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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
John Hand

RTE on high alert for cyber attack after delivery of two suspicious packages

Two suspicious packages were sent to RTE offices in a potential attempt to hit the national broadcaster with a cyber attack.

One was sent to the regional office in Waterford while the other was sent to Cork this week.

They contained an SD card, which was sellotaped to the inside of the package.

READ MORE: Will the RTE license fee be scrapped like the BBC one in the UK? Top producers and RTE respond

Chiefs at the national broadcaster were already on high alert after the Government was warned of potential cyber attacks earlier this month by Russia in response to sanctions placed on the country over its invasion of Ukraine.

And in an email to staff, bosses at Montrose raised potential concerns around such packages.

It said: "The packages are letter sized envelopes containing a piece of card with a SD card sellotaped on to the card.

“This could be someone trying to send a malicious virus into the organisation on hope that someone will insert the card into a RTE device."

When contacted for comment, a spokesman for the national broadcaster told the Irish Mirror: "RTE does not comment on security or cyber security matters."

A memo given to Cabinet ministers recently warned about such attacks at the hands of the Russians but also said RTE had mechanisms in place in their system to protect from such attacks.

Minister for Arts Catherine Martin is continuing to liaise with RTE over such potential issues.

Last year, a ransomware attack on the HSE caused major disruption to the Irish health service.

HSE chief Paul Reid said in June that it had had a "devastating impact" and will cost the service around €100m.

The Russian Conti gang were the main suspects in that attack.

And Russian cyber terrorists were also top of the list when the Coombe Hospital was hit in December.

In that same month, NUI Galway was targeted in a "massive attack"

READ MORE: RTE show The Late Debate forced off the air for a 'couple of weeks' amid Covid crisis

READ MORE: Covid sees RTE turn profit after multimillion euro deficit reported last year

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