A former FBI agent spent four years tracking down an alleged hacker of a Kansas hospital even after leaving the agency, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Eric Kerr, a cybersecurity researcher who departed the bureau in 2023, continued to pursue “Hades,” a hacker who allegedly infected a Chanute, Kan., hospital’s IT systems with ransomware and extorted $100,000 in bitcoin from the organization, according to the story. Hades was purportedly in a cybercriminal group, Andariel, that was part of North Korea’s military spy agency and hacked at least five U.S. healthcare facilities.
The FBI later seized the money and returned it to the hospital (which wasn’t named by the agency or the Journal), as well as to a Colorado healthcare provider the group hacked.
Mr. Kerr and a coinvestigator presented their findings at a conference Nov. 19 in Washington, D.C. The news outlet couldn’t reach Hades for comment.
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