Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this very important issue. Cyberthreats are a global issue and they are not limited to healthcare. Increasing attacks on critical infrastructure are triggering widespread disruption across the globe and causing significant disruption to companies and State agencies. They impact directly on citizens, as the Senator has rightly outlined.

The Conti ransomware attack on the HSE of 14 May 2021 resulted in an immediate loss of almost all ICT systems, applications and communications networks needed to support the delivery of health and social care services. The impact on patient services and patients was on a scale not seen before. As an immediate response, the HSE took all systems offline to reduce the risk of further contagion while the situation was assessed. All technical staff were diverted to respond to the crisis, supported by senior management from across the organisation. At present, almost all ICT systems have recovered to full functionality. However, some remedial work is required on a small number of older, legacy ICT systems and this work is actively being progressed by the HSE.

There are significant financial costs associated with repairing the damage caused to the HSE’s ICT systems. Funding provided this year addressed the immediate risks to the HSE, including the recovery of systems and data affected by the attack, the upgrade and replacement of legacy systems, and the establishment of a security operations centre for enhanced monitoring of threats. The HSE estimates that these measures cost €37.5 million in 2021 and do not include the wider costs associated with the disruption to health services and patient impact.

I believe there is a need for sustained investment in ICT in the health service in the coming years to protect the health system from the risk of future attacks. The 2022 budget includes funding for the HSE to enhance cyber-resilience. The cyberattack against the HSE’s ICT infrastructure has been unprecedented in severity and scale, and this investment will support the maintenance of a modern and secure ICT infrastructure to mitigate any future attacks.

Considerable work is also under way at Government level to protect against future attacks. The Office of the Government Chief Information Officer has enhanced the Internet connections connecting the Government to the rest of the world and put in place mitigation measures to deal with attacks should they arise, such as performing real-time checks on Internet traffic to block access to reported malicious destinations to mitigate phishing attacks.

Departments are also moving to the build-to-share Government infrastructure model which protects the working environment and monitors malicious activity more efficiently. Plans are also in place to establish the National Cyber Security Centre on a statutory footing and to increase staff numbers to support the critical work they do in protecting infrastructure from future cyberattacks.

I thank the Senator again for raising this issue which has caused huge critical infrastructure malfunctions. It caused significant disruption to companies and State agencies, and it impacted directly on citizens. I thank all of the stakeholders for all the work they have done since that attack. I hope that the funding in place will help us to be aware and to minimise the impact on patient services.