Ireland faced several major ransomware attacks leading up to EU Presidency, top expert warns

Cyber espionage is a common occurrence in Ireland as the country has faced several major ransomware attacks in the past couple of weeks, a top expert has warned.

As Ireland assumes the EU Presidency, the State's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) has been undertaking drills in case a large-scale attack that endangers critical infrastructure occurs.

Operating out of a secure building on Haddington Road in Dublin's Ballsbridge, the centre has an increasingly tough job keeping Ireland safe, especially with the massive rise of AI.

And Ireland is already under pressure even without considering the EU Presidency. NCSC Director Richard Browne says that while all countries are vulnerable to cyber attacks, Ireland is "slightly more risky".

He says this is due to being a highly digitised society that has moved away from paper in pretty much all aspects of life, from financial to health services.

The other reason is that Ireland hosts many tech giants, which are targets themselves. There are three main types of cyber attacks that this country faces: ransomware, espionage and hacktivism.

Mr Browne said ransomware is currently the biggest cyber security issue and that it's "inevitable" it will continue to happen.

He told the Irish Mirror: "We're seeing a lot of it again at the moment. We've had a couple of big ones in the last couple of weeks, and some of those will become public in the little while."

The top boss said he couldn't give any information the attacks until the victims made it public, but some were caught and "in other cases they happened".

Mr Browne said attacks will continue to occur throughout the presidency, but they might not necessarily link to it.

However, he added: "These groups are just after money for the most part, but the fact that we have the presidency may encourage some groups to think they have more leverage over us, and thus, are more likely to pay. That's ransomware, and the risk of that is high. It's just going to happen."

Cyber espionage, where hackers steal sensitive data and information, happens on a "fairly regular basis" and is "likely to continue," Mr Browne said.

These criminals usually attack Government departments, research institutions and private sector bodies. The cyber security expert said Ireland hasn't attributed any one incident to a certain country, such as Russia.

However, he said the majority of attacks do come from Russia, China, Iran and Northern Korea, adding: "The consequences of this are usually very limited publicly in the short term, but obviously over the long term it has really serious impacts.

"That's an issue that we're continually wrestling with." During the EU Presidency, the NCSC expects there to be a rise in hacktivism.

These are individuals who aren't looking for cash or sensitive information, but want to cause political upset.

During the European elections in Ireland in 2024, 10 public sector websites were attacked by hacktivists, including the Houses of Oireachtas, the online voter registration portal and the Leap Card website.

Mr Browne said: "These groups, in theory at least, are civilian individuals in countries who want to cause political upset, to draw attention to a political cause.

"But in many cases now they are proxies for their state of origin or for another state, they're working on behalf of an intelligence agency or a national security agency.

"They take a large volume of information and they throw it at a range of websites or services, and they hope to knock it down."

Mr Browne added: "And then when the website goes down, they'll claim a victory on social media. That's exactly the kind of thing we would expect to see more of during the presidency."