No ransom paid for cyberattacks

No ransom has been paid to recover any data from the organisations that suffered recently cyberattacks, was confirmed during Thursday's meeting of the House Standing Committee on Development Plans and Public Expenditure Control, which discussed the economic impact of cyberattacks on the public and wider public sector following the recent attacks on the Land Registry, the University of Cyprus and the Open University.

Deputy Minister of Research, Innovation and Digital Policy, Philippos Hadjizacharias said after the meeting that the Committee discussed about the 13 Pillars of the Action Plan for Cybersecurity adding that they stressed the need of its implementation. 

Asked if the hackers have managed to steal any data, he said that it is confirmed that they have not stolen any data from the Land Registry adding that based on the information from the Police, they have not been identified.

He explained that the cyber attack on the Land Registry was not like the one on the Open University, where personal data were stolen.

Asked whether there are employees in the Deputy Ministry who have the know-how to prevent such attacks in the future, he replied negatively saying that their recruitment is included in the 13 Pillars Strategy Plan. For this reason, he concluded, the adoption of the plan is necessary.