A local law firm says it was hacked and had to pay thousands of dollars in ransom to get its files back.
The Brown Firm, located in the San Jose area, said it happened in December when it suddenly couldn't access its case files.
It received a ransom note, saying it had to pay $2,500 in bitcoin in order to unlock the information.
The same thing happened to a hospital in Los Angeles, causing delays in the emergency room. The ransom there was set at more than $3 million.
In both cases, they've been told people's data wasn't compromised.
“Everything that comes into this office was on the computer,” said legal assistant Patty Pearson. “We're a small 3 person firm never thought something like this would happen to us.”
The local law firm said it paid the ransom and got control of its files back after ten days. It says more secure policies are now in place to protect its files.