'Real and present risk' patient data stolen in cyberattack could be released

In 2017 when the Wannacry ransomware attack occurred the HSE had been warned by the NHS who had sent “a bat signal” of a cyber threat

The former chief information officer of the HSE, Richard Corbridge, who led the HSE’s response to the last cyber attack in 2017, has said that there was “a real and present risk” that patients’ data could be released.

Mr Corbridge told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that the attack might not have been specifically targeted at the HSE, it could have been part of a wider probe of health systems across Europe to see where vulnerabilities lay.