Data centres make Ireland a target for hackers - expert

Cybersecurity expert Brian Honan has warned that Ireland is a prime target for hackers due to the large number of data centres located within the country. Honan made these remarks following a power outage that affected the online banking platform Revolut earlier this week. The issue was traced back to a power outage at a Google data centre in the UK, which caused a 'cascading effect' that disrupted systems and impacted several banks and financial institutions.

Honan stated that such incidents have occurred with other data centres in the past, though they are rare. However, when they do happen, they can cause significant problems for banks and consumers. For instance, last year, Amazon, AWS, Microsoft, and Cloudflare all experienced outages that resulted in service disruptions for several weeks.

Honan emphasized that while these incidents are rare, the concentration of data centres in Ireland increases the risk for the country. He explained that if a data centre is targeted by hackers or other threat actors, it could have a broader impact on national security and infrastructure. Moreover, the risk is heightened by the fact that many organizations rely on a few providers, making any disruption to those providers particularly impactful.

He highlighted that cybercriminals could exploit these vulnerabilities to gain access to government systems, personal data, and other sensitive information. As an example, Honan cited reports of Chinese state actors allegedly compromising the Microsoft Office 365 platform and accessing data belonging to US defense organizations.

In light of these concerns, Honan noted that the EU is taking steps to address the issue through regulations such as the NIS2 Directive and the EU Digital Operations Resilience Act (DORA). These regulations mandate stricter risk-management rules and mandatory incident reporting for critical entities like banks and fintech companies, requiring them to manage cybersecurity risks within their supply chains and ensure continued service provision during cyber incidents.

While these measures will require financial investments from banks and other organizations, Honan stressed that they are necessary to manage risks effectively. He suggested that, for example, companies could host systems in multiple locations to mitigate the impact of potential disruptions.