HSE’s ransomware recovery: A band-aid or a cure?

This teaching case explores the transformation of Ireland’s national health provider, the Health Service Executive (HSE), following a major ransomware attack that disrupted healthcare services across more than 50 hospitals in 2021. Now, 4 years on from that event, this teaching case focuses on the aftermath and what the HSE has been doing since the attack to improve its cybersecurity posture: the paper examines how the organisation is working to embed cybersecurity-by-design and strengthen public trust in digital health systems through long-term reforms in governance, infrastructure, and organisational culture.