Cyber attack ‘most significant on Irish state’

A cyber attack on Irish health service computer systems is “possibly the most significant cybercrime attack on the Irish state”, a minister has said.

Speaking on broadcaster RTÉ, Ossian Smyth said the attack “goes right to the core of the [health] system”. However, he also said that it was “not espionage”. The health service has temporarily shut down its IT system to protect it after the attack.

Mr Smyth, who is minister for public procurement and eGovernment, said it was an international attack.He added: “These are cyber criminal gangs, looking for money. “What they’re attempting to do is to encrypt and lock away our data, and then to try to ransom it back to us for money.”