Minister for Health Stephen Donnely hopes people won't take legal action against the HSE if their medical data is leaked online.
Speaking on Virgin Media's Ireland AM, Donnelly said: "People are obviously free to take legal advice on these types of things, you would hope not (people suing). You would hope that people would say, 'the HSE is the victim of a vicious and sophisticated attack here.'
Minister Donnelly reaffirmed the HSE's commitment to maintaining the security of patients and attacked the cybercriminals for stealing resources, time, and attention away from those who need it the most.
He added: "The HSE takes people's data very, very seriously. Obviously, the money that you have to pay out for data breaches is money that you're not using to run healthcare systems."
There will be an Oireachtas Committee on Communications meeting this afternoon where cybersecurity experts will discuss the recent attacks on the HSE and Department of Health.
Speaking yesterday, the Taoiseach said that as of yet, there is no evidence of the mass dumping of information.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne programme, Mr Martin said there was "no great evidence yet of any mass dumping of data" in relation to the cyber attack.
The Gardaí,cyber-security teams and the HSE are working together to find any evidence of potentially leaked information.
In the event that someone comes across any leaked data, they should report it to the Gardaí.
A high court injunction that was obtained by the HSE last week means that it's a crime to share or redistribute HSE patient data.
It's believed that the hackers are a Russian criminal group and they have been in possession of this sensitive medical information for more than ten days.
