Russian hackers linked to the cyberattack that brought the HSE to its knees have been sanctioned by the UK Government.
A Russian Contigang targeted the health service, the Department of Health and TUSLA in May 2021.
The attack saw hospital systems across the country shut down, with many hospitals having to revert to paper-based notes.
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The British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced on Thursday that seven Russian cybercriminals who are linked to the group behind the Trickbot malware had been hit with travel bans. Their assets have also been frozen.
It is suggested that the group was responsible for extorting at least £27m (€30m) from 149 UK victims.
The HSE, the Costa Rican Government and American Healthcare providers were also targeted by the gang.
During an appearance at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday, the HSE confirmed that just 220 people have requested further information about data that was leaked about them
Speaking at the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday morning, Department of Health Secretary General Robert Watt confirmed that the attack had cost the HSE €53m.
Fran Thompson, Chief Information Officer of the HSE, confirmed that the HSE has sent 32,000 letters to those affected to date. Some 113,000 are due to receive letters, with the remainder to be sent by April.
When asked by Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon if there had been any legal cases taken against the HSE following the hack, the Department of Health said that they were not yet aware of any legal action.
Mr Thompson said that there is an “arms race” between attackers and those trying to defend data.
“We have now got best-in-class cyber companies supporting what we do. We see a huge number of attacks daily that are notified to us.
“Some of them are benign but they have to be followed up. I think it’s 40,000 notifications we would have got last year.
“Part of this is around the speed of the response, and how we deal with something, not just around the notifications [but] having all the processes and procedures in place that deal with the response very quickly.”
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