The ransomware attackers such as those who targeted the Health Service Executive, often based in Russia and elsewhere in eastern Europe, are highly skilled, extremely difficult to identify and even harder to catch. “The Kremlin got very paranoid about possible leaks, so they decided to shut all doors of co-operation between the West and the Russian cybercommunity. Now you have several generations that have been doing the same, but it all started in the late 1990s with the creation of some of the biggest Russian hacking networks,” he said. It’s much easier and safer to attack something in the West than in Moscow. International policymakers would take more notice in the wake of attacks on healthcare “particularly during a pandemic”, he added.

Source: The Irish Times May 17, 2021 17:38 UTC