Thousands of websites, including ones run by Irish, US and UK government agencies, were infected for several hours on Sunday with code that causes web browsers to secretly mine digital currencies. Among the affected websites were those of the HSE, the Oireachtas, Safefood and some county councils. Any site using Browsealoud was potentially at risk. It can take a lot of computing power, leading to a surge in cyber attacks using software that forces infected computers to mine crypto currencies on behalf of hackers. “Websites were infected with malware used by criminals,” he said.

Source: The Irish Times February 12, 2018 08:03 UTC