By Michelle Devane, and Vivienne Clarke
The Government has not paid any ransom to hackers involved in the ransomware attack on the health system, Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said.
A decryption key was made available on Thursday evening almost one week after the IT system was attacked and is being tested to ensure its validity.
Speaking on RTE Radio 1, Mr Donnelly said: “Categorically, no ransom has been paid by this Government directly, indirectly, through any third party or in any other way. Nor will any such ransom be paid.”
We will make every effort to protect patients and their data as much as possible.
The disgraceful cyber attack this week is an attack on the Irish state and all of us who value our health system so highly. https://t.co/cxMCJyPj0j
— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) May 20, 2021
The minister told Morning Ireland it was “unclear” why the decryption key was being made available and that it “came as a surprise”.
He added that there could be “any number of reasons” behind the move, and it would not be useful for him to speculate.
Services
Mr Donnelly has said that while some machines in voluntary hospitals are working, the radiology, oncology and laboratory services are still not at the level the HSE requires.
Progress had been made up to Thursday night in getting some systems back.
Among the services which have returned are the radiology system NIMIS (National Integrated Medical Imaging System), laboratory systems, and patient administration systems, he said.
Radiation oncology remained a problem, he said, as disruption continued across many hospitals following the cyberattack. While some machines were running, it was not at the level the HSE needed.
Mr Donnelly added that it was an “absolute priority” for the HSE to get machines back up and running with teams working around the clock.
The work being done to restore all the patient systems would make the systems themselves stronger and more robust in the short and medium term, he said.
