The Russian embassy has condemned the cyberattack on the Health Service Executive and suggested Russia is ready to look into the matter if approached by Irish authorities.
Reports have linked the ransomware attack on the HSE to crime gangs in Russia.
Investigations into the cyberattacks on the HSE and Department of Health are ongoing and involve the National Cyber Security Centre and Garda.
This afternoon a spokeswoman for the embassy said it "condemns . . . any type of criminal activity in cyberspace, including this particular incident, which has caused damage to [the] HSE system in Ireland. "
She said: “We do not have any way to judge on who the perpetrators are . . . the Irish authorities have not yet approached the embassy regarding this ransomware attack. It’s pretty clear that if they do, the Russian side would be ready to look into the matter.”
She said that this is because the Russian government has been promoting initiatives on strengthening international co-operation on international information security and confronting cyberspace crime.
A series of similar attacks began about 18 months ago and were linked to a Russian gang known as Wizard Spider. It has also outsourced attacks to other criminal gangs in exchange for a share of ransoms paid.
