Recently, two Southern California hospitals were asked money by hackers in return to give access to server after hacking the hospitals’ software. The computer system at both hospitals, Chino Valley Medical Center in Chino and Desert Valley Hospital of Victorville, were invaded by ransom-ware causing threat to hospitals’ data.

Both the hospitals are part of Prime Healthcare Services Inc. They lost hold on its computer system on Friday due to a cyber attack. The cases are currently being investigated by FBI. The hackers are believed to have penetrated the hospitals’ computer systems after getting access to one of the hospital’s computers. The hackers spread a malware program that encrypts the data on computers. The hackers demanded a ransom from hospitals to unlock the system.

This year, a similar hack was experienced at Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital, which had paid about $17,000 in bitcoins to get access back to its computer system. However, in the latest attack, no amount of money was paid to attackers or no loss of data was encountered in both Valley and Chino Hills medical facilities as technology specialists were able to counteract the attack.

Chino Valley is a 126-bed community hospital, while the Desert Valley is a 148-bed acute care facility. The hospitals are running as usually and the majority of the operations are continuing as managers were able restore the systems completely. The malware locks the computer being hacked and its owner becomes unable to process it. It soon start spreading virus to other computer in the institution and shut all of them down.

“This is similar to challenges hospitals across the country are facing, and we have taken extraordinary steps to protect and expeditiously find a resolution to this disruption,” said Fred Ortega, a spokesman for Prime Healthcare.