Ombudsman's office hit by 'financially motivated' ransomware attack

Eva Osborne

The Office of the Ombudsman has said a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorised access to its IT systems is understood to be a "financially motivated ransomware attack".

As a precaution, its systems have been taken offline to contain the threat while the incident is investigated.

Due to the nature of these types of attacks, the Office of the Ombudsman said it is operating on the basis that data may have been taken.

However, when speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Thursday, the Ombudsman, Ger Deering, said there is no evidence that data was taken.

The Ombudsman’s ICT team is working with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and external cyber incident response specialists to assess the nature and extent of the incident and to support containment and recovery.

The incident has also been notified to the Data Protection Commissioner and An Garda Síochána.

The Office of the Ombudsman provides IT support to other Offices. These services have also been disrupted.

Deering said that the priority is to establish what has occurred, restore services safely, and protect the people who rely on the services of the Ombudsman and the Offices it supports.

The Ombudsman said: “I want to apologise for the inconvenience or any concerns caused to the people who use our services.

"We appreciate your patience and assure you we are doing everything possible to resolve the matter and restore our services”.