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Private child disability assessors were paid €1.3m more than projected
Two women dead and two children injured following collision in Cork
The International Olympic Committee was one of six-dozen organisations compromised by 'Operation Shady RAT', which ran between 2006 and 2011. PA Wire/PA Archive
Cyberterrorism
72 global organisations hit by world's 'biggest ever cyber-attacks'
The UN, US and Canadian governments are among six dozen high-profile targets of the largest ever hacking attack.
SECURITY COMPANY MCAFEE has uncovered what it believes to be the largest ever series of cyber attacks – with victims including the United Nations, the government of the US, and dozens of the world’s biggest companies.
The massive five-year operation, dubbed ‘Operation Shady RAT’, successfully infiltrated 72 targets – and McAfee believes that the sheer scale of the attack means it must have been engineered by a single “state actor”.
Among the other governments attacked were those of Canada, India, Taiwan, South Korea, Vietnam and Canada. Reuters said other victims included the International Olympic Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency.
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The scheme was so elaborate that it began five years ago, attacking a small number of targets in 2006, with the intensity of the attacks increased when its creators grew more confident of its success.
“The key to these intrusions is that the adversary is motivated by a massive hunger for secrets and intellectual property,” McAfee’s vice-president of threat research, Dmitri Alperovitch, wrote in his full report.
ZDNet summarised the findings by saying that 49 of the affected targets were American or US-based, but that the inclusion of 13 Asian targets pointed to a likely Asian origin, which many suspect to be China.
It also noted an ominous word of warning from Alperovitch, who concluded:
The only organisations that are exempt from this threat are those that don’t have anything valuable or interesting worth stealing.
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I’m sorry but either this headline is misleading or we’re being mislead, the headline clearly says “drop in Irish medical costs” but goes on to mention going to places like Spain, Belgium, Germany, UK, Northern Ireland, Tunisia and Hungary. Not exactly shopping local is it?
How can they seriously claim this is an example of a drop in IRISH medical costs, it isn’t, it’s an example of how Irish medical costs are still higher compared to going abroad. Need a hip replacement? Well it’ll cost you here but if you want to hop on a plane, fly around Europe and see the sights it’ll still be cheaper abroad… but believe it or not thats just an example of how cheap we are. Honest… no seriously.
Hi Brian – the drop is in Irish prices since the last index on Irish prices, which was in Spring 2011.
It’s not a drop in Irish prices compared to EU prices – apologies if that wasn’t clear,
As for the figures at the end of the article, that is to illustrate the point that the costs differ between countries.
Thanks
Aoife
The article clearly says “The survey also shows there is a variation of up to 70 per cent in some treatments, with some people able to save up to 50 per cent by travelling abroad to countries like Spain, Belgium and Germany for treatment.” This would seem to suggest that Irish patients can save on their treatments by going abroad, for example it makes no distinction on Laser Eye Surgery between going to Dublin or Hungary, just that a major saving can be made.
On knee replacements they make no distinctions between shopping around within Ireland or abroad “Patients requiring common but more invasive medical procedures, such as knee replacements, can make savings of 9 per cent or c.€1604 by traveling to Connaught from Leinster. A further 30 per cent saving can be achieved by engaging the services provided by Avantis Health and having the procedure in Spain.” To be fair I do know of people who have travelled abroad for treatment, and it was much cheaper than here. We are being ripped off here.
Hi Brian
yes the article says that as a lead on from the initial point that Irish costs are in general slightly lower than in the Spring time of this year. The points are separate but connected:
- Costs have lowered in Ireland this year
- It costs less for certain treatments in different areas of Ireland
- It costs less for certain treatments in European countries compared to Ireland
This would suggest that people can shop around both in Ireland and abroad.
But this is separate to the point that the costs have lowered in Ireland.
The figures are included as examples – unfortunately I do not have the space to include all of the details for all the treatments outlined in this article.
Hope that is clearer for you
Aoife
The “article” is a press release from a company that makes money from people purchasing healthcare abroad, so I’d take everything it says with a large pinch of salt.
Yet again a press release from a company is dressed up as news. This is a bit like McDonalds releasing a “study” showing people can save money in burgers by shopping around and using their outlets.
Just wondering how breast augmentation costs an average of €2.7k in Ireland when the average for the provinces and Dublin are all above 3k….figures don’t seem to add up.
Private child disability assessors were paid €1.3m more than projected
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Two women dead and two children injured following collision in Cork
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