strikeMar 20, 2026

Irish cybersecurity chief warns on Iran-linked attacks

Summary

Ireland's cybersecurity chief has said it is entirely possible we could see more Iran-linked cyberattacks. Last week, the Cork base of medical technology company Stryker was impacted by a global cyberattack targeting the firm's operations. Handala, an Iran-linked hacking group, claimed responsibility. Richard Browne, Director of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said the Iran conflict means the cyber risk level for Ireland has increased, but not dramatically. "We're heavily dependent on a systematic, global network of services and infrastructure," Dr Browne said. "We saw that in Stryker, where an entity based in the US had an incident in the US that had an impact here. "That kind of thing is entirely possible in a whole range of other areas and that's the most pressing risk we have. "There are other issues. It's entirely possible we'd see hacktivism and you might see denial-of-service attacks." "But we don't see it as particularly likely that critical infrastructure or Government would be targeted here directly," he added. Dr Browne said he thinks it is a given that Iran-linked hackers will try to target other US companies, which could have implications in Ireland. Read more: Ireland at increased risk of cyber attacks - report Raluca Saceanu is the CEO of cybersecurity company Smarttech247. She said they have seen a big increase in cybercriminal activity since the escalation of the Iran conflict. "We have seen a lot of new activity, a lot of phishing, a lot of credentials theft, exploitation of exposed systems and online propaganda," Ms Saceanu said. "It's very much in line with how Iran-linked and Iran-aligned actors have been behaving in previous periods of geopolitical tension," she added. The cyber warfare is not just coming from the Iranian side. Long before the first missiles of Operation Epic Fury were fired, US cyber teams disrupted Iranian communications networks. The Financial Times reported that CCTV and traffic cameras had been hacked by Israel to track Iranian leaders.

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Brian O'DonovanBy Brian O'Donovan
Ireland's cybersecurity chief has said it is entirely possible we could see more Iran-linked cyberattacks. Last week, the Cork base of medical technology company Stryker was impacted by a global cyberattack targeting the firm's operations. Handala, an Iran-linked hacking group, c…

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