The Aontú leader says after a week of chaos and bomb threats that affected aviation, media and business, it is clear our weak defences can be easily exploited.
Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín has said Ireland’s weak cyber systems are due decades of lack of investment by government.
“Has anything changed since the 2021 Ransomware attack on the HSE? There has been no significant progress. The absolute weakness of these systems is generated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in lack of investment for decades.”
The Meath West TD pointed out that experts say AI has not invented new ways to attack – but that AI allows existing vulnerabilities to to be exploited.
“Vulnerabilities tolerated for too long can now be exploited on a previously unimaginable scale. At one stage we were spending a quarter of what we should have been on cyber defences. This makes Ireland an easy target and a geographically tactical one.
“We are a global tech hub, our subsea fibre optic cables pass data from the US to Europe and of course we are currently hosting the EU presidency and all that goes with that.
“Our lack of preparedness in terms of defence. We have a history of shockingly poor cyber attack defences. Or conventional defences are shockingly poor.
“This week we have had bomb threats against media, supermarket fridges malfunctioning, Irish planes having to make emergency landing due to bomb hoaxes.“
