A hacker group has apologized for allegedly carrying out a cyberattack on a New Mexico hospital, insisting it has “morals” while offering affected patients up to $2,500 each.
The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center experienced a cybersecurity incident on Monday, October 26, forcing officials to temporarily divert ambulances and cancel medical appointments while IT teams worked to secure its systems.
The disruption affected UNM Hospital, New Mexico’s only Level I trauma center. Although operations have since returned to normal, a ransomware group called BYOD has claimed responsibility and made an unusual offer to patients affected by the incident.
Hackers apologize and offer hospital patients $2,500
BYOD initially claimed to have compromised 36,000 devices across the university and hospital systems, along with databases containing student records, employee information, internal emails, and other sensitive data.
The group also alleged it had obtained personal information belonging to students and employees, including Social Security numbers. However, the university has not confirmed those claims.
On Tuesday, October 27, the hackers published an update on their data-leak website, offering free decryption keys for devices allegedly locked during the hospital attack.
The group claimed it had not realized some of the affected machines were being used to assist patients in real time.
“We are offering the decryption key for the remaining locked devices for free (ONLY for the hospital sector). We did not know that it was running machines related to assisting patients in real-time,” the statement read.
BYOD clarified that it would only provide decryption assistance for the hospital sector and intended to retain any stolen information.
The group also offered financial compensation to patients who could prove they had been affected.
“To any patient who was affected, please provide us proof, and we will pay you up to $2500 each for the inconvenience. We are sorry once again.”
The hackers then attempted to justify their actions, claiming their goal was to hold organizations accountable for inadequate cybersecurity.
“We have morals and we have a heart, we are not villains, but we will still continue to hold companies responsible for bad security leading to the compromise of any customer data.”
Despite the apology, BYOD said it would continue targeting organizations over alleged security failures.
University warns patients about potential scams
UNM Health Sciences Center first identified the cybersecurity threat at approximately 11 a.m. on Monday, October 26.
Ambulances were diverted to other hospitals in Albuquerque and Santa Fe between 12:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m., while outpatient surgeries and appointments were suspended for the remainder of the day.
By Tuesday afternoon, officials confirmed that critical electronic systems had been restored and hospital operations were returning to normal.
“All UNM Health hospitals are fully open, ambulance traffic has returned to normal operations, and clinics have resumed regularly scheduled appointments and procedures,” the university said.
An investigation determined that some end-user devices were affected, but the incident did not penetrate the university’s core systems or servers.
Classes at several health sciences colleges remained canceled Tuesday before resuming Wednesday, October 28, alongside research activities.
In a subsequent statement, UNM warned that those responsible for the incident could attempt to exploit patients through additional scams.
“Following a cybersecurity incident, those responsible may attempt to exploit public concern through additional scams, including false offers of payments or compensation.”
The university also stated that it “did not make concessions with any group behind the threat.”
It remains unclear whether BYOD provided any decryption assistance or whether its offer to compensate patients is legitimate.
The group emerged approximately a month ago and has claimed responsibility for several other breaches, including one involving Trump Mobile.
While BYOD has described its activities as efforts to expose cybersecurity vulnerabilities, its claims regarding the University of New Mexico remain unverified.
The incident remains under criminal investigation, and university officials have not publicly characterized it as a ransomware attack.
I’m Abhishek Sharma, an author at TigerJek.com. I enjoy exploring games, testing different strategies, and turning what I learn into clear, useful guides. My goal is to help players understand the game better and improve without the usual confusion.
