But will they be able to find out who their fathers are?
Hackers vow to expose sensitive patient files
The cybercriminals who hacked the HSE computer network have threatened to target people who have sought help for sensitive health issues, including sexually transmitted infections.
The gang is believed to have already sold confidential information on patients to other criminals.
The force last night urged anyone who is contacted or who becomes the target of an extortion demand to call them.
The HSE last week obtained a high court injunction to prevent stolen information from being sold, distributed or uploaded on social media in preparation for the release of what the authorities suspect will be a huge volume of personal data on the dark web.
A copy of the injunction was uploaded on Thursday on the dark web link that the hackers had provided to the government for negotiations.
The digital attack is likely to cost hundreds of millions of euros to repair. Thousands of appointments have been cancelled while doctors have had to rely on paper records when treating patients.
The National Cyber Security Centre is still trying to reinstate HSE networks so that doctors can use electronic records for x-rays and test results, but is proceeding with caution because the hackers could have placed monitoring software on the system. The HSE has more than 2,000 national and local computer systems which use 4,000 servers.
Ossian Smyth said the National Cyber Security Centre’s budget was likely to be increased significantly next year
LEAH FARRELL/ROLLINGNEWS
The reason for the criminals’ decision to release a decryption key to unlock files that the attack rendered inaccessible is still unclear. The key was posted on the dark web on Thursday. It worked but was flawed.
Ossian Smyth, a junior minister for communications who oversees the cybersecurity centre, said it was “not an act of altruism”. The security services are treating its release as an attempt to encourage the authorities to enter ransom negotiations.
Staff at the security centre have separately developed a decryptor key which will be rolled out following tests.
The authorities believe they have found the computer that the hackers used to get into the HSE network in what is known as a “spear phishing” attack. A worker in Dublin opened a file that looked like it came from another HSE department but instead gave the criminals access.
The hackers had access to the network for up to 14 days before the attack began on May 14.
The post of director of the cybersecurity centre is still vacant. The government is expected to increase the salary on offer by up to €100,000 after a candidate who was offered the post this year turned it down.
Smyth said the centre’s €5.1 million budget was likely to be increased significantly next year even though the 2021 sum was three times last year’s €1.7 million.
He said the size of the increase would be decided after a review by FireEye, a Californian consultancy that is “one of the most reputable cybersecurity firms in the world”.
The minister said the candidate who turned down the offer of the directorship cited “personal reasons” but Smyth said: “Money is always a factor, so I’m proposing to offer a higher salary.”
The attack on the HSE has been linked to the Conti group, a hacking collective affiliated to Wizard Spider, a network of malicious software developers in St Petersburg, Russia. Gardai investigating the attack have sought assistance from Europol and the US authorities.
The HSE declined to comment yesterday.
Ransomware crooks have breached defences at several privately owned companies, with many victims paying off gangs in Russia and eastern Europe.
Taiwan and other countries prohibit such payments on the basis that they encourge more attacks, but they are not illegal in Ireland.
An earlier digital assault on the Department of Social Protection was foiled when the criminals failed to get past its defences.
First time this has been confirmed?
The Journal had a story during the week but when I read it, it was pure nonsense.
Sensitive information?? Like what?
An x-ray of a rectum with a hamster running around in it? Mary’s fake diddies?
No, stuff like it you have the clapp…
I got that earlier, all sorted according to Yuri, I should expect the money in my account my the morning.
Happy fucking days.
One of my Eastern European buddies sent me the Tor link for the site the lads use. (I’m using a VPS)
No mention of the HSE data on it yet.
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Wtf
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Paul Reid letting the Russians know in no uncertain terms where they stand
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This MalwareHunter seems to have very good access to the Conti Gang 
Unreal… We’re paying them in racism.
Tony Holohan has gone too far
The hackers have been ladded… There’s no way back for em. They thought they had us where they wanted us… but they’ve obviously never met any irish people in their lives or they wouldn’t have bothered their bollix hacking us. Time now to unleash our negotiating team - the Healy-Raes.
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It seems that someone got the ID code needed to access the chat.
Once you have the code to join the chat you can see the previous messages and do wreck as above.
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They can become heroes of the irish people by releasing the mother and baby home report in full and publish the NPHET private data that knows more than the global public health experts
FFS 
WTF?