The Irish Health Service Executive referred to the incident as a “significant ransomware attack on the [agency’s] IT systems,” according to HSE Ireland’s May 14 tweet.
“We have taken the precaution of shutting down all … our IT systems in order to protect them from this attack and to allow us [to] fully assess the situation with our own security partners,” the agency wrote.
Ireland’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout has not been affected by the attack, and appointments will move forward as planned; however, the country’s registration portal has been taken offline and physicians cannot refer people for testing, so patients must use walk-in testing centers, according to the report.
The health service’s ambulances still are operating normally, according to the report. Rotunda Hospital, a Dublin-based maternity hospital, canceled all outpatient visits May 14, except for women who are 36 or more weeks pregnant. All gynecology clinics also were canceled.