“No ransom was paid directly or indirectly.”
Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has said it is “entirely possible” there will be a “data dump” of HSE data on Monday.
His comments come as it was revealed the HSE has been given an encryption key to help unlock data disabled by the cyber attack last week.
It’s understood security officials are working to verify the tool to confirm it’s legitimate and will cause no further damage to the system.
The group behind the attack still has access to all the data that was taken and is expected to released the data online unless a ransom is paid.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Donnelly said the Government had no intention of paying any of the ransom demands for the data.
“The main thing that people will want to hear, and be absolutely assured on, is that no ransom was paid directly or indirectly,” Donnelly said.
He also added there had been “positive” initial results to the decryption key, but said work was continuing and there’s still the possibility that data will be released next week.
“It is entirely possible [there will be a data dump on Monday], and this sort of approach is quite standard procedure in these kinds of attacks,” Donnelly said.
“The position for anybody, because I know some people really are worried, if anyone were to be contacted about their personal information, is to contact the Gardaí.
“There’s a confidential helpline, it’s 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s 1800 666 111.
“As for Monday, we’re certainly taking it very seriously that there could well be a data dump.”
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