Ireland-UK partnership key to tackling cybercrime 

Lindy Cameron aims to highlight the importance of continued collaboration between Ireland and the UK to protect shared interests and counter threats in cyberspace.

A partnership between Ireland and the UK is key to countering cybercrime threats, according to the head of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC).

Lindy Cameron aims to highlight the importance of continued collaboration between Ireland and the UK to protect shared interests and counter threats in cyberspace.

CEO Ms Cameron will speak to an audience at the influential Institute of International & European Affairs (IIEA) in Dublin today, describing the Ireland-UK relationship as a “source of great strength”.

She will depict the partnership as crucial in “combatting our shared threats”, highlighting the risks posed by established hostile states that seek to do both nations harm through cyberattacks.

She will also discuss how critical national infrastructure that is shared between Ireland and Northern Ireland, such as the rail link between Belfast and Dublin, present attractive targets for cybercriminals and hostile states.

The governments of both UK and Ireland have been clear that they will not tolerate malicious cyber activity, and we have and will publicly call out state-level attacks.

“State-sponsored cyber activity represents one of the most malicious strategic threats to the national interests in both the UK and Ireland. It is hugely important. 

"Tracking and defending the UK from our most sophisticated adversaries represents much of our core business, usually working to support victims behind the scenes.” 

Ms Cameron says hostile state actors are a reality in cyberspace. She names four nation-states that been a constant presence in recent years, China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran.

“And as I’ve said before, we face a determined, aggressive Russia, seeking traditional political advantage by new, high-tech means.” 

Turning to the recent ransomware attack on the HSE, she will praise the Government’s response and its “strong action” of refusing to pay the ransom.

“On May 14, the Irish Health Executive suffered a ransomware attack that caused extensive disruption to Irish hospitals and patients  — and some stolen patient data was published online. 

"The Government was quite rightly clear that — even by criminal standards — this had crossed a line.

I would like to praise the Irish response not to pay the ransom. Cybercriminals are out to make money — the more times a method is successful, the more times it will be used.

Ms Cameron says it is important that “we do all we can” to ensure this is not a criminal model that yields returns.

“The Government’s strong action of refusing to pay will likely deter ransomware operators from further attacks on health sector organisations — in Ireland or elsewhere.” 

Ms Cameron is also expected to talk about the probability that the cybercriminals likely voluntarily handed over the decryption key several days after the attack as a “public relations move to lessen criticism”.

More broadly, she will emphasise the importance of relationships across the global cyber community, which includes collaboration between all four nations of the UK sharing information and threat assessments with international partners, such as Ireland.