That's one possibility, according to a midlands security analyst.
It's possible the HSE cyber attackers are trying to initiate a dialogue with the Irish government by not dumping data online.
The criminals threatened to publish patient details yesterday, but nothing has appeared yet.
Security analyst, Mullingar's Declan Power believes the threat could have been a ploy to get Irish authorities to engage with the hackers.
He says further investigation will be needed if the data doesn't appear anywhere: