Mr. Stefan Umit Uygur:

I thank the Chair and the committee members. It is my pleasure to speak at this committee and give an opening statement in relation to preparing Ireland as a country to be more cyber-ready and resilient. I will gladly answer any questions that members may have at the end of my statement.

There should be only one common vision and a single agenda for Ireland with regard to cybersecurity. My statement is about the role played by SMEs and, in particular, indigenous organisations, as detailed in the paper Cyber Security Vision for Ireland 2022, published by Senator Craughwell. The paper sets out a vision to make the island of Ireland a global cybersecurity leader in skilled talent, technological innovation and research. Ireland can provide a safer digital environment by starting with tomorrow’s skills today for the benefit of all. This is the primary objective of my speech and is the outcome of the Cyber Security Vision for Ireland 2022 paper for strengthening Ireland’s position in cybersecurity.

Globally, the lack of cybersecurity continually presents huge concerns as to how the future will look if government, public and private entities continue to be inadequately prepared for cyberattacks. Global organisations such as NATO have added cybersecurity as a fifth domain. The fear is that cybersecurity will become the primary problem globally and cybersecurity will dominate the other four domains of land, air, sea and space.

It is now clearly evident that if a country is not prepared for cybersecurity and cyberattacks, the future prospects of that country will be greatly challenged. Today’s ransomware attacks, with which we are so familiar, are a training ground for tomorrow’s more devastating attacks and a more serious proliferation of same. The fear is that if criminals move from the training ground towards nation states, the targeted area increases and represents one of the biggest threats the world will ever deal with. Cybersecurity will be the next pandemic. To tackle the problem, nations must prepare.

There must be a greater focus on indigenous cybersecurity companies of all types, including start-ups, scale-ups and consolidated organisations. Investing more in sovereign technologies, supporting them and connecting into the national ecosystem, the public, private, academic and international collaborations take place, will be most beneficial. Collaboration is at the heart of the vision I am presenting, where we see Ireland being among the most cyber-ready countries and transformed into a global cybersecurity hub. To give a simple example, the public tendering and procurement process needs to be reviewed generally for all SMEs. There needs to be local software working for local organisations. Changes need to be made to success criteria and insurance levels. Appointing Irish companies to do local work is critical for medium and long-term success in the cyber sector. We need to be more creative in the tendering process. For instance, to give another simple example, Enterprise Ireland clients should be given special consideration to support their development and scalability. Public procurement people generally need to be more strategic and encouraging of Irish companies. Cybersecurity is too important and critical to be treated like other topics. Supporting sovereign cybersecurity companies will help Irish SMEs to position themselves for expansion and growth, therefore creating jobs. This will also facilitate improvements in the cyberskills gap. Strengthening local industry will strengthen the country. Collaboration between private, public and government bodies and academia in an ecosystem will ultimately transform Ireland into a cyber-ready and resilient country. As a country, we must believe in our own technologies, use them, support them, provide feedback and continually improve them by investing in them. Supporting sovereign technologies will generate a strong cybersecurity industry in Ireland and these companies will expand their services to all SMEs. Ireland can assist SMEs that are not in a position to secure their digital assets. This will make the nation even more resilient and strong. To summarise in one sentence, by adopting and supporting sovereign solutions, we will be investing in them, helping their growth, increasing staff numbers, creating skills and creating more jobs. Irish SMEs can compete with big players by strengthening their solutions and creating solid enterprises that directly act towards creating a better economy, ultimately resulting in having a future-ready, cyber-resilient country.

I will try to wrap up in a mix of English and Gaeilge. Is lá deas é inniu agus tomorrow can be brighter than today. I look forward to any questions committee members may have. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste.