‘WannaCry’ victims urged to report crime

THE new Garda Cybercrime Bureau is unable to investigate the Irish computer systems hit by the global cyberattack last weekend because it has yet to receive a single formal complaint about it.

Just 20 Irish IP addresses were affected by the WannaCry virus that shut down more than 200,000 computers across the world last weekend.

The online criminals behind the attack demanded ransoms of $300, but it is understood that no Irish victims paid up and most managed to get their computers working.

Detective Superintendent Michael Gubbins, who runs the Cybercrime Bureau, confirmed that gardai have yet to receive a formal complaint from Irish victims of the WannaCry attack. Detectives are unable to launch a formal investigation without one.

He encouraged all victims of cybercrime to come forward. “We need people to report incidents of cybercrime, so that we can understand these crimes, and quantify the damage they are doing to the citizens and to the economy,” he said.

“We also need to share intelligence and information on these crimes with international agencies.”

The bureau, which was set up last year, is currently gathering intelligence on the WannaCry attack, working in conjunction with Europol and the National Cyber Security Centre here in Ireland.

The spread of the virus has receded, but experts warn that the threat of further ransom attacks continues.

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