Extortion is wreaking chaos in the new digital world and generating lots of money for cyber criminals , with the latest casualty being a Hollywood - based hospital that had its computer servers shut down by hackers demanding a $ 3.7 m ransom this week , revealing again that every business and consumer using the internet is a potential target for ransomware perpetrators . Symantec claims " never before in the history of humankind have people across the globe been subjected to ransom on a massive scale as they are today " , adding that while ransomeware is a global menace , the US is the primary " devil 's eye " .
Extortion is wreaking havoc in the new digital world and generating lots of money for cyber criminals, with the latest casualty being a Hollywood-based hospital that had its computer system shut down by hackers demanding a $3.7m ransom this week, revealing again that every business and consumer using the internet is a potential target for ransomware perpetrators. Symantec says "never before in the history of humankind have people across the world been subjected to extortion on a massive scale as they are today", adding that while ransomeware is a global menace, the US is the primary "bull's eye".