Ransomware attack disrupts Irish health services

IT systems shut down and some medical appointments cancelled after attempt to access data

Ireland's state health services provider has shut all its IT systems and cancelled some medical appointments after what it described as a significant ransomware attack" overnight caused widespread disruption.

Paul Reid, the Health Service Executive chief executive, told RTE there had been a human-operated" attempt to access data stored on central servers for a presumed ransom. There has been no ransom demand at this stage. The key thing is to contain the issue. We are in the containment phase."