag in an email. "We are working to restore additional systems and functions over the next several days."
LabCorp declined to say what variant of ransomware was used. But according to The Wall Street Journal, the company was hit with a strain known as SamSam.
In March, the same strain attacked the city of Atlanta's IT network. Like other ransomware variants, SamSam will effectively lock down a computer, encrypting all the files inside, and then demand the victim pay up to free the system. In the Atlanta attack, the anonymous hackers demanded $51,000, which the city government reportedly refused to pay.
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How much the hackers are demanding from LabCorp isn't clear; the company declined to answer further questions about the attack or if it will pay the ransom.
The lab testing provider first reported the breach on Monday, initially describing it as "suspicious activity" on the company's IT systems that relate to healthcare diagnostics. This prompted fears that patient data may have been stolen. The North Carolina-based company processes more than 2.5 million lab tests per week and has over 1,900 patient centers across the US.
"LabCorp also has connections to most of the hospitals and other clinics in the United States," Pravin Kothari, CEO of cybersecurity firm CipherCloud, said in an email. "All of this presents, at some point, perhaps an increased risk of cyber attacks propagating and moving through this expanded ecosystem."
On Thursday, LabCorp issued a new statement and said the attack was a ransomware strain. At this point, the company has found "no evidence of theft or misuse of data," but it's continuing to investigate.
"As part of our in-depth and ongoing investigation into this incident, LabCorp has engaged outside security experts and is working with authorities, including law enforcement," the company added.