LONDON: Ireland's health service says it has shut down its IT systems after being targeted in a significant ransomware attack.
The Health Service Executive said Friday that the move is a precaution, and appointments for coronavirus vaccination have not been not affected.
It was unclear how wide the disruption to the health system was.
Dublin's Rotunda maternity hospital said it was canceling most routine appointments due to the IT issues, calling the situation a critical emergency.
There is a significant ransomware attack on the HSE IT systems, the service said on Twitter.
We have taken the precaution of shutting down all our IT systems in order to protect them from this attack and to allow us to fully assess the situation with our own security partners.