Jack Horgan-Jones and Conor Lally report:
It will be at least three days before the scale of the damage from “possibly the most significant cyber crime attack on the Irish State” is clear, a Government Minister has said.
Green Party Minister of State for Communications Ossian Smyth said the attack, which led to HSE IT systems being taken offline on Friday, was carried out by a “serious international group”, and was an “order of magnitude” beyond normal cyber attacks launched on State agencies.
[…]
There were indications on Friday night that the attack had not been confined to the HSE.
Mr Smyth said the Office of the Government chief information officer had identified issues at the Department of Health. There may also have been a “serious breach”, and department systems would be examined over the weekend alongside the HSE systems to assess the extent of any damage done.
Read more on The Irish Times.
According to the Irish Examiner, the Covid vaccination program is continuing today. “Covid test results and contact-tracing services have also been successfully restored after being disrupted yesterday.” Despite that good news, Sunday World focuses on the risks and dangers to patients due to the disruption of services, and Clare.fm reports that the UL Hospitals Group has confirmed that the ransomware attack on the HSE has affected the telephone system at University Hospital Limerick.
Conti Threat Actors Don’t Care About Your Grandma or Baby
Conti threat actors have never sworn off attacking the medical center and have attacked a number of medical entities, including the multi-center Leon Medical Centers in Florida. In that case, they dumped what appeared to be millions of records with patient and employee data after Leon refused to pay ransom. They have also attacked a number of private practice groups and clinics. This HSE attack may be the largest or one of the largest attacks by them in the medical sector.