HSE IT Systems Restored After Third-Party Ransomware Attack Disrupts Services Ireland’s Health Service Executive (HSE) confirmed that its IT and telephone systems experienced widespread outages on the afternoon of [date], following a ransomware attack on a third-party company holding HSE data. The disruption, which lasted several hours, affected email access, internet connectivity, and key national systems, though the HSE denied the incident was a direct cybersecurity breach on its own infrastructure. A spokesperson clarified that the issue stemmed from a "networking problem" unrelated to a cyberattack on the HSE itself, though the outage coincided with a ransomware incident targeting an external data storage provider. Staff at a Dublin hospital were notified of "widespread issues" with central systems, with reports indicating difficulties for new users logging in. Access was fully restored later the same day. The HSE emphasized that while its systems were not directly compromised, the attack on the third-party vendor highlighted vulnerabilities in interconnected health service networks. No details were provided on the ransomware strain, the affected vendor, or whether data was exfiltrated. The incident underscores the risks of supply chain attacks in critical infrastructure sectors.