The government’s official line is that they didn’t pay the cyber gang one cent in ransom money – but many feel that this not to be the case as no cyber gang would normally send over a decryption key for free.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the government did not pay for the decryption key the HSE is using to try to restore its computer systems.
He said diplomatic channels were not used to secure it and it is not known why the hackers gave it away. Martin said it was good to get the decryption key, but that doesn’t take away from the massive amount of work that lies ahead to try and rebuild the entire system.
Martin said that the government never paid a ransom or any money to the cyber hackers.
Martin said that court order obtained by the HSE is strong, which makes it a crime to disclose data illegally obtained from the HSE computer system. He said the government values the collaboration of large social media companies.
Over the weekend, experts will continue to assess the use of the decryption key to ensure that it’ll work when it’s fully rolled out. He said the work was slow but progress was being made and asked the public to be patient.
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