Ireland’s Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau has announced that it had “seized several domains” used in the ransomware attack on the Irish Health Service Executive (HSE) earlier this year.
The attack, which took place in mid-May, forced the national health and social services provider to shut down its entire IT system, which lead to appointments being delayed or cancelled. The Irish Department of Health was also targeted but managed to prevent Conti from encrypting its network.
On Sunday, almost four months after the attack, the Garda’s cyber crime unit confirmed that it had disrupted the IT infrastructure of the Conti hacking group, which had claimed responsibility for the attack. Thought to be deployed by a Russian group known as Wizard Spider, Conti functions as a type of ransomware as a service (RaaS) operation.
“The Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau have seized several domains used in this and other ransomware attacks,” a Garda spokesperson told IT Pro, adding that the seizure “has directly prevented a large number of further ransomware attacks across the world”.
The Bureau has also notified potential victims of the ransomware gang and is working with Europol and Interpol to ensure that other states are aware of the systems targeted by Conti.
RELATED RESOURCE
The ultimate law enforcement agency guide to going mobile
Best practices for implementing a mobile device program
A Garda spokesperson described the operation as “crime prevention”, adding that to date there had been “a total of 753 attempts (...) made by ICT systems across the world to connect to the seized domains”.
“In each instance, the seizure of these domains by the GNCCB investigation team is likely to have prevented a Conti Ransomware Attack on the connecting ICT system, by rendering the initially deployed malware on the victims system, as ineffective,” they said.
HSE wasn’t the only healthcare provider targeted by the Conti ransomware group. Days after the attack was reported, the US Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) found that the gang had also attempted to breach 16 US services, including law enforcement agencies, 911 dispatch services and municipalities, with the attempted attacks all taking place since May 2020.
The FBI Cyber Division stated that the targeted healthcare and first responder networks were “among the more than 400 organisations worldwide victimised by Conti”, out of which “over 290” are based in the US.
-
Bigger salaries, more burnout: Is the CISO role in crisis?In-depth CISOs are more stressed than ever before – but why is this and what can be done?
-
Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
‘Phishing kits are a force multiplier': Cheap cyber crime kits can be bought on the dark web for less than $25 – and experts warn it’s lowering the barrier of entry for amateur hackers
News Research from NordVPN shows phishing kits are now widely available on the dark web and via messaging apps like Telegram, and are often selling for less than $25.
-
Healthcare systems are rife with exploits — and ransomware gangs have noticedNews Nearly nine-in-ten healthcare organizations have medical devices that are vulnerable to exploits, and ransomware groups are taking notice.
-
Alleged LockBit developer extradited to the USNews A Russian-Israeli man has been extradited to the US amid accusations of being a key LockBit ransomware developer.
-
February was the worst month on record for ransomware attacks – and one threat group had a field dayNews February 2025 was the worst month on record for the number of ransomware attacks, according to new research from Bitdefender.
-
CISA issues warning over Medusa ransomware after 300 victims from critical sectors impactedNews The Medusa ransomware as a Service operation compromised twice as many organizations at the start of 2025 compared to 2024
-
Warning issued over prolific 'Ghost' ransomware groupNews The Ghost ransomware group is known to act fast and exploit vulnerabilities in public-facing appliances
-
The Zservers takedown is another big win for law enforcementNews LockBit has been dealt another blow by law enforcement after Dutch police took 127 of its servers offline
-
There’s a new ransomware player on the scene: the ‘BlackLock’ group has become one of the most prolific operators in the cyber crime industry – and researchers warn it’s only going to get worse for potential victimsNews Security experts have warned the BlackLock group could become the most active ransomware operator in 2025
