Probe into potential cybersecurity breach at Department of Foreign Affairs 

The DFA said it was notified by Ireland's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on Wednesday about a possible security breach

An investigation has been launched into a potential cybersecurity breach at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The DFA said it was notified by Ireland's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on Wednesday about a possible security breach arising out of claims by a Russian cyber extortion group that it had “successfully breached” the department’s systems.

The newly established Mogilevich hacker group claimed that it had acquired 7GB of data it described as “compromised documents” and was offering the data for sale with a deadline of March 3.

However, the group has made other unsubstantiated hacking claims, including a claim that it had stolen 189GB of data, including names, passwords and payment information following a hack on the servers of the video game developer Epic Games.

There is no evidence of a such breach having occurred.

The department said it is working closely with the NCSC to establish what, if any, breach has occurred on its systems.

“At this point, there is no evidence of any breach of DFA ICT security infrastructure," the department said in a statement.

"The Department, in conjunction with the NCSC, will continue its investigation and, should any breach be identified, will address any issues that arise around information held by the Department."

The HSE was crippled by a major cyber attack in 2021.

Munster Technological University was forced to close its Cork campuses for two days after it was hit by the Russian hacker group, BLACKCAT, in February 2023.

That cyberattack has cost the institution some €3.5m to date, its latest annual report shows.